The second round of the NIT started today.
Imagine that instead of putting the equipment away for the season, one of the teams that lost in the first round earlier this week was able to turn around and play in the NCAA tournament.
And win it.
Well, it happened in 1944.
At the time, only eight teams played in the NCAA tournament, which started in 1939.
The NIT had started in 1938 and was actually preferred by some schools because it had more media exposure because all of the games in the tournament were played at Madison Square Garden in New York. The NCAA then began holding its championship game at the same site in 1943.
Utah was matched with Kentucky in the first round of the NIT. Adolph Rupp was in his 14th season at the helm of the Wildcats. It would mark the end of the first third of his time on the Kentucky bench. He remained in that position until 1972.
The Utes played well, but eventually lost 46-38 to the Wildcats, who would lose to St. John’s in the next round.
That should have meant the end to Utah’s season and a trip back home after some sightseeing in New York. But everything would change a few hours later.
In the middle of the night the players were rousted from their beds and told to come to the room of coach Vadal Peterson.
Officials from the NCAA basketball tournament had just called, he told his players, and they needed a last-minute replacement for Arkansas, whose team had canceled because of an automobile accident that had killed an assistant coach and one of the players.
The problem was that the first-round NCAA game against Missouri was scheduled two nights later in Kansas City.
That meant the Utes would have to get on the first train out of New York the next morning. There would be no time for Broadway shows, visiting the Statue of Liberty and riding to the top of the Empire State Building.
Utah had a good regular season in 1943-44, although the schedule wasn’t challenging. The Utes found it difficult to find games because many college student-athletes were fighting in World War II.
Many of Utah’s games that season were against military base teams the region. The Utes had an 18-3 regular season record. They received the final invite to the NIT and were getting the last call to the NCAA.
“We've made a good showing here, and we've made some money," Peterson told his players. "Now we have a chance to see New York. What do you think?"
The coach's tone implied that he thought it might be a good idea if they called it a season then and there.
In addition to the scheduling difficulty, the Utes didn't have a home gymnasium. Their fieldhouse had been converted into an Army barracks.
There were only nine players on the team. Seven were freshmen, with one sophomore and one junior. The average age was 18 1/2. All were Utahns and the majority were Mormons who had grown up within 35 miles of the Utah campus.
They'd have all been in the service except for the fact that the seven freshmen weren't 19 yet and therefore not eligible for the draft.
The sophomore was center Fred Sheffield, who was in medical school; and the junior was Wat Misaka, a Japanese American who, at that stage of the war, couldn't be drafted. Within a year, virtually every member of the team, including Misaka, would be off joining the war effort.
The team decided to keep playing and left New York for Kansas City.
The Utes beat Missouri 45-35 in their NCAA Western Regional opener, which sent them against Iowa State, which had defeated Pepperdine 44-39.
The Cyclones, like all the teams Utah faced in its postseason run, were older and more experienced Utes. Utah did not have any armed services programs in its curriculum, so there were no servicemen on campus who were still available to play college basketball.
Iowa State was such a heavy favorite in the title game that Reaves Peters, the tournament director, went to Utah officials before the game and tactfully explained that the winner would have to catch a New York-bound train at midnight. He had already checked Iowa State's players out of their hotel rooms and if it was all right with the Utes, they'd be leaving their luggage in Utah's rooms.
As it turned out, after Utah beat Iowa State 40-31, so the Cyclone players stayed that night in Utah's rooms, and the Utes slept in Pullmans, on their way back to the Empire State for the championship game vs. Eastern Region champion Dartmouth.
Back in New York on the morning of the championship game, Utah assistant coach Pete Couch overheard a breakfast conversation among the Dartmouth players. They were suggesting that they should play an intrasquad scrimmage before the game, so the people could get their money's worth.
Couch passed that information on in the pregame locker room.
The game went to overtime. Herb Wilkinson picked up and a loose ball near the free throw line and made an off-balance shot that just beat the buzzer, and the Big Green 42-40.
Utah’s Arnie Ferrin was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. More on him later.
Here’s some video of the game. There is no sound. You’ll notice a jump ball at the :37 mark. Presumably jump balls at the time were at the spot of the tie-up. Eventually they were held at the free throw line and ultimately eliminated in favor of alternating possessions.
They were the toast of New York. Parties were held in their honor everywhere. Their money was no good in any of New York's finest restaurants and theatres. They saw Finian's Rainbow and the Ice Follies. They ate at the Copa Cabana. They were feted at the Waldorf-Astoria. They were on Kate Smith's CBS radio show and Senator Elbert Thomas invited them to Washington, D. C. to dine.
That was one invitation that they declined.
According to the book “Blitz Kids” by Tres and Josh Ferrin, Arnie Ferrin’s son and grandson, the team spent 20 days on the road and 11 of those sleeping on a train.
Arnie Ferrin
In addition to the pair of postseason titles in 1944, Ferrin also helped Utah win the 1947 NIT and became the only four-time all-American at Utah.
He would then play pro basketball with the Minneapolis Lakers from 1949-1951.
Here are both sides of a trading card of Ferrin that appeared on Scott’s Potato Chips.
The Lakers won the Basketball Association of America (later the NBA) championship in 1949, beating the Washington Capitols four games to two.
As a rookie in the 1948-49 season, he averaged 8.2 points.
The next season, the Lakers beat the Syracuse Nationals in six games in the finals. The Lakers had to move Games 3 and 4 of that series to the St, Paul Auditorium and played the deciding Game 6 at the Minneapolis Auditorium.
In 1951, the Lakers won their first-round series over the Indianapolis Olympians but then lost to the Rochester Royals (who had been the Syracuse Nationals the previous season) in the Western Division finals.
Ferrin would go on to stints as general manager of the ABA's Utah Stars and athletic director at Utah.
1943-44 Utah basketball results
Regular season
Utah 48, 18th Replacement Wing 24
Utah 51, A.S.T.P. Company D 21
Utah 76, A.S.T.P. Company B 24
Utah 71, A.S.T.P. ERC 17
Utah 61, Hill Field Fliers 26
Utah 63, Weber 25
Utah 60, Weber Navy 25
Utah 45, Kearns 2nd Air Force 35
Utah 41, Fort Douglas 26
Utah 64, Wendover Airfield 28
Utah 54, Idaho State 43
Utah 46, Ecker Studio 44
Utah 48, Colorado College 34
Utah 55, Fort Logan 38
Fort Warren 61, Utah 59
Utah 57, Kearns 37
Salt Lake Air Base 54, Utah 39
Utah 78, Bushnel Hospital 31
Utah 52, Idaho State 40
Dow Chemical 46, Utah 36
Utah 62, Salt Lake Air Base 38
NIT
Kentucky 46, Utah 38
NCAA
Utah 45, Missouri 35
Utah 40, Iowa State 31
Utah 42, Dartmouth 40 (OT)
Red Cross Benefit Game
Utah 43, St. John’s 36
1944 NIT
All games at Madison Square Garden, New York
Quarterfinals
Oklahoma A&M 43, Canisius 29
Kentucky 46, Utah 38
St. John's 44, Bowling Green 40
DePaul 68, Muhlenberg 45
Semifinals
St. John's 48, Kentucky 45
DePaul 41, Oklahoma A&M 38
Third place
Kentucky 45, Oklahoma A&M 29
Championship
St. John's 47, DePaul 39
1944 NCAA tournament
Quarterfinals
At Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City
Iowa State 44, Pepperdine 39
Utah 45, Missouri 35
At Madison Square Garden, New York
Dartmouth 63, Catholic 38
Ohio State 57, Temple 47
Semifinals
At Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City
Utah 40, Iowa State 31
At Madison Square Garden, New York
Dartmouth 60, Ohio State 53
Championship
At Madison Square Garden, New York
Utah 42, Dartmouth 40 (OT)