Small College Basketball in the 1960's - Not so SMALL!


Phil Jackson at University of North Dakota with two future NBA Head Coaches - Bill Fitch & Jimmy Rodgers

Seth Davis conducted an interview with Phil Jackson that will appear on CampusInsiders.Com on November 1, 2013. There are many clips from the interview posted on youtube. They're quite good. Seth is an excellent interviewer and Phil is an authentic & insightful interviewee. A comment made by Seth about small college basketball on Part 3 of Phil Jackson's interview on the Seth Davis Show caught my attention and is the reason why I'm writing this blog.



In the above clip, Seth asks Jackson questions about his days as a player at the University of North Dakota and the New York Knicks. Two of Phil Jackson's coaches at North Dakota eventually became NBA Coaches, Bill Fitch and Jimmy Rodgers. Jackson relates what he learned from Fitch, perseverance and defense, and also mentions one of my favorite Phil Jackson basketball drills that he learned from Fitch, "the hockey drill." Phil also talks about the strength of Red Holzman as a coach, and relates Holzman's simple but effective basketball philosophy - Stay in front of your man on defense & hit the open man on offense.

But, it was Seth's offhanded comment about small college basketball in the 1960's that drew my ire. What was Seth's comment to Phil as he was talking about the state of college basketball when he was a player at UND in the 1960's? -  "Not major college basketball for the day."

One can't expect a man who was born in the 1970's to appreciate the quality of talent and the level of basketball that was played by College Division (Division II) teams in the 1960's.  University Division (Divison 1) basketball wasn't bloated like it is today.  Southern Schools didn't have Black basketball players at their schools until the late 1960's and Historically Black Colleges and Universities were filled with top talent. Seth's little offhanded comment is true to a point, but it grossly mischaracterizes the QUALITY of basketball that was played in the College Division in the 1960's.

Phil mentioned that Southern Illinois University's basketball team, led by Walt Frazier, was a College Division team when he was at UND. What Phil didn't have time to mention in the interview was that in 1967 SIU won the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) as a "College Division" team against "University Division" Teams. One has to understand the history of basketball to appreciate this achievement. The NIT was a more significant tournament in 1967 than it is now. Between 22 to 25 teams qualified for the NCAA University Division Tournament in the 1960's, now 68 teams qualify for March Madness.



In the same year that SIU won the NIT, my father's (Clarence 'Big House' Gaines) team, Winston-Salem State College (now WSSU), won the College Division Championship. That team was led by Earl Monroe. I created the following video for a middle school presentation -  Earl "The Pearl" Monroe's Impact 1966-67:



UCLA, led by Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabaar) won the University Division Championship in 1967.



Let's take it a step further & look at the roster of the 1972-73 NBA Champion New York Knicks.  Of the 14 players on the roster, 5 attended College Division teams and one attended a junior college:

Dick Barnett - Tennessee State
Walt Frazier - Southern Illinois
Phil Jackson - University of North Dakota
Earl Monroe - Winston-Salem State College - now WSSU
Willis Reed - Grambling State College - now GSU

*Monroe (#2), Frazier (#5), & Jackson (#17) were drafted in the 1967 NBA Draft.

Harthorne Wingo - Friendship Junior College - Would love to know this back story.

Do I need to say anything more about the level of talent from College Division Schools on the Knicks roster - all of the above names from College Division schools are significant in basketball history.




Obviously, the level of play in the College Division was far superior to the level of play in Division II basketball today. Top teams in the College Division during the 1960's could easily compete with University Division teams. The landscape of college sports and basketball was much different. So, Seth Davis, don't casually dismiss the College Division teams of that era!

Links & my twitter comments to Seth Davis' interview with Phil Jackson:
The Show: with Pt. 2 - Video -

' on "Ending The Lakers' Dynasty" - Video -

on Michael Jordan as an owner - The Seth Davis Show - -

thinks Michael Jordan's speech was a low point I don't ' comments Vintage MJ

on college hoops - - As long as I've known PJ, he's never really been a fan of the college game

  on - - PJ's glass is half-full when it comes to Dwight.

Great interview  with - PJ at his authentic best - not being political with his responses. Watch it!

talking religion - Saying he didn't fulfill his ministerial promise that he made at an early age - Some would disagree.

on religion-"the focus is all about the end game." PJ-it's the moment-2-moment existence that counts

discusses his game & his infamous tweet to

Beauty of tweet to is a message I'm conveying to my son- "We don't do this world alone"

on his coaching prospects & his book "Eleven Rings." via

What the hell is "schadenfreude" & - thanks for the vocab word of the day -

"Schadenfreude" - pleasure derived by someone from another person's misfortune. - definitely want to know origin of this word.

  on his playing career -Actually PJ, UND was in "College Division"-D1 was called "University Division"

  -time to educate on what "College Division" hoops was like when U played at (cont)

mentions a BB drill that I love in this interview - learned from Bill Fitch at UND

  talks Red Holzman "Stay in front of your man & hit the open man" Sounds simple, but ............

talks about Red Holzman - jibes with thoughts -

  thought Lamar Odom's marriage to Kardashian was good at first. Now? "Maybe it wasn't."   

SDS Sneak Peek: When Kobe Made Phil Quit - YouTube  

 SDS Sneak Peek: Predicting Lamar Odom's Fall - YouTube  
  
SDS Sneak Peek: Is Jackson Concerned About Rodman? - YouTube

 




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