March 20, 1976: The men's basketball team of Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, beats the Virginia Military Institute, a.k.a. VMI, at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina. This advances them to a record of 31-0, and to the NCAA Semifinal at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. Rutgers has reached the Final Four.
One of nine "colonial colleges," which opened before American independence in 1776, Rutgers was best known as the site of the 1st American football game in 1869. But, since then, sports successes had been few and far between.
Now, under coach Tom Young, they had a basketball team that was ready to challenge the rest of the country. The usual starting lineup was guards Mike Dabney and Eddie Jordan, forwards Phil "the Thrill" Sellers and Hollis Copeland, and center "Jammin'" James Bailey, a freshman.
It was one thing to beat regional rivals like Princeton and Seton Hall (also in New Jersey); Columbia, Fordham, Manhattan College and Long Island University (New York City); the University of Pennsylvania and Temple (Philadelphia); Bucknell, Lehigh and Lafayette (Northeastern Pennsylvania); the University of Delaware; the Naval Academy (Maryland); American University (Washington, D.C.); the University of Connecticut; and Boston College.
But beating bigger teams was another thing. On December 4, 1975, they beat Big Ten team Purdue. Between Christmas and New Year's, they went to Greenville, South Carolina to play in the Poinsettia Classic, and beat The Citadel (not a big deal) and Georgia Tech (which was a big deal). They beat West Virginia at Madison Square Garden on February 5.
By this point, home games at the 3,200-seat College Avenue Gymnasium, built in 1931 after a fire burned down the previous gym on the site, roughly on the site of that first college football game, in New Brunswick, Middlesex County, New Jersey, were next to impossible to get into unless you were a student. It got so loud, paint chips fell from the ceiling. (I have had this confirmed by an RU graduate, Class of '76.) The decision to build a new arena was made.
The College Avenue Gym
Rutgers beat the University of Pittsburgh, then Syracuse. On March 1, they closed the regular season at home to St. Bonaventure, still undefeated at 25-0. The Bonnies took an early lead, but the Scarlet Knights came back, and won, 85-80. They entered the ECAC Metro Tournament at Princeton's Jadwin Gymnasium, and beat LIU and St. John's -- schools from Brooklyn and Queens, respectively -- to go 28-0.
It was on to the NCAA Tournament. This was only the 2nd time RU had made the Tournament, having gotten in the year before, and going out in the 1st Round. They had gotten to the Semifinals of the NIT in 1967, with future North Carolina State coach Jim Valvano playing for them.
They played Princeton -- not in New Jersey, but at the Providence Civic Center in Rhode Island. (It's now named the Dunkin' Donuts Center.) (UPDATE: Now, the Amica Mutual Pavilion.) It was the closest game of the season, but Rutgers beat their ancient rivals, 54-53.
On to the Regional Semifinal, in Greensboro. Connecticut was not yet the power it would become, and Rutgers won, 93-79. That led to the Regional Final, also in Greensboro, against VMI. This time, Rutgers was solidly favored, and won, 91-75. They were undefeated. They were 31-0. They were ranked Number 4 in the country. And they were on their way to the Final Four.
Since it was 1976, the Bicentennial year, the Final Four, and the All-Star Games for MLB, the NBA and the NHL, were held in Philadelphia. On March 27, against the University of Michigan, ranked Number 9 entering the Tournament, the bubble finally burst. The Wolverines jumped out to an early lead, and the Knights just couldn't get into their game. Michigan won, 86-70, and RU were 31-1.
In those days, there was a 3rd Place Game, and Rutgers lost that, too, 106-92 to defending National Champion UCLA, to finish 31-2. Indiana, coached by Bobby Knight, and featuring future NBA players Kent Benson, Scott May and Quinn Buckner, beat Michigan, and completed an undefeated season, 32-0. There hasn't been an undefeated season in college basketball since.
Calendar year 1976 was magical for Rutgers: In the Autumn, the football team also went undefeated, 11-0, but was not invited to a bowl game.
In 1977, Rutgers moved into the Rutgers Athletic Center, a.k.a. The RAC (pronounced like "rack"), across the Raritan River from New Brunswick, on the Livingston Campus in Piscataway. From 1986 to 2019, it was named the Louis Brown Athletic Center, after a donation from Brown's family.
Now named the Jersey Mike's Arena, it only seats 9,000, and has never been very good. Plans for renovation, or for a new arena in downtown New Brunswick, have been floated, but it looks like the current nondescript chunk of concrete is going to stay.
The College Avenue Gym still stands, and hosts the RU wrestling and volleyball programs.
Rutgers made the NCAA Tournament again in 1979, getting to the Sweet Sixteen. They made it again in 1983, getting to the 2nd Round. In 1989, they made it as Champions of the Atlantic-10 Tournament. They made it again in 1991. Both times, they went out in the 1st Round. They didn't make it again until 2021, but made it again in 2022.
Despite being the team's top player, Phil Sellers played just 1 season in the NBA, with the 1976-77 Detroit Pistons. Hollis Copeland played 2 seasons with the New York Knicks. James Bailey lasted 9 seasons, playing for both the Knicks and the New Jersey Nets, among other teams.
Eddie Jordan had the most successful pro career, playing 7 seasons, 3 of them with the Nets, and 3 with the Los Angeles Lakers, including winning the 1982 NBA Championship. He later coached the NBA's Sacramento Kings, Washington Wizards and Philadelphia 76ers.
Tom Young started at Rutgers in 1973, and coached them until 1985, when he was lured away by Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. He later served as an assistant to Jordan on the Wizards. He died on March 20, 2022, the 36th Anniversary of his Final Four achievement. As of that date, all the '76 Scarlet Knight players were still alive.
UPDATE: Phil Sellers died on September 19, 2023. The Greensboro Coliseum was renamed the First Horizon Coliseum on October 1, 2024.
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March 20, 1976 was a Saturday. Chester Bennington, the lead singer of rock band Linkin Park, was born.
Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. There were 6 games played in the NBA that day:
* The New York Knicks lost to the Washington Wizards, 109-104 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.
* The Boston Celtics beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 103-96 in overtime at The Spectrum.
* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Atlanta Hawks, 107-99 at The Omni in Atlanta.
* The Buffalo Braves beat the New Orleans Jazz, 115-101 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.
* The Phoenix Suns beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 106-93 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.
* And the Golden State Warriors beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 120-106 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.
There was also 1 game played in the American Basketball Association: The New York Nets beat the Virginia Squires, 109-101 at The Scope in Norfolk. Within 3 months, the Nets would be absorbed into the NBA, playing a last season at the Nassau Coliseum, before becoming the New Jersey Nets, playing 4 seasons at Rutgers before the Meadowlands arena opened.
There were 6 games played in the NHL that day:
* In an "Original Six" matchup, the New York Rangers got clobbered by the Boston Bruins, 8-1 at the Boston Garden.
* The New York Islanders beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 4-2 at the Nassau Coliseum.
* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Washington Capitals, 7-3 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-2 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.
* The California Golden Seals and the Kansas City Scouts played to a tie, 2-2 at the Kemper Arena in Kansas City. (It's now named the Hy-Vee Arena.)
* The Los Angeles Kings beat the Montreal Canadiens, 4-3 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.
* The Buffalo Sabres, the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Atlanta Flames, the Minnesota North Stars, the St. Louis Blues and the Vancouver Canucks were not scheduled.
And 6 games were played in the World Hockey Association:
* The Calgary Cowboys beat the Quebec Nordiques, 8-7 at the Colisée de Québec in Quebec City.
* The New England Whalers and the Indianapolis Racers played to a tie, 1-1 at the Hartford Civic Center. (It's now named the PeoplesBank Arena.)
* The Toronto Toros beat the Cleveland Crusaders, 6-5 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.
* The Cincinnati Stingers beat the Houston Aeros, 2-1 at the Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati. (It's now named the Heritage Bank Center.
* The Phoenix Roadrunners beat the San Diego Mariners, 4-3 at the San Diego Sports Arena. (It's now named the Pechanga Arena.)
Also, Arsenal beat West Ham United, 6-1 at Highbury in North London.
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