{"id":584927,"date":"2026-04-04T12:02:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T12:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/584927\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T12:02:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T12:02:15","slug":"to-the-globes-bob-ryan-college-basketball-has-held-a-special-place-for-more-than-70-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/584927\/","title":{"rendered":"To the Globe\u2019s Bob Ryan, college basketball has held a special place for more than 70 years"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"paragraph | gutter_20_0\">The year was 1954. I occasionally like to flatter myself by saying I was aware that Indiana had won the 1953 NCAA Tournament, but it was far more likely knowledge I would acquire later. I heard about it in 1954 because the new champion was La Salle and my father, Bill Ryan, was the assistant director of athletics at rival Villanova. In addition, one of my neighbors was a La Salle undergraduate. The triumph of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/metro\/obituaries\/2014\/01\/28\/hall-fame-basketball-player-tom-gola-dies\/EMnnLbpaIxFHMqEdZhZYdP\/story.html?p1=BGSearch_Overlay_Results\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/metro\/obituaries\/2014\/01\/28\/hall-fame-basketball-player-tom-gola-dies\/EMnnLbpaIxFHMqEdZhZYdP\/story.html?p1=BGSearch_Overlay_Results\">the great Tom Gola<\/a> and friends was a neighborhood story. And Philadelphia was roughly 40 miles away from my Trenton, N.J., residence.<\/p>\n<p>Get Starting Point<\/p>\n<p>A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph | gutter_20_0\">Speaking of Gola, any list of the best college players of all time must include his name.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph | gutter_20_0\">I really was into college basketball. I like to say that what I call my \u201cfoundation sports\u201d were baseball and college basketball. My dad had introduced me to the famed Pennsylvania Palestra when I was 6. One of my most vivid <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2021\/08\/28\/sports\/bob-ryan-looks-back-sports-world-his-youth\/?p1=BGSearch_Advanced_Results\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2021\/08\/28\/sports\/bob-ryan-looks-back-sports-world-his-youth\/?p1=BGSearch_Advanced_Results\">childhood memories<\/a> took place the night of Jan. 8, 1954 \u2014 Elvis\u2019s 19th birthday, but who knew? \u2014 when I was in the row behind the Villanova bench as the Wildcats\u2019 Bob Schafer scored 46 points against Baldwin-Wallace \u2014 the late, great Bud Collins\u2019s alma mater, but who knew? \u2014 to break the Palestra scoring record held by teammate Larry Hennessy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph | gutter_20_0\">So the tournament was into my head, and it has never left. It was a tough love for the simple reason that unless you were front and center at a venue you could only read about it. Your first real connection might not happen until you were filled in by the next season\u2019s preview publications. But there was a certain romanticism about it that fired my youthful imagination, and you can bet that when TV opportunities came around in the early \u201960s, I was parked in front of my set.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph | gutter_20_0\">Before those chances came about, however, you can also bet I was aware of key tournament happenings. I knew about the two <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2026\/02\/14\/sports\/bill-russell-university-of-san-francisco\/?p1=BGSearch_Overlay_Results\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2026\/02\/14\/sports\/bill-russell-university-of-san-francisco\/?p1=BGSearch_Overlay_Results\">Bill Russell\/San Francisco<\/a> titles in 1955 and \u201956; the epic North Carolina triple-overtime triumph over Wilt Chamberlain and Kansas in \u201957; Adolph Rupp\u2019s Kentucky \u201cFiddlin\u2019 Five\u201d knocking off Elgin Baylor and Seattle in \u201958; Darrall Imhoff\u2019s game-winning tip-in getting Cal past Jerry West and West Virginia in \u201959; Ohio State\u2019s rout of that same Cal team in \u201960; and Cincinnati\u2019s back-to-back conquests of Ohio State in \u201961 and \u201962. None were available to us as live events. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph | gutter_20_0\">That changed forever in 1963. That\u2019s when Eddie Einhorn\u2019s fledgling TVS network gave us the title game between two-time defending champ Cincinnati and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2021\/08\/28\/metro\/jerry-harkness-81-dies-star-historic-integrated-loyola-basketball-team\/?p1=BGSearch_Advanced_Results\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2021\/08\/28\/metro\/jerry-harkness-81-dies-star-historic-integrated-loyola-basketball-team\/?p1=BGSearch_Advanced_Results\">upstart Loyola of Chicago<\/a>, whose coach, George Ireland, had the guts to start an unheard-of four Black players. Imagine that!<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph | gutter_20_0\">I was so excited to see it that I think I watched the whole game while standing up. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph | gutter_20_0\">Cincinnati had a 45-30 lead when coach Ed Jucker entered into a milk-the-clock mode. Bad idea. The Ramblers came creeping back to force overtime at 54-54. With two minutes left in OT and the teams tied again, 58-58, Ireland went to his own stall (no shot clock, remember) and was rewarded when a Vic Rouse putback gave Loyola a 60-58 win. And I watched it!<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"img-DIUU5GFDU33N27OE5UEPMIPGNU-image\" alt=\"The late Jerry Harkness was a star on the 1963 Loyola Chicago title team that Bob Ryan watched win on the TVS network.\" class=\"height_a width_full invisible width_full--mobile width_full--tablet-only\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/DIUU5GFDU33N27OE5UEPMIPGNU.jpg\"  loading=\"lazy\"\/>The late Jerry Harkness was a star on the 1963 Loyola Chicago title team that Bob Ryan watched win on the TVS network.Paul Cannon\/Associated Press<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph | gutter_20_0\">That was five years before my first in-person NCAA experience. I was the student radio broadcaster in 1967 when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2023\/01\/27\/sports\/dishing-out-some-praise-former-boston-college-great-billy-evans-consummate-point-guard\/?p1=BGSearch_Overlay_Results\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2023\/01\/27\/sports\/dishing-out-some-praise-former-boston-college-great-billy-evans-consummate-point-guard\/?p1=BGSearch_Overlay_Results\">Boston College<\/a> beat UConn and St. John\u2019s to set up a quarterfinal against North Carolina. The Tar Heels ran us out in the second half and Dean Smith went to his first Final Four.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph | gutter_20_0\">Three years later, I was in College Park, Md., for this newspaper covering my first Final Four. It was yet another UCLA triumph, with Sidney Wicks outplaying Jacksonville\u2019s Artis Gilmore in the championship game.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph | gutter_20_0\">The NCAA Tournament has subsequently given me some of my greatest career memories, among them <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2020\/04\/05\/sports\/35-years-ago-villanova-pulled-off-an-incredible-upset-over-georgetown-mark-plansky-had-front-row-seat-it-all\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2020\/04\/05\/sports\/35-years-ago-villanova-pulled-off-an-incredible-upset-over-georgetown-mark-plansky-had-front-row-seat-it-all\/\">Villanova\u2019s stunning conquest<\/a> of mighty Georgetown in 1985 and the unparalleled greatness of the 104-103 Duke victory over Kentucky (yes, the Christian Laettner game) in overtime in 1992. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph | gutter_20_0\">The Villanova-Georgetown game stands apart as the Wildcats shot 22 for 28 from the floor (9 for 10 in the second half) in the last college game played without a shot clock. Georgetown had entered the game with an invincible aura. Villanova had entered the tournament with 10 losses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph | gutter_20_0\">Duke-Kentucky was an entirely different matter. This was a heavyweight slugfest, played at the highest artistic level. It will forever be remembered for its ending, but even without the dramatic winning basket this remains the best college game I\u2019ve ever seen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph | gutter_20_0\">Now we have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2026\/03\/29\/sports\/uconn-duke-march-madness-score\/?p1=BGSearch_Advanced_Results\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2026\/03\/29\/sports\/uconn-duke-march-madness-score\/?p1=BGSearch_Advanced_Results\">the Braylon Mullins shot<\/a> in last Sunday\u2019s 73-72 win over Duke in the Elite Eight for the archives. His game-winner gave the Huskies their only lead since 2-0. They had trailed by 19. Sports can provide monumental thrills with very different scripts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph | gutter_20_0\">OK, I\u2019ll get to it. We now live in a time when many lifelong fans of big-time college sports are checking out because of the radically different circumstance in which the teams are constructed and governed. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2025\/06\/04\/sports\/ncaa-president-charlie-baker-college-sports-revenue\/?p1=BGSearch_Overlay_Results\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2025\/06\/04\/sports\/ncaa-president-charlie-baker-college-sports-revenue\/?p1=BGSearch_Overlay_Results\">The NIL money and transfer portal<\/a> have permanently altered the landscape. Academics? Ha! Loyalty? What\u2019s that? We are being forced to make a moral judgment in order to give our support to the entire enterprise.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph | gutter_20_0\">I\u2019m not going to preach \u2014 not today. I\u2019ll just say that I can put the sausage factory aspect of the whole thing aside once they throw the ball up. If you can\u2019t do that, well, I understand.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph | gutter_20_0\">We\u2019ve had some fantastic games in this year\u2019s tournament. Call me an enabler, but to me this is the tournament I\u2019ve always known, and I\u2019ve known a few.<\/p>\n<p>The Interview: Bob Ryan<\/p>\n<p>Bob Ryan gives out superlatives to the best game, favorite moment, and more for his top picks from 2025.<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagline | font_primary inline_block  margin_top_32\">Bob Ryan can be reached at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonglobe.com\/2026\/04\/04\/sports\/ncaa-tournament-college-basketball-lifetime-fan\/mailto:robert.ryan@globe.com\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"font-size:inherit;letter-spacing:.5px\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">robert.ryan@globe.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The year was 1954. I occasionally like to flatter myself by saying I was aware that Indiana had&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":584928,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-584927","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=584927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/584928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}