The Final Four: The Pursuit of College Basketball Glory

The Final Four: The Pursuit of College Basketball Glory — page 7
THE TOURNAMENT ERA BEGINS The dawn of the jump shot had changed the face of college basketball But the sport still had one nagging problem At season’s end fans had conference champions to celebrate but no real national champ In 1938 the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association in New York City had a solution They came up with an invitation-only tournament featuring the best teams in the country to determine once and for all who was No 1 The National Invitation Tournament NIT was born A committee selected six teams to participate in the first NIT to be held annually at Madison Square Garden in New York City Temple defeated Colorado 60 36 to claim the first NIT title In 1959 Hank Luisetti left was enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame 10 THE FINAL FOUR