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Forty Years Ago Today
3/23/03
by John C. ThomasSaturday, March 23, 1963, vs. Cincinnati at Louisville, KY
From a sheer intimidation standpoint, there was no other team that the Ramblers could have faced in the final that was more imposing than Cincinnati. The Bearcats were the two-time defending national champions, and they had accumulated a 110-7 record in the previous four seasons heading into the game. The Cincinnati team was called a fluke when they upset Jerry Lucas and the #1 Ohio State Buckeyes in the 1961 tournament, 70-65. When the two met again a year later, #2 Cincinnati again knocked off the #1 Buckeyes, this time in a 71-59 rout. In the 1962-63 season, the Bearcats were ranked #1 from the pre-season poll to the final poll of the year, often receiving a unanimous #1 vote. They had forged a 37-game winning streak lasting well over a year before losing to a dangerous Wichita State team by one point on the road. And then they recovered to win their next seven in a row to meet Loyola in the NCAA Tournament Final with a 29-1 record. Under third year Coach Ed Jucker, Cincinnati had a perfect 11-0 NCAA Tournament record heading into the game with the Ramblers-- and the Bearcats had won against superior-ranked talent the previous two years.
The Cincinnati Bearcats were the clear and prohibitive favorites entering the tournament. They were a juggernaut, a team that had won 44 of its past 45 games, without a weakness at any position-- deeper, taller, more experienced, and stronger than the Ramblers. Ed Jucker's starters were composed of three seniors and two juniors who had played in a combined 47 NCAA Tournament games without experiencing a single loss, and the Bearcats had proven they could counteract just about any advantage through discipline and impeccable fundamentals. Cincinnati was also the team that played incredibly well in big games, and they were playing for their third straight title only 106 miles from their campus.
It was folly for anyone not emotionally connected to Loyola to even suggest that the Ramblers had a chance. People with close ties to Loyola that ignored the Cincinnati advantages and experience at every position-- while offering a crazy scenario for a Rambler victory-- were dismissed as idiots or sentimental fools.
But still, even some people knowledgeable about college basketball thought that Loyola might have a chance. Before losing his game with Cincinnati, Oregon State Coach Armory Gill watched part of the Loyola-Duke game, and after his 80-46 loss to the Bearcats, he suggested that he would put his money on the Ramblers. Gill told the Chicago Tribune that it would take "good ball handlers, good shooting, and quickness" to beat the Cincinnati. "I'd say [Loyola is] very quick. I think from what I saw tonight, Loyola is better. Don't you? Those two big boys Rouse and Hunter really go up. [Cincinnati is] very good, but they're not the great team they were. I think they can be beaten."
A standing room only crowd of 19,152-the majority of them Cincinnati fans who drove just over 100 miles for the coronation on Cincinnati's great season-- showed up in Louisville knowing in their heads and hearts that Gill was wrong. The tip-off for the national championship came at about 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time, about 7:30 p.m. in Chicago. The game was televised live in many parts of the country, but in Chicago, WGN-TV-- the Tribune-owned station-- decided to show the game on tape delay following the Carver-Centralia game for the Illinois High School State Championship at the brand-new Alumni Hall in Champaign.
Loyola senior James Hackett was listening to WCFL with a few hundred other fans in the basement cafeteria of Loyola Hall. Red Rush called the game on radio.
Hundreds of miles away from the hopeful Ramblers fans in the basement cafeteria their dorm rooms in Loyola Hall, at a jam-packed Freedom Hall, the Cincinnati Bearcats controlled the opening tip. They methodically worked the ball to the inside, where George Wilson made the first two Cincinnati points with an emphatic dunk off a missed shot, leaping over two flat-footed Loyola players with superior rebounding position. It was already 2-0 Cincinnati.
With the score tied at 4-4, Cincinnati took advantage of miserable Loyola field goal shooting to open up a 12-5 lead with 9:56 left in the first half. Cincinnati's All-American Ron Bonham scored five of the Bearcats' points on their 8-1 run. The Ramblers had one field goal, a lean-in jumper by Miller, in an 11-minute stretch of field goal futility. Loyola had three blocked shots in that stretch-two by Hunter and one by Harkness-- that kept Cincinnati from completely running away with the game.
Cincinnati's methodical offense-disciplined and patient-worked to near perfection. The Bearcats were scoring off screens, cuts to the basket, offensive rebounds, and trips to the foul line courtesy of Loyola's fouls of frustration. Cincinnati opened a 19-9 lead with less than six minutes left in the first half. But Loyola cut into Cincinnati's lead in the closing minutes of the half with five points from Les Hunter, four from Vic Rouse, and three from John Egan-including a free throw with no time left in the half-to cut the deficit to 29-21 at the break. Ron Bonham was fantastic for the Bearcats in the first half, scoring 11 of Cincinnati's 29 points.
Loyola shot horribly in the first half, missing 13 of their first 14 shots from the field. The Ramblers couldn't find any space on the floor to shoot in the first half against the number one defensive team in the country. There were no open jump shots, only a few chances off the dribble that didn't go down. Many of the Ramblers shots were wild rebound tips off missed jumpers.
Even more troubling was the fact that Loyola's consensus All-American-- senior Jerry Harkness, who led Loyola with an average of more than 21 points per game-- had not made a single field goal in the first half. Loyola was lucky to be trailing by only eight points at halftime.
Loyola scored the first two points of the second half, and then after a jumper by Thacker restored Cincinnati's eight-point lead, Hunter made a jumper on an offensive rebound. On Cincy's ensuing trip up court, Loyola's full court press forced a turnover, and the Ramblers had a chance to cut the deficit to four. But Hunter's missed shot off the glass came down into Tony Yates' hands.
That's when the Bearcats turned it on. Tony Yates hit 20-foot jumper. Tom Thacker hit a lean-in eight footer. Ron Bonham was wide open for a lay-up under the basket. The Ramblers had a chance to cut the lead to four, but just two minutes later they were down 37-25 against the best defensive team in the nation. Three minutes later it was 45-30. With Cincinnati ahead by 15 points with fewer than 12 minutes remaining until their third consecutive title, the Bearcats began their vaunted stall.
"At that point, I was angry, not at anybody in particular, just at us in general," Egan recalls. "I was probably more outspoken than anyone about the value of our team, the quality of our team-and I really believed it, I wasn't just saying it. And to get that far and not perform, that just gave me a sickening feeling. Even to this day, it never really bothers me to lose something if I perform."
Back at Loyola Hall on Sheridan Road, James Hackett and a couple hundred Loyola fans were listening in the dorm cafeteria. "We were discouraged," Hackett recalls. "But I don't think anyone left the room."
The Ramblers, desperate to make a respectable showing at the very least, turned up the heat on the full court press. The Ramblers cut the margin to 45-33 before George Wilson picked up his fourth foul, prompting the only substitution of the game-- Dale Heidotting replaced Wilson for four minutes. But with Wilson out of the game with four fouls, Tom Thacker and Tony Yates each picked up their fourth foul as the Cincinnati lead began to dwindle.
Hoping to counteract his players' foul trouble, Jucker put the Bearcats into their famous stall. Cincinnati was nationally-renowned for controlling the tempo, taking care of the ball, and waiting patiently for a good shot. But there were still over 10 minutes left to play.
The score was 47-35 with 8:38 left to play after Ron Miller's second basket of the game. Cincinnati called a time out with a 48-37 lead and 7:38 left to play. After a jumper by Rouse, an offensive foul by Thacker, and two free throws by Les Hunter, it was 48-41 with six minutes left. After a missed Yates free throw, and Hunter controlled the rebound. And on the next trip down court, Jerry Harkness hit on a turnaround jumper from just inside the free throw line-- his first field goal of the game-- to cut Cincy's lead to 48-43 with just under five minutes left to play.
Harkness' basket was an awakening, and seemed to undermine the confident Bearcats. As Cincinnati brought the ball upcourt, Harkness stepped into the passing lane to intercept the ball, and he took it straight to the hoop for an easy lay-up. After more than 35 minutes without a field goal, Harkness had two in six seconds. Now it was a three-point game with 4:24 remaining.
After two free throws by Bonham, Harkness answered with one of his own at the other end to make it 50-46. Hark missed the second free throw, but it was tipped out of bounds by Cincinnati. The Ramblers held possession, and the suddenly-hot Harkness scored on a seven-foot jumper over a double-team to make it 50-48 with 2:42 left in the contest.
Cincinnati went back into their stall yet again, looking to eat the clock and get a good shot. But Harkness stepped out and fouled Yates to preserve the clock. Yates scored on the first free throw, but missed the second shot short. George Wilson stepped into the middle of the lane to control the ball, and kicked the ball outside to begin the process of eating the clock again. This time Ron Miller stepped out to foul Yates, but the Cincinnati point guard missed on his first shot. A determined Hunter got good position and skied for the rebound on the miss-nearly jumping into the rafters to coral the offensive rebound. At the other end, Harkness put up a quick six-foot floater from the paint. But Cincinnati's George Wilson went up for the block, and was called for goaltending-- cutting the defending champs' lead to 51-50 with just over a minute left to play.
On the inbound play, Loyola was looing for another steal and quick basket. But while Loyola was looking to pick off a bouce pass, Thacker ran the court, caught a long baseball pass, and strolled into the paint for an uncontested lay-up to make the score 53-50. The Ramblers countered with an eight-foot jumper by Hunter that missed off the rim, and Cincinnati had the ball and a chance to open a 55-50 lead with precious time ticking off the clock. Tom Thacker dribbled the ball to the free throw line, but instead of pulling the ball back to let time tick off the clock, he passed to Tony Yates alone under the basket. Yates missed his open five-foot shot off the glass.
Harkness got the rebound, and brought the ball up court. Starting to feel some rhythm in his offense, he put up a silky-smooth jumper from seven feet out that skipped off the rim. If the ball had landed in the hands of a Bearcat, the game would be over. But Hunter was there on the glass again to tip the ball in. It a one-point game, 53-52, with :15 left in the game. As soon as the ball was inbounded, Harkness fouled Shingleton to put the 5'10" Cincinnati guard on the line with 12 seconds left in the game.
Shingleton made the first shot to put the Bearcats up by two. One more free throw could put the game out of reach for the Ramblers.
In a 1987 Sports Illustrated article, Shingleton was quoted as saying: "I have a picture of that scene hanging in my basement. It was taken through the glass of the backboard, and shows the time on the clock, 12 seconds, and the score, 54-52, and the ball in the air. You know, if I'd made that shot, I could probably have been the youngest senator in the history of the state of Ohio. But I flat missed it. And I've lived with it all these years."
Shingleton's second shot bounced off the rim and into the arms of Les Hunter, who flung an outlet pass to Ron Miller, who in turn flipped the ball to Harkness. The outlet pass to Miller came in the middle of one of his strides, and replays show that he took too many steps with the ball as he tried to get a good handle on his pass. John Egan waited for a whistle to blow. None came-even the officials seemed to be numbed by the Loyola's improbable, unprecedented comeback. At the other end of the court, Jerry Harkness took a jumper to tie the game with five seconds left, and slipped neatly through the bottom of the net. The score was tied at 54-- the first time since the game was tied at 4.
The stunned Bearcats didn't react quickly enough to call a timeout and set up a play to win in regulation. The game was going to overtime. The Loyola players were no longer concerned with being embarrassed. "We were thinking, 'We're back!' and we wished we had another half to play so we wouldn't get squeaked out on a garbage play at the end of overtime-- particularly since they were famous for holding the ball," Egan says.
But the Ramblers turned the tables on the Bearcats. Harkness opened the overtime period with a quick basket to give Loyola its first lead of the entire game. After Cincinnati's George Wilson scored on layup in the paint, Ron Miller made a 20-foot rainbow jumper to put Loyola in front again, 58-56. The Bearcats' Larry Shingleton hit a breakawy lay-up, tying up the game at 58-all with 2:15 left to play. Now it was time for Loyola to hold the ball for a final shot against the team that was most notorious for the stall.
Egan, Loyola's best ball handler, dribbled around the halfcourt for a few seconds, passing the ball to Miller, Harkness, rouse, and then back to Miller again. It was apparent that the Ramblers were going to wait for a last opportunity to put up a late shot for the win. But Loyola was not suited to playing Cincinnati's stall game-Loyola was built to run and shoot, not dribble and hold. Only two and a half years earlier, Miller was a center-- not accustomed to dribbling and passing the ball. As he attempted to pass the ball back to Egan with 1:20 left to play, disaster struck.
"Miller was a great ballplayer in a lot of respects, a great scorer," Egan recalls. "But handling the ball was one of the things he had deficiencies in. He was attempting to pass the ball to me as we interchange. He threw a bad bounce pass off my foot. He's got to lay it out there-there's a way to do it where there isn't any problem. And I'm thinking to myself, 'My God, at this stage, to throw that pass like that…'"
The ball squirted away from Egan, and rolled along the floor toward the center of the court. Several players dived in to get a hand on the ball. Cincinnati's Larry Shingleton corralled the ball, but only just before as a desperate Egan got his hands on it for a jump ball.
"I'm happy that I get a jump ball out of the situation," said Egan. "Shingleton wasn't that much taller than me, he was only about six feet. But I didn't really question whether or not I could get the jump ball, I thought I could jump higher than he could. The idea was to tip the ball between two of our guys to control it."
Ron Miller got control of the tip in the backcourt, and immediately got the ball to the better ball handlers. Harkness dribbled off several seconds before passing back to Egan, who passed it back to Harkness, who made half-hearted drives toward the lane before shoveling the ball off to Miller. Then Miller passed the ball back to Egan to start the process over again.
With eight seconds left, Egan passed the ball to Harkness on the left wing. Harkness dribbled and took three strides, guarded closely by Ron Bonham. Egan decided that Hunter had a better shot from 10 feet out, just left of the lane, and he passed it. Hunter put up a rainbow jumper that bounced off the front of the rim up onto the glass. It came down into the hands of Vic Rouse on the weak side of the court. Rouse was shoulder to shoulder with George Wilson, and the ball caromed past Wilson off the glass toward Rouse, who got both hands on the ball and laid it in neatly off the glass just before the buzzer sounded.