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An MU pre-Quin NCAA Tourney history recap
Posted on: March 15, 2021 at 11:49:21 CT
FIJItiger MU
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This is long, and will only pertain to those interested in reading the details of our program's history. But I think its warranted to clear up some of the misconceptions being applied below when trying to assess our tournament history retroactively.
The NCAA tournament was just coming into existence in the late 1930’s, coinciding with an era of MU being good. MU won the Big 6 in 1939 and 1940 with conference records of 7-3 and 8-2 respectively, but there was yet to be much recognition of the importance of NCAA tourney play and MU did not participate in the field either season. As such, OU went in 1939 and ku went in 1940 instead with both programs collecting what is now retroactively recognized as their first Final Fours.
From there MU was not an NCAA Tourney caliber program until Norm Stewart rebuilt the Tigers after a devastating Bob VanAtta era. 5 years into his rebuild Norm fielded his first national caliber squad which finished the year ranked #18 nationally and 21-5 overall. Unfortunately it also finished 2nd in the Big 8 in an era where only conference regular season champs were eligible for NCAA tourney play so they went to the NIT. The following season MU was even better, climbing as high as #5 and never falling out of the top 15, to again finish 21-5. Unfortunately again finishing 2nd in the Big 8 so the season ended in the NIT. 1974-75 saw MU go 18-8 and again be not included in the field due to not winning their conference.
In 1975-76 MU was the Big 8 champion for the first time under Norm Stewart. Beat a quality Washington team anchored by future long time NBA 7’er James Edwards, rather easily dispatched Texas Tech, then came up short in a back and forth game against a Michigan team that advanced to the national championship game to earn MU an Elite Eight final. The next season MU went 21-8, but after not getting an NCAA tourney bid declined an NIT invite based on heightened expectations for the program.
The next season MU was not good, finishing tied for 6th in conference and below .500 overall. However after winning the conference tournament they secured an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament and were widely cited as an example of all that was wrong with tourney expansion and giving automatic qualifiers to conference tournament champions at the time. There they faced #14 ranked Utah in the opening round, taking them to double overtime but losing.
MU returned to being NCAA tourney caliber in 1979-80 with the arrival of Steve Stipanovich, and won the Big 8. That translated into a #5 seed, but Stipo was sick with the flu in the opening round and MU trailed San Jose State by 7 at halftime. MU adjusted to using Tom Dore who rose to the occasion with 11 points, 5 boards, and 5 blocks in one of his finest college performances and the Tigers rode 24 points from Ricky Frazier to a 10 point victory. They then faced #9 ranked Notre Dame who featured a wealth of future NBA talent. MU’s Marc Dressler was surprisingly the best player on the court with 32 points and MU prevailed 84-80 in what was possibly the best NCAA tourney victory in program history. They then advanced to the Sweet Sixteen against #1 seed LSU who was ranked #3 nationally, and lost by 5.
Although MU again won the Big 8 the next year, it was a disappointing season and a very weak year for the conference which translated to a #9 seed in the NCAA tournament. The Tigers drew #8 seed Lamar, a team they had blown out in non-con play earlier in the year but using a slowed tempo Lamar won the opening round matchup by 5.
1981-82 was MU’s first season as truly nationally elite, and saw them ascend to the #1 national ranking for the first time ever. After winning both the conference regular and postseason championships they earned a 2 seed which came with a first round bye. They dispatched Marquette in the second round to advance to the regional semi-finals in St. Louis. In the Sweet Sixteen MU got to face the 6 seed Houston team that would go on to be known as Phi Slamma Jamma featuring NBA greats Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwan. Despite a career high 29 from Ricky Frazier MU came up 1 point short due to shaky free throw shooting down the stretch to lose 79-78.
MU finished 1982-83 ranked #10 and again Big 8 regular season champions, which earned them a 2 seed and again a first round NCAA Tourney bye. In the second round MU faced 7 seed Iowa and Norm had the first of his perceived bad NCAA tourney games. MU fell behind 32-20 at half and Stipo was in foul trouble throughout, and the Tigers lost 77-63.
MU returned to the NCAA tourney field in 1985-86, although not through a particularly successful campaign. They got one of the last at large bids to major conference teams as an 11 seed, and in a game that went down to the wire lost 66-64 to 6 seed UAB.
1986-87 was an MU team that could make some noise on the national level. Although they were unranked until the final week of March, the Tigers won both the Big 8 regular season and postseason conference championships and were awarded a 4 seed in the NCAA tournament. They faced #11 seed Xavier and suffered an opening round 1 point loss 70-69. It was MU’s first shocking early exit under Norm and he gave what became the regrettable quote afterwards explaining that “We were just flat. Our legs were dead and we left part of ourselves in Kansas City” referencing their focus on winning a conference championship. That perception would be used against him the rest of his coaching career.
In 1987-88 MU was slightly above average, getting 4th place in the Big 8 and winning 19 games. They got a 6 seed to face opening opponent 11 seed Rhode Island. Despite 35 from Tiger star Derrick Chievous MU lost 87-80 to an opponent that then knocked off 3 seed Syracuse and took 2 seed Duke right to the wire.
MU’s 1988-89 team was deep, talented, and huge. They won a then program record 29 games en route to a Big 8 postseason championship and earned a 3 seed in the NCAA tournament. Unfortunately the tournament would play out without Norm Stewart who received a cancer diagnosis and turned over coaching duties to assistant Rich Daly. MU smoked opening round opponent Creighton 85-69, then absolutely destroyed Texas 108-89. That set up a Sweet Sixteen matchup with 2 seeded Syracuse featuring Derrick Coleman and Sherman Douglas. In a back and forth contest MU lost by three 83-80 to end the season.
1989-90 is correctly pointed to as Norm’s terrible first round tourney loss. After multiple times reaching the #1 national ranking during the season and winning the Big 8 regular season title, MU collapsed down the stretch due to injuries on an uncharacteristically lacking depth roster. MU tumbled to a 3 seed but still held promising expectations when they matched up with 14 seed Northern Iowa in the opening round. The Tigers fell behind by double digits at halftime and Tiger star Doug Smith fouled out with 7 minutes remaining. Still the Tigers managed to claw their way back and with 29 seconds remaining tied the game. From there, while heavily guarded by Anthony Peeler UNI’s Maurice Newby made a 25 ft buzzer beater to send MU home 74-71 losers. It was likely MU’s worst NCAA tourney loss in program history and a disastrous ending to a very talented season.
MU earned a bid to the NCAA tournament the following season by winning the Big 8 conference tourney and securing the automatic bid, but did not participate in tourney play due to an NCAA postseason ban. They did make it back the next year in Peeler’s senior season, where a tie for 2nd in conference and 21 overall wins translated into a 5 seed. In a game notable for a power outage via lightning strikes, the Tigers defeated West Virginia by double digits to advance to take on 4 seed Seton Hall. Despite 28 from Peeler the Tigers lost 88-71.
The following season MU was not good at all, finishing 7th in the Big 8. However after winning the conference tournament championship they again found themselves in the NCAA Tourney field, this time as a 10 seed. Facing Temple’s matchup zone, the likes of which they had not been exposed to all year, the Tigers did reasonably well but fell in expected fashion 75-61 to exit with a first round loss.
MU roared back in 1993-94 with an undefeated conference season and earned the program’s only #1 seed in the NCAA tournament. They dispatched 16 seed Navy 76-53 to advance against a Wisconsin team featuring future NBA talent Michael Finley. The Tigers set the program record for points in an NCAA tourney game with a 109-96 victory to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. There they faced #3 seed Syracuse who got a Herculean second half effort from Adrian Autry with 31 points after halftime, but the Tigers were able to survive with a 98-88 overtime win to advance to the Elite Eight. #2 seed Arizona proved to be a bad matchup with their backcourt speed featuring Damon Stoudamire and Khalid Reeves, and the Tigers fell 92-72.
Despite large roster turnover the Tigers remained in the national mix in 1994-95 with 20 wins overall and a 4th place Big 8 finish, earning them an 8 seed and opening round 8/9 matchup with Bobby Knight’s Indiana squad. The Tigers were victorious 65-60 to advance against #1 overall seed UCLA. In a back and forth game in which MU stood toe to toe with the eventual national champions, the Tigers took a 1 point lead with 4 seconds remaining only to watch UCLA’s Tyus Edney race down the court in what became one of the NCAA tournament’s memorable moments to end MU’s season 75-74 at the buzzer.
MU would return to the NCAA tournament only 1 more time under Norm, his final season of 1998-99. The Tigers got 2nd place in what was a historically down year for the Big 12, which earned them a #8 seed in the 8/9 game against New Mexico. Big 8 POY Albert White struggled and only made 6-19 shots and the Tigers had to turn it into a defensive contest. When New Mexico scored with 6 seconds left to take the lead, the clock operator failed to stop the clock and the Tigers frantic scramble resulted in a wild miss from Brian Grawer to lose 61-59 in the opening round. Unknown to all at the time, it would be the final coaching contest of Norm Stewart’s career and he would retire that offseason and MU would replace him with Duke assistant Quin Snyder.
Edited by FIJItiger at 11:59:18 on 03/15/21
The NCAA tournament was just coming into existence in the late 1930’s, coinciding with an era of MU being good. MU won the Big 6 in 1939 and 1940 with conference records of 7-3 and 8-2 respectively, but there was yet to be much recognition of the importance of NCAA tourney play and MU did not participate in the field either season. As such, OU went in 1939 and ku went in 1940 instead with both programs collecting what is now retroactively recognized as their first Final Fours.
From there MU was not an NCAA Tourney caliber program until Norm Stewart rebuilt the Tigers after a devastating Bob VanAtta era. 5 years into his rebuild Norm fielded his first national caliber squad which finished the year ranked #18 nationally and 21-5 overall. Unfortunately it also finished 2nd in the Big 8 in an era where only conference regular season champs were eligible for NCAA tourney play so they went to the NIT. The following season MU was even better, climbing as high as #5 and never falling out of the top 15, to again finish 21-5. Unfortunately again finishing 2nd in the Big 8 so the season ended in the NIT. 1974-75 saw MU go 18-8 and again be not included in the field due to not winning their conference.
In 1975-76 MU was the Big 8 champion for the first time under Norm Stewart. Beat a quality Washington team anchored by future long time NBA 7’er James Edwards, rather easily dispatched Texas Tech, then came up short in a back and forth game against a Michigan team that advanced to the national championship game to earn MU an Elite Eight final. The next season MU went 21-8, but after not getting an NCAA tourney bid declined an NIT invite based on heightened expectations for the program.
The next season MU was not good, finishing tied for 6th in conference and below .500 overall. However after winning the conference tournament they secured an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament and were widely cited as an example of all that was wrong with tourney expansion and giving automatic qualifiers to conference tournament champions at the time. There they faced #14 ranked Utah in the opening round, taking them to double overtime but losing.
MU returned to being NCAA tourney caliber in 1979-80 with the arrival of Steve Stipanovich, and won the Big 8. That translated into a #5 seed, but Stipo was sick with the flu in the opening round and MU trailed San Jose State by 7 at halftime. MU adjusted to using Tom Dore who rose to the occasion with 11 points, 5 boards, and 5 blocks in one of his finest college performances and the Tigers rode 24 points from Ricky Frazier to a 10 point victory. They then faced #9 ranked Notre Dame who featured a wealth of future NBA talent. MU’s Marc Dressler was surprisingly the best player on the court with 32 points and MU prevailed 84-80 in what was possibly the best NCAA tourney victory in program history. They then advanced to the Sweet Sixteen against #1 seed LSU who was ranked #3 nationally, and lost by 5.
Although MU again won the Big 8 the next year, it was a disappointing season and a very weak year for the conference which translated to a #9 seed in the NCAA tournament. The Tigers drew #8 seed Lamar, a team they had blown out in non-con play earlier in the year but using a slowed tempo Lamar won the opening round matchup by 5.
1981-82 was MU’s first season as truly nationally elite, and saw them ascend to the #1 national ranking for the first time ever. After winning both the conference regular and postseason championships they earned a 2 seed which came with a first round bye. They dispatched Marquette in the second round to advance to the regional semi-finals in St. Louis. In the Sweet Sixteen MU got to face the 6 seed Houston team that would go on to be known as Phi Slamma Jamma featuring NBA greats Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwan. Despite a career high 29 from Ricky Frazier MU came up 1 point short due to shaky free throw shooting down the stretch to lose 79-78.
MU finished 1982-83 ranked #10 and again Big 8 regular season champions, which earned them a 2 seed and again a first round NCAA Tourney bye. In the second round MU faced 7 seed Iowa and Norm had the first of his perceived bad NCAA tourney games. MU fell behind 32-20 at half and Stipo was in foul trouble throughout, and the Tigers lost 77-63.
MU returned to the NCAA tourney field in 1985-86, although not through a particularly successful campaign. They got one of the last at large bids to major conference teams as an 11 seed, and in a game that went down to the wire lost 66-64 to 6 seed UAB.
1986-87 was an MU team that could make some noise on the national level. Although they were unranked until the final week of March, the Tigers won both the Big 8 regular season and postseason conference championships and were awarded a 4 seed in the NCAA tournament. They faced #11 seed Xavier and suffered an opening round 1 point loss 70-69. It was MU’s first shocking early exit under Norm and he gave what became the regrettable quote afterwards explaining that “We were just flat. Our legs were dead and we left part of ourselves in Kansas City” referencing their focus on winning a conference championship. That perception would be used against him the rest of his coaching career.
In 1987-88 MU was slightly above average, getting 4th place in the Big 8 and winning 19 games. They got a 6 seed to face opening opponent 11 seed Rhode Island. Despite 35 from Tiger star Derrick Chievous MU lost 87-80 to an opponent that then knocked off 3 seed Syracuse and took 2 seed Duke right to the wire.
MU’s 1988-89 team was deep, talented, and huge. They won a then program record 29 games en route to a Big 8 postseason championship and earned a 3 seed in the NCAA tournament. Unfortunately the tournament would play out without Norm Stewart who received a cancer diagnosis and turned over coaching duties to assistant Rich Daly. MU smoked opening round opponent Creighton 85-69, then absolutely destroyed Texas 108-89. That set up a Sweet Sixteen matchup with 2 seeded Syracuse featuring Derrick Coleman and Sherman Douglas. In a back and forth contest MU lost by three 83-80 to end the season.
1989-90 is correctly pointed to as Norm’s terrible first round tourney loss. After multiple times reaching the #1 national ranking during the season and winning the Big 8 regular season title, MU collapsed down the stretch due to injuries on an uncharacteristically lacking depth roster. MU tumbled to a 3 seed but still held promising expectations when they matched up with 14 seed Northern Iowa in the opening round. The Tigers fell behind by double digits at halftime and Tiger star Doug Smith fouled out with 7 minutes remaining. Still the Tigers managed to claw their way back and with 29 seconds remaining tied the game. From there, while heavily guarded by Anthony Peeler UNI’s Maurice Newby made a 25 ft buzzer beater to send MU home 74-71 losers. It was likely MU’s worst NCAA tourney loss in program history and a disastrous ending to a very talented season.
MU earned a bid to the NCAA tournament the following season by winning the Big 8 conference tourney and securing the automatic bid, but did not participate in tourney play due to an NCAA postseason ban. They did make it back the next year in Peeler’s senior season, where a tie for 2nd in conference and 21 overall wins translated into a 5 seed. In a game notable for a power outage via lightning strikes, the Tigers defeated West Virginia by double digits to advance to take on 4 seed Seton Hall. Despite 28 from Peeler the Tigers lost 88-71.
The following season MU was not good at all, finishing 7th in the Big 8. However after winning the conference tournament championship they again found themselves in the NCAA Tourney field, this time as a 10 seed. Facing Temple’s matchup zone, the likes of which they had not been exposed to all year, the Tigers did reasonably well but fell in expected fashion 75-61 to exit with a first round loss.
MU roared back in 1993-94 with an undefeated conference season and earned the program’s only #1 seed in the NCAA tournament. They dispatched 16 seed Navy 76-53 to advance against a Wisconsin team featuring future NBA talent Michael Finley. The Tigers set the program record for points in an NCAA tourney game with a 109-96 victory to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. There they faced #3 seed Syracuse who got a Herculean second half effort from Adrian Autry with 31 points after halftime, but the Tigers were able to survive with a 98-88 overtime win to advance to the Elite Eight. #2 seed Arizona proved to be a bad matchup with their backcourt speed featuring Damon Stoudamire and Khalid Reeves, and the Tigers fell 92-72.
Despite large roster turnover the Tigers remained in the national mix in 1994-95 with 20 wins overall and a 4th place Big 8 finish, earning them an 8 seed and opening round 8/9 matchup with Bobby Knight’s Indiana squad. The Tigers were victorious 65-60 to advance against #1 overall seed UCLA. In a back and forth game in which MU stood toe to toe with the eventual national champions, the Tigers took a 1 point lead with 4 seconds remaining only to watch UCLA’s Tyus Edney race down the court in what became one of the NCAA tournament’s memorable moments to end MU’s season 75-74 at the buzzer.
MU would return to the NCAA tournament only 1 more time under Norm, his final season of 1998-99. The Tigers got 2nd place in what was a historically down year for the Big 12, which earned them a #8 seed in the 8/9 game against New Mexico. Big 8 POY Albert White struggled and only made 6-19 shots and the Tigers had to turn it into a defensive contest. When New Mexico scored with 6 seconds left to take the lead, the clock operator failed to stop the clock and the Tigers frantic scramble resulted in a wild miss from Brian Grawer to lose 61-59 in the opening round. Unknown to all at the time, it would be the final coaching contest of Norm Stewart’s career and he would retire that offseason and MU would replace him with Duke assistant Quin Snyder.
Edited by FIJItiger at 11:59:18 on 03/15/21
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An MU pre-Quin NCAA Tourney history recap - FIJItiger MU - 3/15 11:49:21