TicketsCINCINNATI – In celebration of the 60th anniversary of the University of Cincinnati men's basketball team's 1961 NCAA Championship victory over Ohio State, WSTR Star64 will broadcast a special edition of the game on Sunday, April 4, 2021 at 8 p.m. ET.
Though national championship games weren't broadcast nationally until the following year, records of the game exist in video footage shot by Cincinnati staff and audio recordings of WKRC's coverage of the game made by fans of the team. Producer David Ashbrock has spent the last six years collecting, assembling, restoring and syncing these pieces to create a complete account of the game for the first time. These pieces have been augmented with replay, a scoreboard, running clock and graphics.
The current Voice of the Bearcats, Dan Hoard, and radio analyst Terry Nelson, provided pregame, halftime and postgame analysis for the program.
Led by first-year head coach Ed Jucker, the 1960-61 Bearcats men's basketball team was faced with the challenge of competing without legendary guard Oscar Robertson, who graduated following the 1959-60 season and was the No. 1 pick in the 1960 NBA Draft. In the absence of their departed captain, the Bearcats opened the season 4-3 before reeling off 23-consecutive victories on their way to a Missouri Valley Conference championship and No. 2 overall ranking at the outset of the 1961 NCAA Tournament.
After wins over Texas Tech, No. 4 Kansas State, and Utah to open the tournament, the Bearcats faced top-ranked and heavily-favored Ohio State––led by future Basketball Hall of Famers Jerry Lucas, John Havlicek and Bob Knight––in the tournament's championship game in Kansas City. The Buckeyes entered the game 27-0, winners of 32-consecutive games. The matchup was seen as such a mismatch that rumors spread through Kansas City the Cincinnati team had decided to leave town and forfeit the game.
Ohio State led by just one point at halftime in a game that saw 13 ties and seven lead changes. After a Knight layup in the final minute forced overtime, the Bearcats outscored the Buckeyes 9-4 in the extra period to shock the basketball world and claim the program's first national title.
Tune in Sunday at 8 p.m. to relive one of the most spectacular moments in Cincinnati sports history, presented like never before.
Though national championship games weren't broadcast nationally until the following year, records of the game exist in video footage shot by Cincinnati staff and audio recordings of WKRC's coverage of the game made by fans of the team. Producer David Ashbrock has spent the last six years collecting, assembling, restoring and syncing these pieces to create a complete account of the game for the first time. These pieces have been augmented with replay, a scoreboard, running clock and graphics.
The current Voice of the Bearcats, Dan Hoard, and radio analyst Terry Nelson, provided pregame, halftime and postgame analysis for the program.
Led by first-year head coach Ed Jucker, the 1960-61 Bearcats men's basketball team was faced with the challenge of competing without legendary guard Oscar Robertson, who graduated following the 1959-60 season and was the No. 1 pick in the 1960 NBA Draft. In the absence of their departed captain, the Bearcats opened the season 4-3 before reeling off 23-consecutive victories on their way to a Missouri Valley Conference championship and No. 2 overall ranking at the outset of the 1961 NCAA Tournament.
After wins over Texas Tech, No. 4 Kansas State, and Utah to open the tournament, the Bearcats faced top-ranked and heavily-favored Ohio State––led by future Basketball Hall of Famers Jerry Lucas, John Havlicek and Bob Knight––in the tournament's championship game in Kansas City. The Buckeyes entered the game 27-0, winners of 32-consecutive games. The matchup was seen as such a mismatch that rumors spread through Kansas City the Cincinnati team had decided to leave town and forfeit the game.
Ohio State led by just one point at halftime in a game that saw 13 ties and seven lead changes. After a Knight layup in the final minute forced overtime, the Bearcats outscored the Buckeyes 9-4 in the extra period to shock the basketball world and claim the program's first national title.
Tune in Sunday at 8 p.m. to relive one of the most spectacular moments in Cincinnati sports history, presented like never before.