Where’s the 1952 national catholic league championship banner?

[Herman Cain]

Disappointing for sure. We felt we could take down UCLA. As one who was present at the Garden for both the NIT semis and finals, it was a big deal to feel like you owned the basketball capital of the world, even if it was a lesser tourney, hey?

Back in those days there was 3 networks, Sports Illustrated  and the  local newspapers. Al's decision got a ton of publicity as the  NIT was still very prominent in the sports media world.   

Also it should be noted the NCAA field that year was 25 teams. Some conferences had rules only allowing one school to go to a tournament. . So for example , Purdue with the great Rick Mount did not make the NCAA field

The 16 teams that were invited to the  NIT  were not cream puffs and featured many future NBA/ABA stars. In today's NCAA tournament they all would have been invited.

Army ( Coached by Bobby Knight)
Cincinnati
Duke
Duquesne
Georgetown
Georgia Tech
LSU ( Featured Pete Maravich)
Louisville
Manhattan
Marquette
Massachusetts ( Feature Dr. J)
Miami (OH)
North Carolina ( Feature Charlie Scott)
Oklahoma ( Feature Gar Heard and Clifford Ray)
St. John's ( Featured The Whopper  Billy Paultz)
Utah       ( Featured Mike Newlin)

[Galway Eagle]

Back in those days there was 3 networks, Sports Illustrated  and the  local newspapers. Al's decision got a ton of publicity as the  NIT was still very prominent in the sports media world.   

Also it should be noted the NCAA field that year was 25 teams. Some conferences had rules only allowing one school to go to a tournament. . So for example , Purdue with the great Rick Mount did not make the NCAA field

The 16 teams that were invited to the  NIT  were not cream puffs and featured many future NBA/ABA stars. In today's NCAA tournament they all would have been invited.

Army ( Coached by Bobby Knight)
Cincinnati
Duke
Duquesne
Georgetown
Georgia Tech
LSU ( Featured Pete Maravich)
Louisville
Manhattan
Marquette
Massachusetts ( Feature Dr. J)
Miami (OH)
North Carolina ( Feature Charlie Scott)
Oklahoma ( Feature Gar Heard and Clifford Ray)
St. John's ( Featured The Whopper  Billy Paultz)
Utah       ( Featured Mike Newlin)

While clearly the teams were better I feel like it's worth pointing out only Utah and Marquette were ranked of that whole bracket based on

http://collegepollarchive.com/mbasketball/ap/seasons.cfm?seasonid=1970#.XrA9pyVOmEc

[WarriorDad]

Telling a story about something he was around for isn't patronizing. Using age to seem like an authority on topics that you only know about second hand is being a patronizing a$$. So I agree, please HarryP tell stories

What word would you use to devalue an accomplishment of a group of men for which you saw no value in for any number of reasons, youth likely one of them, in which they were honored at one point of time?  Patronizing could be one word.

Lighten up.  Maybe I came across that way, but has it dawned on you that maybe some people like harryp or others have seen a more MU hoops and can address first hand or even second hand some information you don't have?   Not all the great players or teams suited up in the last 15 years. 

[harryp]

I think one of the irritants to Al was that we had (always) to play a game vs either the (I think) mid America or another mid major to get to the "big" ones. And then it was the SEC champ the 1st night and the Big Ten champ the next nite. We could never win both. In 1954 we played Miami of Ohio. We were 13 down at the half and I thought it was hopeless, but we came back and won. Mainly on the shooting of Bob Walczak. This is all based on memory, so if I make an error, forgive me. The next week we were at Evanston. This was exciting as the NCAA was just something we read about before that. Evanston was within driving distance, so we decided to go. Watching Adolph Rupp and KY was like a dream. When we started, it seemed like every time we scored, KY came down and matched it. Frustrating. Then we got the lead and we actually thought we had a chance to win, it was like being in the really big time for the first time. We never dreamed we would win. Approaching the end of the game it got even better and when we knew it was our victory, I remember throwing my coat high into the air. It was the best 24 hours. Next night we were a little tired and lost to Iowa who had played a very weak Penn State team the night before. Penn State had no one but an excellent center named Jesse Arnell and Iowa beat them easily. Against Iowa we faded in the second half and lost. Next morning we were back to reality. If we had won against Iowa, we would have been in the Final Four, which was not really a big deal like it is now. No TV back then. Fifty-four was an incredible year for me. We lost the first game to MI State by (I think) 19 points. I recall saying to my friends the next day that it looked liked another long sad b-ball season. Then we won our next 22, losing to Notre Dame. I have more memories about that game but I've already said enough.

[WarriorDad]

I think one of the irritants to Al was that we had (always) to play a game vs either the (I think) mid America or another mid major to get to the "big" ones. And then it was the SEC champ the 1st night and the Big Ten champ the next nite. We could never win both. In 1954 we played Miami of Ohio. We were 13 down at the half and I thought it was hopeless, but we came back and won. Mainly on the shooting of Bob Walczak. This is all based on memory, so if I make an error, forgive me. The next week we were at Evanston. This was exciting as the NCAA was just something we read about before that. Evanston was within driving distance, so we decided to go. Watching Adolph Rupp and KY was like a dream. When we started, it seemed like every time we scored, KY came down and matched it. Frustrating. Then we got the lead and we actually thought we had a chance to win, it was like being in the really big time for the first time. We never dreamed we would win. Approaching the end of the game it got even better and when we knew it was our victory, I remember throwing my coat high into the air. It was the best 24 hours. Next night we were a little tired and lost to Iowa who had played a very weak Penn State team the night before. Penn State had no one but an excellent center named Jesse Arnell and Iowa beat them easily. Against Iowa we faded in the second half and lost. Next morning we were back to reality. If we had won against Iowa, we would have been in the Final Four, which was not really a big deal like it is now. No TV back then. Fifty-four was an incredible year for me. We lost the first game to MI State by (I think) 19 points. I recall saying to my friends the next day that it looked liked another long sad b-ball season. Then we won our next 22, losing to Notre Dame. I have more memories about that game but I've already said enough.

Did you mean 1955?  That was our first NCAA berth I think.

[WarriorDad]

If it was such a big deal there'd be write ups about it, a school like Iona would have it in their record book and a 9-14 school wouldn't have been invited. A quick two page google search of national catholic invitational tournament returns nothing but high school basketball tournaments and st Francis apparently still brags about it. Tex was a b-ball genius but Majerus or Dukiet have more to hang their hat on here than Tex.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Catholic_Invitational_Tournament

[harryp]

that's puzzling -- I had a close friend at the time who was away at (excuse the expression) Notre Dame, and I clearly recall writing him a letter about it and how it was an encouraging sign about the future of MU b-ball