So this was an article that came out after we won the SWC tourney and got the automatic NCAA bid in 1986. I copy and pasted it from a .pdf file and the formatting is way off, but I thought it might be an interesting read for some. Either from a nostalgic standpoint or just to show how we and our conference were regarded from a basketball standpoint in the 80s.
Sorry again for the formatting -- my .pdf translator software isn't very good!
SWC Basketball Teams Must Battle for Respect
By DENNE H. FREEMAN AP Sports Writer DALLAS
That elevator ride to the penthouse of the national basketball elite just ended in a plunge down the elevator shaft for the Southwest Conference. Where have you gone Eddie Sutton, Abe Lemons and Guy V.Lewis? They've escaped to Kentucky, Oklahoma City and fishing, respectively. Sutton at Arkansas, Lemons at Texas and freshly retired Lewis at Houston brought SWC basketball out of football's towering oval shadow in the 1970s. Joining forces with SWC coaching settlers Shelby Metcalf of Texas A&M and Gerald Myers of Texas Tech, the league began making national thump-thumpers take notice.
There was Arkansas upsetting UCLA and beating Notre Dame for third place in the consolation game of The Final Four after losing narrowly to Kentucky, There was Texas capturing the ' National Invitational Tournament with a dazzling victory over North Carolina State. There was Texas A&M beating North Carolina in double overtime in a second round NCAA playoff "game and making the Midwest Regional, only to lose to Louisville in overtime.
There was Houston making The Final Four for three consecutive years, only to lose emotional championship games to North Carolina State and Georgetown. There were national television dates with big payoffs and coast-to-coast newspaper publicity. - Beginning in 1977, the SWC had at least two' teams in the NCAA playoffs and sometimes three. Before 1977, it had never had multiple teams at the NCAA party.
Now, the SWC' is back to where it was in the beginning: up against the NCAA selection committee's wall. When the SWC failed to get an at-large bid even though it had two teams with 20 victory seasons (A&M and TCU) and TCU Athletic Director Frank Windegger on the committee, it was like not getting a Christmas card from a good buddy.
For eight good years, the SWC may not have been the big hit of the NCAA playoff party, but it certainly was an appreciated and honored guest. The SWC is now being treated like a mechanic in greasy covered overalls who wandered into the punch line at a debutante's party. SWC Tournament champion Texas Tech was served up to powerful Georgetown by the NCAA like happy hour nachos.
"Turn out the lights, the party's over, They say that all good things must end, Turn out the lights, the party's over. But tomorrow starts the same old thing again." Willie Nelson probably wasn't thinking about the SWC when he wrote that little ditty but that states the case for the SWC. It's at ground zero again.
The SWC needs stronger non-conference schedules, better packaging of its product, and better recruiting. The announcers during the league games are a hoot except for the knowledgeable Frank Fallon. Did you hear the one about the announcing team calling Arkansas Coach Nolan Richardson "Nolan " Ryan" and Coach Metcalf "Coach Whitfield" and Aggie star Don Marbury "Don May-Berry"at the recent SWC Postseason Tournament? It happened. And television is the window through which the SWC's product is viewed. You've heard the excuses for 1985: Young teams, no big men, the NCAA has. a bias against the SWC because of all the illegal recruiting problems, etc. . Windegger has a more honest answer: "The league just wasn't very good this year." It all traces back to the fact the, SWC is still considered a football stepchild,' nationally. The: league played down to that reputation this season. TCU, A&M, Texas, and SMU had to take an bid cold tater from the NIT and go on the road as consolation prizes to their NCAA disappointments.
It could be a long climb but of the ruins of the 1985 season for the SWC. Some big image rebuilding is on order. And tomorrow starts the same old thing over again.
Sorry again for the formatting -- my .pdf translator software isn't very good!
SWC Basketball Teams Must Battle for Respect
By DENNE H. FREEMAN AP Sports Writer DALLAS
That elevator ride to the penthouse of the national basketball elite just ended in a plunge down the elevator shaft for the Southwest Conference. Where have you gone Eddie Sutton, Abe Lemons and Guy V.Lewis? They've escaped to Kentucky, Oklahoma City and fishing, respectively. Sutton at Arkansas, Lemons at Texas and freshly retired Lewis at Houston brought SWC basketball out of football's towering oval shadow in the 1970s. Joining forces with SWC coaching settlers Shelby Metcalf of Texas A&M and Gerald Myers of Texas Tech, the league began making national thump-thumpers take notice.
There was Arkansas upsetting UCLA and beating Notre Dame for third place in the consolation game of The Final Four after losing narrowly to Kentucky, There was Texas capturing the ' National Invitational Tournament with a dazzling victory over North Carolina State. There was Texas A&M beating North Carolina in double overtime in a second round NCAA playoff "game and making the Midwest Regional, only to lose to Louisville in overtime.
There was Houston making The Final Four for three consecutive years, only to lose emotional championship games to North Carolina State and Georgetown. There were national television dates with big payoffs and coast-to-coast newspaper publicity. - Beginning in 1977, the SWC had at least two' teams in the NCAA playoffs and sometimes three. Before 1977, it had never had multiple teams at the NCAA party.
Now, the SWC' is back to where it was in the beginning: up against the NCAA selection committee's wall. When the SWC failed to get an at-large bid even though it had two teams with 20 victory seasons (A&M and TCU) and TCU Athletic Director Frank Windegger on the committee, it was like not getting a Christmas card from a good buddy.
For eight good years, the SWC may not have been the big hit of the NCAA playoff party, but it certainly was an appreciated and honored guest. The SWC is now being treated like a mechanic in greasy covered overalls who wandered into the punch line at a debutante's party. SWC Tournament champion Texas Tech was served up to powerful Georgetown by the NCAA like happy hour nachos.
"Turn out the lights, the party's over, They say that all good things must end, Turn out the lights, the party's over. But tomorrow starts the same old thing again." Willie Nelson probably wasn't thinking about the SWC when he wrote that little ditty but that states the case for the SWC. It's at ground zero again.
The SWC needs stronger non-conference schedules, better packaging of its product, and better recruiting. The announcers during the league games are a hoot except for the knowledgeable Frank Fallon. Did you hear the one about the announcing team calling Arkansas Coach Nolan Richardson "Nolan " Ryan" and Coach Metcalf "Coach Whitfield" and Aggie star Don Marbury "Don May-Berry"at the recent SWC Postseason Tournament? It happened. And television is the window through which the SWC's product is viewed. You've heard the excuses for 1985: Young teams, no big men, the NCAA has. a bias against the SWC because of all the illegal recruiting problems, etc. . Windegger has a more honest answer: "The league just wasn't very good this year." It all traces back to the fact the, SWC is still considered a football stepchild,' nationally. The: league played down to that reputation this season. TCU, A&M, Texas, and SMU had to take an bid cold tater from the NIT and go on the road as consolation prizes to their NCAA disappointments.
It could be a long climb but of the ruins of the 1985 season for the SWC. Some big image rebuilding is on order. And tomorrow starts the same old thing over again.
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