Fun Fact. Duke’s first Final Four victory was over Thursday’s opponent, Oregon State.
Fun Fact, 2. It meant absolutely nothing.
Some context. Vic Bubas’ fourth Duke team was loaded. The 1963 Blue Devils were led by 6-5 senior forward Art Heyman and 6-4 junior forward Jeff Mullins. The duo combined for 45 points and 19 rebounds per game. Junior center Jay Buckley exploded in mid-season and gave Duke a substantial low-post presence. He ended the season at 11 points and 10 rebounds per game.
Duke outrebounded opponents by over 11 rebounds per game.
The Blue Devils lost a couple of heartbreakers early, to Miami and Davidson but ended the regular season on a 15-game winning streak. Duke won its three ACC Tournament games by margins of 19, 17 and 11 points.
The NCAA Tournament was different in those days. Twenty-five teams, one per conference, everybody in their geographical region, no seeds. And the Final Four was just the semifinals and finals and those games were held on Friday and Saturday, with limited TV coverage.
Duke was matched against NYU in its first NCAA game. NYU probably doesn’t mean much to most readers today but they were a national power in the 1960s. Forward Barry Kramer was a first-team AP All-American and rebounding phenom Happy Hairston--a Winston-Salem native--would average over 10 rebounds per game in an 11-year NBA career.
And NYU had defeated Duke in the 1960 Elite Eight.
There was a history.
Duke led by as many as 18 but had to hold off a late NYU rally for an 81-76 win. Heyman struggled with his shot--6 for 21--but Mullins picked up the slack with 25 points, Buckley with 16 rebounds.
Kramer led everyone with 34 points.
Duke handled St. Joseph’s 73-59 in the East Region title game to advance to the final weekend, held in Louisville.
Duke was joined there by Loyola of Chicago, Cincinnati and Oregon State.
The Beavers were the outlier. Cincinnati, Duke and Loyola were the top three teams in the final AP poll in that order but Oregon State was unranked; the AP poll only went 10 deep in 1963. OSU was the only regional winner to advance off an upset. They defeated fourth-ranked Arizona State and future pro star “Pogo” Joe Caldwell 83-65.
Oregon State was an interesting team. Their best player was 7-1 All-American Mel Counts, who averaged 21.3 points and 15.6 rebounds per game that season. Their second-leading scorer was senior point guard Terry Baker.
Terry Baker. Does that name ring a bell? A few months earlier Baker had been named the winner of the 1962 Heisman Trophy, as a quarterback. He was the first Heisman winner from a school west of Texas and remains the only person to win the Heisman and play in the Final Four. Given the level of specialization in sports these days this does not seem like a record that will be equaled any time soon.
Oh, and Baker scored the game’s only points in Oregon State’s 6-0 win over Villanova in the Liberty Bowl with a 99-yard touchdown run, a record that can be equaled but not broken.
They do not make them like that anymore.
Duke and Loyola met in one semifinal. Duke trailed 44-31 at the half but closed to 74-71, with 4:19 left. But the Ramblers went on a 10-0 run, Heyman fouled out on a 50/50 charge and Loyola pulled away for a 94-75 win.
The other semifinal matched Oregon State against Cincinnati. The latter were winners of the 1961 and 1962 NCAA titles and were trying to become the first team to win three straight.
It was not pretty. The Beavers stayed close until Counts picked up his fourth foul early in the second half. Cincy pulled away for an 80-46 win.
The title game between Loyola and Cincy would be remembered as a classic had there been national TV coverage. Cincinnati led by as much as 15 points in the second half but blunted their momentum by going to a delay game too soon. Loyola tied the game just before the buzzer and then won it 60-58 in overtime, with another buzzer-beater, this one on a tip-in.
But that’s not all. Loyola started four Black players, Cincinnati started three. This was the first time Black players made up the majority of starters in an NCAA title game. Texas Western’s 1966 NCAA title has become iconic for good reason but movies easily could be made about the 1963 season.
Just before that title game Duke and Oregon State played in the consolation game. I’ve talked to people who played and coached in NCAA consolation games over the years and I’ve yet to find anyone who thought the game should have been played or who especially enjoyed participating in it. Barely 24 hours prior two teams had dreams of a national title and now they were playing for the right for what? “We’re number three!! We’re number three?”
But Duke’s attitude was if we have to play, we’ll darn well play our best. Bubas would allow nothing less.
Duke controlled the game. It was 34-23 at the half, 85-63 at the final whistle. Counts had 25 points and 18 rebounds but shot 9 for 30 from the field, leading--if that’s the word--the Beavers into a 27 percent shooting nightmare.
Buckley had a lot to do with that, making the big man work for every point. Heyman led Duke with 22 points, two more than guard Fred Schmidt. Coupled with the 29 points and 12 rebounds he notched against Loyola, Heyman did enough to be named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, combining that with all those national player of the year awards.
Duke and Oregon State have only played one other time. In December 1953 Duke upset Oregon State 71-61 in the Dixie Classic, en route to Duke’s only Dixie Classic title.
Not much of a traditional rivalry and given Duke’s status as a heavy favorite, only an upset is likely to change that. But that most recent meeting does actually check one box in the Duke basketball history universe.
I went with my parents to Cole to see the 1963 Eastern Regionals. Thanks for reviving that great memory. Also the NCAA final game was the first on tv.
You missed the biggest Duke-Oregon State fact of them all… Duke played the Beavers in the 1942 Rose Bowl game in Durham!