NYU Violets men's basketball

NYU Violets
University	New York University
First season	1906
Head coach	Dave Klatsky (1st season)
Conference	University Athletic Association
Location	New York, New York
Arena	John A. Paulson Center
Nickname	Violets
Colors	Purple and white [1]
Pre-tournament Premo-Porretta champions
1935
Pre-tournament Helms champions
1935
NCAA tournament runner-up
Division I 1945 Division III 1994
NCAA tournament Final Four
Division I 1945, 1960 Division III 1994
NCAA tournament appearances
Division I 1943, 1945, 1946, 1960, 1962, 1963 Division III 1986, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2012, 2016, 2023
Conference regular season champions
1934, 1938, 1946, 1948, 1957, 1960, 1993, 1994

The NYU Violets men's basketball team is the college basketball team that represents New York University, located in New York City. The team currently competes in NCAA Division III as a member of the University Athletic Association. NYU previously competed as an NCAA Division I program until 1971, when the team was disbanded due to a budget crisis. ^[2] The team was reinstated in 1983 as a Division III program. ^[2]

NYU played in two NCAA Division I Final Fours, and can lay claim to two national championships predating the creation of the NCAA tournament (1920 and 1935). NYU has also had success in the Division III NCAA tournament, including a runner-up finish at the 1994 tournament.

Division I history

While a member of Division I, the Violets' basketball team registered a great deal of success. An early member who starred for the team in 1910 and 1911 was Lazarus Joseph (1891–1966), later a NY State Senator and New York City Comptroller.

The school's best NCAA tournament result was finishing runner-up to Oklahoma State (then Oklahoma A&M), coached by the legendary Henry Iba. at the 1945 NCAA tournament. NYU returned to the Final Four in 1960, losing to Ohio State, whose roster featured Jerry Lucas and John Havlicek. ^[3]

NYU achieved even more success in the years before the advent of the NCAA tournament in 1939. In 1920 NYU won the Amateur Athletic Union national championship tournament, led by the Helms Athletic Foundation Player of the Year, Howard Cann. Cann returned to coach at NYU after graduation, serving as head basketball coach from 1923 to 1958 and leading NYU to notable success. ^[4] The Violets were undefeated in the 1933–1934 season, posting a 16–0 record. ^[3] After winning the first ten games to start the following season, the school's winning streak was broken in an overtime loss at Yale. ^[3] The loss to Yale was the only setback during the 1934–1935 season, during which NYU finished 19–1 and was named the best team in the nation (retrospectively) by the Helms Athletic Foundation and the Premo-Porretta Power Poll. ^{[3] [5]} Finally, the year before the NCAA tournament was created, NYU reached the Final Four at the 1938 National Invitation Tournament. ^[3]

For the seasons before the AP Poll began ranking college basketball teams in 1949, the Premo-Porretta Poll retrospectively ranks NYU among the final top 5 teams nationally for a number of seasons, including #1 in 1935, #2 in 1909 and 1934, #3 in 1920, #4 in 1921, and #5 in 1930. ^[6] NYU also appeared in the first AP Poll issued, on January 18, 1949. The school made its final appearance in the Division I AP Poll ranked at #10 on December 24, 1964. ^[7]

The Violets' most recent post-season accomplishment as a Division I college was finishing as the runner-up to BYU in the 1966 National Invitation Tournament. NYU previously also finished as runner-up in the 1948 National Invitation Tournament, and in third place in the 1959 National Invitation Tournament. ^[3]

NYU was a member of the Metropolitan New York Conference from 1933 to 1963, and won four conference titles after the conference officially began sponsoring men's basketball in 1946.^{[ citation needed ]}

The program was disbanded following a disastrous 5–20 season in 1970–71. ^{[2] [3]} When NYU ended its program, the Violets were still tied for 14th nationally in Final Four appearances (2), and 28th nationally in all-time appearances at the NCAA Division I tournament (6).^{[ citation needed ]}

Division III history

NYU has once again found success since its reestablishment as a Division III program in 1983.

The school appeared in seven consecutive Division III NCAA basketball tournaments from 1992 to 1998. In 1994 NYU advanced to the Final Four and finished as the national runner-up to Lebanon Valley College. The 1994 team also established a school record by winning 25 games. ^[3]

Postseason history

Division I NCAA

In their times in Division I, the Violets appeared in the NCAA Tournament six times. Their record was 9–8.

Year	Seed	Round	Opponent	Result
1943		Quarterfinals	Georgetown	L 55–36
1945		Quarterfinals Semifinals Final Four	Tufts Ohio State Oklahoma A&M	W 59–44 W 70–65 (OT) L 49–45
1946		Quarterfinals Regional Third Place	North Carolina Harvard	L 57–49 W 67–61
1960		Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals Final Four National Third Place	Connecticut West Virginia Duke Ohio State Cincinnati	W 78–59 W 82–81 (OT) W 74–59 L 76–54 L 95–71
1962		Quarterfinals Semifinals East Regional Third Place	Massachusetts Villanova Saint Joseph's	W 70–50 L 79–76 W 94–85
1963		Quarterfinals Semifinals East Regional Third Place	Pittsburgh Duke West Virginia	W 93–83 L 81–76 L 83–73

NIT

NYU appeared in 8 NITs and compiled and overall record of 13–11.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
1938	First Round Semifinals 3rd Place Game	LIU Colorado Oklahoma A&M	W 39–37 L 48–47 L 37–24
1948	Quarterfinals Semifinals Championship	Texas DePaul St. Louis	W 45–43 W 72–59 L 65–52
1949	First Round	Bradley	L 59–57
1952	First Round	Dayton	L 81–66
1959	First Round Quarterfinals Semifinals 3rd Place Game	Denver Oklahoma City Bradley Providence	W 90–81 W 63–48 L 59–57 W 71–57
1964	First Round Quarterfinals Semifinals 3rd Place Game	Syracuse DePaul New Mexico Army	W 77–68 W 79–66 L 72–65 L 60–59
1965	First Round Quarterfinals Semifinals 3rd Place Game	Bradley Detroit Villanova Army	W 71–70 W87–76 L 91–69 L 75–74
1966	First Round Quarterfinals Semifinals Championship	DePaul Wichita State Villanova BYU	W 68–65 W 90–84 (OT) W 67–63 L 97–84

Individual accolades

Nat Holman

Dolph Schayes

The following NYU players and coaches are in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (with induction year):

• Nat Holman (1964)
• Howard Cann (1968)
• Dolph Schayes (1973)
• Satch Sanders (2011), inducted as a contributor

National and Metro honors

NYU players and coaches have won the following national and regional awards: Player honors

• Helms Foundation College Basketball Player of the Year
  National player of the year

Howard Cann – 1920

• MBWA Haggerty Award
  NYC Metro college basketball player of the year

Ben Auerbach – 1940

Sid Tanenbaum – 1946, 1947

Dolph Schayes – 1948

Satch Sanders – 1960

Barry Kramer – 1963

Coaching honors

• MBWA Division I Coach of the Year

Howard Cann – 1948

Conference honors

The University Athletic Association began awarding Conference Player of the Year and Coaching Staff of the Year awards when it was founded in 1987. ^[8]

• Player of the Year

Adam Crawford – 1994

Jesse Determann – 1998

Jason Boone – 2006

• Coaching Staff of the Year

Joe Nesci – 1993, 1994, 2012

References

1. NYU Athletics Style Guide (PDF). February 17, 2022. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
2. "NYU Holds Out On Sports". The Wall Street Journal. May 1, 2010.
3. NYU Athletics, NYU Men's Basketball Record Book (PDF)
4. "Howard G. Cann Naismith Basketball HOF Profile". Archived from the original on 2009-08-31. Retrieved 2013-03-20.
5. ESPN, ed. (2009). ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Men's Game. New York, NY: ESPN Books. p. 544. ISBN   978-0-345-51392-2.
6. ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia, pp. 530–48
7. "NYU in AP Poll". College Poll Archive. Retrieved 2013-03-24.
8. NYU Athletics, NYU Men's Basketball MBB Brochure (PDF)

External links

• Official website