Ohio State - Cincinnati Meet In NCAA After 50 Years

It was March 24, 1962 a mild spring day on Tucson Court in Groesbeck.

Dick Schatz went out to the porch and flicked the porch light on and off in celebration.  The University of Cincinnati coached by Ed Jucker had just beaten The Ohio State University in Louisville, 71-59.

It was the second straight title for Cincinnati, who had also bested the Buckeyes a year earlier.  The Buckeye were playing in its third straight title game, having won it all in 1960, with now famous players Jerry Lucas from Middletown, OH, John Havlicek and Larry Siegfried, both of whom played with Bill Russel on the Boston Celtics and Bobby Knight, a bench warmer, who is now a Hall of Fame coach.

Cincinnati had a few lesser players after the great Oscar Robertson graduated.  He played on the 1960 team that came in fourth.  Paul Hogue was the center, Tony Yates, Ron Bonham, Tom Thacker and George Wilson were the others that won two titles over the Buckeyes.

The two teams meet in the NCAA regional tonight, 50 years later shy two days.  It is not for the national title but it is a step in that direction.

"I tell kids that I played on the 1962 championship team when I talk to schools," Wilson told the Associated Press. "You weren't even born then.  They tell me my parents weren't even born then."

Thad Motta and Mick Cronin, who coach Ohio State and Cincinnati respectively weren't even born then.

Since that championship game the two have played each other just once with Ohio State winning a game in the John Wooden classic in 2006 at Indianapolis.