The 1 Great Fordham Team (1971) Advances to Sweet 16

Fordham’s first basketball season was in 1902–03, and in their first 30 seasons they never had a losing record while winning more than 70% of their games. They were part of the “New York Seven,” which dominated much of early college basketball. Who would have guessed that after 123 seasons, Fordham has only won NCAA Tournament games in one season—the only year they featured two future NBA players: Charlie Yelverton, who averaged more than 23 points, and Ken Charles, who would average more than 24 points per game two years later before both went to the NBA.

That season was 1971, and it was quite a ride. Fordham came within five points of beating Jim Chones and Marquette. As I wrote in my book on Marquette basketball, Marquette went 49–1 while Chones was on the team—their only loss being a 60–59 defeat to Ohio State in the NCAA Tournament that year.

Fordham’s only other two losses that season were a one-point setback to Temple and then a loss to Villanova in the NCAA Tournament. Along the way, Fordham beat #14 Notre Dame, won their opening NCAA Tournament game over Furman, and after being eliminated shocked #6 South Carolina in the consolation game. Those remain Fordham’s only two NCAA Tournament wins in 123 seasons of basketball and across more than eight decades of tournament history.

Their opponent in our tournament was last year’s New Mexico team that beat Marquette in the opening round—the same squad that won the Mountain West over several programs that are now headed to the new Pac-12.

The most entertaining battle came at center. Charlie Yelverton pulled down 14 rebounds while New Mexico’s Nelly Junior Joseph grabbed 13 before fouling out. The two essentially neutralized each other defensively, but the surprise difference was point guard John Burik exploding for an unusual 20-point outing against New Mexico star Donovan Dent. With that performance, Fordham controlled the game and rolled to a 75–62 win, becoming the 11th Sweet 16 team in our tournament of newly added historical teams.

 

Pos	New Mexico 2025	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Pts, Reb,Ast,Ht,pro?
1-PG	Donovan Dent	5	0	2	1	1	1	2	1	2	20.4 Pts, 2.3 Reb, 6.4 Ast,6'2
2-SG	Tru Washington	14	0	4	6	12	2	1	1	1	11.1 Pts, 4.0 Reb, 1.9 Ast,6'4
3-SG	Mustapha Amzil	10	1	2	3	5	9	0	0	2	11.1 Pts, 5.4 Reb, 1.4 Ast,6'10
4-PF	Filip Borovicanin	5	0	2	1	2	5	0	1	2	5.9 Pts, 4.6 Reb, 1.1 Ast,6'9
5-C	Nelly Junior Joseph	4	0	2	0	0	13	1	5	5	14.2 Pts, 11.0 Reb, 1.2 Ast,6'9
Pos	New Mexico 2025	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Pts, Reb,Ast,Ht,pro?
1-PG	C.J. Noland	7	1	2	0	0	1	0	0	3	7.9 Pts, 2.4 Reb, 1.1 Ast,6'2
2-SG	Kayde Dotson	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	2.3 Pts, 0.4 Reb, 0.8 Ast,6'2
3-SG	Braden Appelhans	7	1	2	0	0	2	1	0	1	3.3 Pts, 0.7 Reb, 0.5 Ast,6'7
4-PF	Jovan Milicevic	7	1	2	0	0	2	0	0	3	3.8 Pts, 2.0 Reb, 0.4 Ast,6'10
5-C	Atiki Ally Atiki	2	0	1	0	0	4	0	0	2	2.0 Pts, 2.5 Reb, 0.3 Ast,6'9
	11 Turnovers	63	4	20	11	20	40	5	8	22
Pos	Fordham 1971	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Pts, Reb,Ast,Ht,pro?
1-PG	John Burik	20	3	5	1	1	5	6	0	2	9.5 Pts, 2.6 Reb, 5.6 Ast,5'11
2-SG	Bill Mainor	8	0	4	0	0	2	1	2	5	14.1 Pts, 3.3 Reb, 1.9 Ast,6'1
3-SG	Ken Charles	13	1	4	2	2	3	1	3	3	15.4 Pts, 5.1 Reb, 2.1 Ast,6'3-NBA
4-PF	Bart Woytowicz	8	0	3	2	4	8	0	0	2	10.2 Pts, 6.9 Reb, 1.2 Ast,6'6
5-C	Charlie Yelverton	7	0	3	1	4	14	0	2	1	23.3 Pts, 12.0 Reb, 1.8 Ast,6'2-NBA
Pos	Fordham 1971	Pts	3pt	2pt	FT	Att	Reb	Stl	Blk	Fl	Pts, Reb,Ast,Ht,pro?
1-PG	Tom Pipich	6	0	3	0	0	1	0	0	2	2.4 Pts, 0.3 Reb, 0.7 Ast,6'1
2-SG	P.J. Carlesimo	3	0	1	1	2	1	0	0	1	0.2 Pts, 0.0 Reb, 0.7 Ast,6'1
3-SG	Bob Larbes	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	1.8 Pts, 0.5 Reb, 0.3 Ast,6'5
4-PF	George Zambetti	5	0	2	1	1	2	0	0	2	6.0 Pts, 3.8 Reb, 1.0 Ast,6'5
5-C	Tom Sullivan	3	0	1	1	2	1	1	0	1	4.7 Pts, 4.9 Reb, 1.1 Ast,6'4
	15 Turnovers	75	4	27	9	16	38	9	7	20

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