Lucas' Ohio State Face the Big O's Cincy and Michigan

In our updated rankings of the top 25 all-time college basketball teams, you will notice several have only one or two games played. We decided we will focus on those teams now - particularly the teams in our Top 75 that only have one game played. We set up "doubleheaders" for each of them to see if they hold or can even improve their rankings.

The most intriguing double header we set up heading into the Michigan vs. Ohio State football game this weekend, was letting Jerry Lucas 1960 Buckeyes National Champs play the 1989 Champs from Michigan - but also the game that never happened - a 1960 National Championship between them and the Cincinnati Bearcats as the warm up for Michigan.

In 1960, the Bearcats were ranked 1st all year behind Oscar Robertson, the Big O, and both the Bearcats and Buckeyes made the Final 4. The Bearcats lost in the semifinals for the third straight year with the Big O, this time to a great Cal team - which ironically had left the Pac-12 that year only to later return, so Oscar Robertson did not face Jerry Lucas for the championship.

The really ironic part of the story is the Big O then went to the NBA, and the two years after he left, Cincinnati not only won the national title, but did it by beating Jerry Lucas and Ohio State. The were then national runner-ups in 1963, to make it six straight years in the Final Four. Cal interrupted what would have been three straight national title rematches between the two teams from the same state. Those two teams were in the middle of a 98 year stretch during which they never played on each others campuses, so they could only meet in tournaments. 

Bearcats fans may ask why I included their 1960 team instead of one of the national champs the next two years. Well, that is because I look at both the greatest teams ever but also the greatest players ever to choose who gets a team in the game. The Big O was the only player who went onto the NBA from this Bearcats team in the game, and no player from the National Champs went onto the NBA.

Click on the game to play yourself - it contains everything you need to play the Value Add Basketball game, which lets you pit any of 136 great all-time college teams against each other. To pick your two teams it is best to click on this Google doc and print the pages of the teams you want (each team is one page). I track my games on this google sheet, but play your own for free!

 

Team	Year	Player You Might Know	Opponent	Opp Yr
Arkansas	1994	Corliss Williamson	LSU	1992
Arkansas	1994	Corliss Williamson	Kentucky	2006
Cincinnati	1960	Oscar Robertson	Ohio St.	1960
Connecticut	1999	Richard Hamilton	San Francisco	1956
Connecticut	1999	Richard Hamilton	Duke	1992
Dayton	2020	Obi Toppin	Purdue	1969
Duke	1992	Christian Laettner	Connecticut	1999
Duke	2001	Shane Battier	UNLV	1991
Georgia Tech	1990	Dennis Scott	Purdue	1969
Indiana	1981	Isaiah Thomas	Iowa	2021
Iowa	2021	Luka Garza	Indiana	1981
Iowa	2021	Luka Garza	Kansas	1957
Jacksonville	1970	Artis Gilmore	San Francisco	1956
Kansas	1957	Wilt Chamberlain	Iowa	2021
Kentucky	1996	Antoine Walker	Arkansas	1994
Loyola-Chicago	1963	Jerry Harkness	Michigan	1989
Loyola-Chicago	1963	Jerry Harkness	St. John's	1985
LSU	1992	Shaquille O'Neal	Arkansas	1994
LSU	1992	Shaquille O'Neal	Marquette	1971
Marquette	1971	Jim Chones	LSU	1992
Marquette	2011	Jimmy Butler	St. John's	1985
Michigan	1989	Glen Rice	Ohio St	1960
Michigan	1989	Glen Rice	Loyola	1963
Ohio St.	1960	Jerry Lucas	Cincinnati	1960
Ohio St.	1960	Jerry Lucas	Michigan	1989
Purdue	1969	Rick Mount	Dayton	2020
Purdue	1969	Rick Mount	Georgia Tech	1990
San Francisco	1956	Bill Russell	Connecticut	1999
San Francisco	1956	Bill Russell	Jacksonville	1956
St. John's	1985	Chris Mullin	Marquette	2011
St. John's	1985	Chris Mullin	Loyola	1963
UNLV	1991	Larry Johnson	Duke	2001