johnb
10-22-2012, 01:12 PM
Featherston's front page article about the 1961 tournament was interesting, but partly because of the competition that Wake faced in the East Regionals. Imagine the surprise if St Bonaventure's or St. Joseph's made it that far next year. That drew me to the 1961 final top 20. In addition to the usual suspects (generally flagship state universities), the poll included Bradley, Niagara, Drake, and Holy Cross in addition to St Bonaventure. Common thread for those schools is that none plays at the top level anymore, and the other is that they are all smallish, private, and without a major league affiliation. While Duke certainly is good for the ACC, the ACC has been very good for Duke. It's also interesting to note that since only conference champs went to the NCAA, teams ranked 5 (Carolina), 6, 8,9, and 10 (Duke) weren't able to compete...
1961 Final AP Poll
Before Tourn Head Coach Final Record
1 Ohio St. 24–0 Fred Taylor 27–1
2 Cincinnati 23–3 Ed Jucker 27–3
3 St. Bonaventure 22–3 Eddie Donovan 24–4
4 Kansas St. 22–3 Tex Winter 23–4
5 N. Carolina 19–4 Frank McGuire same
6 Bradley 21–5 Chuck Orsborn same
7 USC 20–6 Forrest Twogood 21–8
8 Iowa 18–6 Sharm Scheuerman same
9 West Virginia 23–4 George King same
10 Duke 22–6 Vic Bubas same
11 Utah 21–6 Jack Gardner 23–8
12 Texas Tech 14–9 Polk Robinson 15–10
13 Niagara 16–4 Taps Gallagher 16–5
14 Memphis St. 20–2 Bob Vanatta 20–3
15 Wake Forest 17–10 Bones McKinney 19–11
16 St. John's 20–4 Joe Lapchick 20–5
17 St. Joe's,PA 22–4 Jack Ramsay 25–5
18 Drake 19–7 Maury John same
19 Holy Cross 19–4 Roy Leenig 22–5
20 Kentucky 18–8 Adolph Rupp 19–9
1961 Final AP Poll
Before Tourn Head Coach Final Record
1 Ohio St. 24–0 Fred Taylor 27–1
2 Cincinnati 23–3 Ed Jucker 27–3
3 St. Bonaventure 22–3 Eddie Donovan 24–4
4 Kansas St. 22–3 Tex Winter 23–4
5 N. Carolina 19–4 Frank McGuire same
6 Bradley 21–5 Chuck Orsborn same
7 USC 20–6 Forrest Twogood 21–8
8 Iowa 18–6 Sharm Scheuerman same
9 West Virginia 23–4 George King same
10 Duke 22–6 Vic Bubas same
11 Utah 21–6 Jack Gardner 23–8
12 Texas Tech 14–9 Polk Robinson 15–10
13 Niagara 16–4 Taps Gallagher 16–5
14 Memphis St. 20–2 Bob Vanatta 20–3
15 Wake Forest 17–10 Bones McKinney 19–11
16 St. John's 20–4 Joe Lapchick 20–5
17 St. Joe's,PA 22–4 Jack Ramsay 25–5
18 Drake 19–7 Maury John same
19 Holy Cross 19–4 Roy Leenig 22–5
20 Kentucky 18–8 Adolph Rupp 19–9