Ratcliff Explodes for 30 pts as 1972 Long Beach State Pulls Away

In our latest Value Add Basketball Game simulation between the great teams in history ...

The team and coach with the greatest ever first four years at the D1 level – Long Beach State and Jerry Tarkanian – showed what a contender they are for the title among our new teams when 1^st team All-American Ed Ratleff put up a massive 30 pt, 5 steal game to advance to the Elite 8. This incredible program start had the bad luck of playing in the West during the greatest dynasty in the history of any US sport by UCLA - and in this actual season this was the second straight season Long Beach State was eliminated by Bill Walton and UCLA - the No. 1 ranked team in the history of our Value Add Basketball Game.

The team went 99-17 and finished 19^th, 16^th, 5^th and 3^rd these first four years of existence and this 1972 season was the middle of three Elite 8 appearances before Tarkanian went to UNLV to build some of the most dominant team ever there.

While Ratleff was the 1^st team All-American and went 6^th in the draft he was not alone, and four teammates - Glenn McDonald, Chuck Terry, Eric McWilliams and Leonard Gray also went onto the NBA.

UC San Diego  looked in position for a 2nd straight upset with a 47-46 lead with 12:35 (21 possessions to play) but superstar Ratcliff scored 30 points to advance Jerry Tarkanian's 1972 Long Beach State to our Elite 8 of new teams. UC San Diego upset another legendary player in the first round, upsetting Kent State and another legendary sports figure in Antonio Gates, who went on to be one of the greatest five tightends in the NFL instead of continuing his career in the NBA. https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/antonio-gates-1.html

Long Beach State will next get either the only team to ever win both the NIT and NCAA title in the same year - the 1950 City College of New York (CCNY) team or the 1986 Cleveland State Sweet 16 team.