The odd reason Army has never made the NCAA tournament
Army has never been a college basketball powerhouse. Heck, they've hardly been a college basketball house. West Point has one winning season in the past 24 years and hasn't made the postseason since a little-known coach named Mike Krzyzewski took the team to the NIT in 1978.
As has been mentioned countless times over the past week, Army is one of the original 120 Division I teams to never make the NCAA tournament, joining The Citadel, Northwestern, St. Francis (NY) and William & Mary. (The last two teams lost in their conference finals this week.) But, oddly, in 1968, the Black Knights did make the NCAA tournament. So why are they on this ignominious list? Because a 28-year-old, third-year coach named Bobby Knight turned down the bid.
In 1967-68, Knight's team, led by a Polish point guard named Mike Krzyzewski, went 20-5 in what is still the best winning percentage in team history. (Army only has four 20+ win seasons since starting play in 1902.) With the NCAA bid extended, why did Knight pass it up?
Like all old stories, there are a number of explanations and it's tough to know exactly what to believe. Most importantly, the landscape of college basketball was far different back then. The NCAA tournament wasn't the juggernaut it was today and refusing a bid was common in the 1940s and 50s. But by the 1960s, the NCAAs seemed to be the goal of most, with a few exceptions. So why did Knight pass on the chance to play in what was then the Not So Big Dance?
Is Lew Alcindor the reason Army never played in the NCAA tournament? (AP)
In his book, Last Dance: Behind the Scenes at the Final Four, John Feinstein wrote that Knight refused the NCAA invitation because he felt the Black Knights had a better chance of winning the NIT, as Lew Alcindor and UCLA were playing in the NCAAs. (Knight was right about the Bruins winning the title, of course.) Plus, Madison Square Garden was closer to West Point (about 60 minutes away) than wherever the NCAA would have shipped the Cadets and the team wanted its Corps of Cadets to be part of the action. And the NIT had been something of a boon to Army in the 1960s, with the team making the tournament seven times in 10 years, including four of Knight's five seasons at the helm.
After Knight left, the team suffered through horrible losing years, including a 3-22 mark in 1975 that led to the hiring of that Polish point guard with the name that was tough to spell. In his third season, Mike Krzyzewski led Army to its last 20-win season. In his fourth season, the team made its final postseason appearance. Despite going out with a losing 9-17 record in 1980, Krzyzewski was hired by Duke. The rest is history.
The irony is that the 1968 NIT didn't work out well for Army. Bob Kinney, the sports information director at Army, described why. "We were the first team picked to play in the NIT in 1968," he said. "We drew Notre Dame on St. Patrick's eve night, with two Irish officials, and lost by four in the opening round. All of that is factual."
There have been recent signs of life at West Point. Over the past three years, the team is playing .500 basketball (exactly) and has its first winning season since 1985. Maybe, one day, the streak will end and Bobby Knight's 47-year-old decision will be forgotten to the ages.
(AP)