The FACTS about IU and the 1940 and 1953 NCAA Championships...

[13thman]

What

Fixed your post

And leave it to a PUke to try and marginalize IU's national championships using supposition and convoluted logic. They seem to go to great lengths minimize those "dusty old banners" they claim they and nobody else cares about.

What would you expect from a fan base whose two most revered names are a cheat and a drop out. A program that has named their court in honor of a coach that has several wins on his resume vacated.

 

[ovaltine]

It is time to set the record straight. Too many times the IU championships of 1940 and 1953 have been attempted to be minimized as a less than true championship. Here is the info on the two NCAA championships that mathboy and other broilees plus at least one uniformed IU fan, have tried to minimize and demean over the years:

1940 NIT:
The 1940 NIT had 6 teams in the tournament. Those teams were Colorado, Duquesne, Oklahoma A&M., Long Island, St. John's and DePaul. Colorado defeated Duquesne 51-40 to win the tournament.

The 1940 NCAA:
The 1940 NCAA tournament had 8 teams, including the 1940 NIT champion and runnerup in the tournament. Colorado(17-2), Duquesne(19-2), Indiana(17-3), Kansas(17-5), Springfield(16-2), Rice(21-2), WesternKy(24-5), and USC(19-2).

Note that the 1940 NIT champion(Colorado) and runnerup(Duquesne) are also both in the 1940 NCAA tournament. Indiana beat Duquesne in its opening game, 39-30. USC beat Colorado 38-32 in the second round. Rice then beat Colorado in the consolation game. The 1940 NIT champion, Colorado, finished fourth in the 1940 NCAA tournament. The runnerup in the NIT Dusquesne, lost handily to the NCAA Champion - Indiana. Indiana beat blueblood Kansas in the championship game 60-42.

Mathboy and other broilees are also way off on the 1953 Indiana National Championship:

The 1953 NIT Tournament:
The 1953 NIT had 12 entries, dominated by New York and east coast schools. The participants were Duquesne, Georgetown, LaSalle, Manhattan, Niagara, St. John's, Seton Hall, BYU, Louisville, St.Louis, Tulsa and Western Kentucky. Seton Hall beat another NYC team, St. John's 58-52, to win the NIT.

The 1953 NCAA Tournament had 22 teams, including Indiana, Kansas, LSU, Washington, Notre Dame, Oklahoma A&M, and DePaul. Indiana defeated Kansas for the championship, after defeating DePaul, Notre Dame and LSU along the way

I guess it's fun for some to somehow minimize IU's first two championships. It is clear that the NCAA tournament was the prestigious tournament in 1940 and 1953. IU won on the court, beating the best in the nation. No bakery shop declared it seven years after the season -IU won it on the court. FYI, the 1953 IU team ENTERED the tourney as the #1 ranked team in the nation by both the AP and UPI polls. #1, prior to the tourney start, so I'm of the opinion that IU was thought to be and PROVED that it was the best team in the country in 1953.

In 1940, both the NIT Champion and the runnerup also played in the NCAA. IU beat the runnerup in the opening game. The NIT champ was beaten twice in the NCAA tourney and ended up in fourth place in the NCAA tourney. The 1953 IU team began the NCAA tournament as the #1 ranked team in the country, by both the AP and UPI polls, and preceded to live up to their ranking by winning the 1953 NCAA Championship. It is evident that all FIVE of IU's championships were proved on the court, against the best teams in the country.

"Uniformed"???

You are "uniformed."

Read. Learn.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Invitation_Tournament

Some selections from the link that will attempt to pull your ostrich melon out of the sand .....

Early advantages over the NCAA Tournament[edit]
In its early years, the NIT offered some advantages over the NCAA tournament:

• There was limited national media coverage of college basketball in the 1930s and '40s, and playing in New York City provided teams greater media exposure, both with the general public and among high school prospects in its rich recruiting territory.
• The NCAA tournament selection committee invited only one team each from eight national regions, potentially leaving better quality selections and natural rivals out of its field, which would opt for the NIT.[5][6]

Preeminence[edit]
From its onset and at least into the mid-1950s, the NIT was regarded as the most prestigious showcase for college basketball.[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] All-American at Princetonand later NBA champion with the New York Knicks and United States Senator Bill Bradley stated:

In the 1940's, when the NCAA tournament was less than 10 years old, the National Invitation Tournament, a saturnalia held in New York at Madison Square Garden by the Metropolitan Intercollegiate Basketball Association, was the most glamorous of the post-season tournaments and generally had the better teams. The winner of the National Invitation Tournament was regarded as more of a national champion than the actual, titular, national champion, or winner of the NCAA tournament.

— A Sense of Where You Are: Bill Bradley at Princeton[18]

Ray Meyer, Bob Knight, and Bill Bradley are telling you how wrong your position is.

But you think your opinion carries more weight.

Perfect.

Simply perfect.

 

[brianiu]

"Uniformed"???

You are "uniformed."

Read. Learn.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Invitation_Tournament

Some selections from the link that will attempt to pull your ostrich melon out of the sand .....

Early advantages over the NCAA Tournament[edit]
In its early years, the NIT offered some advantages over the NCAA tournament:

• There was limited national media coverage of college basketball in the 1930s and '40s, and playing in New York City provided teams greater media exposure, both with the general public and among high school prospects in its rich recruiting territory.
• The NCAA tournament selection committee invited only one team each from eight national regions, potentially leaving better quality selections and natural rivals out of its field, which would opt for the NIT.[5][6]

Preeminence[edit]
From its onset and at least into the mid-1950s, the NIT was regarded as the most prestigious showcase for college basketball.[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] All-American at Princetonand later NBA champion with the New York Knicks and United States Senator Bill Bradley stated:

In the 1940's, when the NCAA tournament was less than 10 years old, the National Invitation Tournament, a saturnalia held in New York at Madison Square Garden by the Metropolitan Intercollegiate Basketball Association, was the most glamorous of the post-season tournaments and generally had the better teams. The winner of the National Invitation Tournament was regarded as more of a national champion than the actual, titular, national champion, or winner of the NCAA tournament.

— A Sense of Where You Are: Bill Bradley at Princeton[18]

Ray Meyer, Bob Knight, and Bill Bradley are telling you how wrong your position is.

But you think your opinion carries more weight.

Perfect.

Simply perfect.

He is talking about 40 and 53. You are off topic again making irrelevant replies to arguments you are imagining in your head. Seek help

 

[mathboy]

Seems like my comment caused some degree of discussion here. I didn't realize how sensitive the fan base was about stuff that happened so long ago. Wow! It was not my intention to belittle the IU program. I wish Purdue had similar history.

 

[ovaltine]

He is talking about 40 and 53. You are off topic again making irrelevant replies to arguments you are imagining in your head. Seek help

The college basketball world did not start and end in 1940 and 1953 during that era. Sticking your melon in the sand like this is simply embarrassing.

 

[brianiu]

The college basketball world did not start and end in 1940 and 1953 during that era. Sticking your melon in the sand like this is simply embarrassing.

No one said it did. Those are the years we are talking about. Sorry you are not up to discussing it.

 

[jimmygoiu]

No one said it did. Those are the years we are talking about. Sorry you are not up to discussing it.

O can't help himself. He has to have the last word, even if it is totally off topic.

 

[Tasmanian Devil]

This movie came out a few months after your last banner

This movie came out in 1932 - you know, the year of your donut-shop banner?

I’m not sure there is anything more pathetic than little brother trying to troll his biggest rivals message board - especially when trying to discuss national championships. Someone who has no clue about the subject matter; like a guy who dropped a brick from his bedroom window, watched it fall to the ground and now thinks they’re qualified to discuss astrophysics . . .

 

[Columbus-Boiler]

They count, you can argue easy paths in a lot of the years for a lot of champions by the luck of the draw, not just the NCAA vs. NIT years. You can argue how meaningful they are but they are National Championships and legit. I don't like sour grapes even coming from my school's fans.

Enjoy our current dominance in the rivalry but don't nitpick over something that happened before WWII or the Korean War.

 

[jimmygoiu]

I will say that in researching this, there are great sources relating early college hoops,from ESPN History of College Basketball to NIT and NCAA sources. Well worth the read. Thanks brianiu and HoosierJimbo for all the info.