Quote: Originally Posted By cbriese on 12/28/2009
Hard to believe Evansville, with a storied college basketball history, would be untouched for five calendar years.
I agree.
Evansville won 5 DII titles, second only to the 8 won by
Kentucky Wesleyan. It helped a little, though, that the first four were won without ever leaving home since Evansville hosted the tourney for many years.
I attended the 1966 tournament in Evansville, won by Kentucky Wesleyan. This was before the time clock and undefeated Ashand (OH) met Ky. Wesleyan in the semi-finals. Ashland was famous for 'stall ball', under Coach
Bill Musselman, and most of their games ended up with scores in the 30-40 range. Wesleyan beat them 45-32 in the semis. Also in the tournament was Cheyney St., coached by none other than future Temple legend
John CheneyBill Musselman Ashland for the
U. of Minnesota where he got in 'heap big trouble' with the NCAA. After he , they were placed on probabtion for over 100 violations
His tenure at Minnesota was tainted after an incident during the 1971-72 season when tow his players, Taylor and Behagen, attacked
Ohio State center Luke Witte on the court. Witte was seriously injured, taken off the court on a stretcher and hospitalized with injuries, including to an eye, that negatively impacted his basketball career. Two other Ohio State players were also hospitalized as a result of the brawl.
Musselman maintained that he had nothing to do with the incident. Still, critics claimed he had stirred his players into a frenzy before the game that night and encouraged overly aggressive play.