Madness Moments: Willis Reed Is Smiling

Grambling State clinching the win in its first-ever NCAA Tournament on a rebound is perfect.

Jourdan Smith swooped in to follow Tra’Michael Moton’s missed shot attempt in the final minute of overtime between Grambling and Montana State, then flushed the carom to put the Tigers ahead by four points. Grambling holding a multiple-possession lead from that point forward changed the strategy in the Tigers’ favor, and they move on to face Purdue.

Much will be made in the roughly 45 hours between publish of this newsletter and tipoff between the Tigers and Boilermakers, referencing back to 2023 and Fairleigh Dickinson’s 1st Round win.

I honestly believe the circumstances, facing Purdue a year after it lost to a No. 16 seed, put Grambling in the worst position any 16-seed has ever faced since expansion of the Tournament in 1985.

Be that as it may, the Big Dance debut for a program that never before reached the Tournament, and an athletic department that just a decade ago was in especially dire financial straits, could not have gone any better.

My position on sending conference championship-winning No. 16 seeds to the First Four has softened the last few years, both because a win earns a program additional NCAA Tournament revenue; and because the First Four provides a stage the same teams may not otherwise have jumping right into a matchup wherein it will be a considerable underdog.

Furthermore, I love that Grambling basketball could win an NCAA Tournament game less than a year after its most famous alum passed away.

Willis Reed died on March 21 of last year at age 80 in Houston. Less than two weeks later, the HBCU All-Star Game during Final Four weekend honored the former NBA Most Valuable Player and NBA Finals legend for his standout career.

That career includes helping Grambling to a national championship in 1961.

A quarter-century before Pervis Ellison was “Never Nervous,” leading Louisville to the title as a freshman big man, Reed was the first-year post star for a Tigers team that dominated on its way to the NAIA crown.

A No. 13 seed, Grambling rolled over its first two opponents: 107-85 against Linfield, and 80-60 against Peru State.

That set up a quarterfinal against Anderson in the first of two games in which opponents tried to grind down Grambling.

Willis Reed went for 20 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, and sank a pair of free throws that broke a late-game tie in the Tigers’ favor en route to a 62-54 win.

That set up a meeting with top-seeded Westminster out of Pennsylvania.

The 1961 NAIA Championship was played in Kansas City, a stone’s throw from Lawrence, Kansas. Lawrence is, of course, home to a Jayhawks basketball program that was denied a national championship just four years prior when North Carolina employed a Four Corners offensive strategy, exploiting the lack of a shot clock to keep possession away from star Kansas center Wilt Chamberlain.

The scheme worked. North Carolina won, 54-53.

Westminster took a page from Frank McGuire’s book and played at an excruciating pace in the NAIA semifinal. The Titans had success with a slow-down offense previously in the tournament, beating legendary coach Clarence “Big House” Gaines’ Winston-Salem State team in the quarterfinals, 35-33.

The Associated Press recap of the semifinal describes Westminster going into a stall with 2:03 remaining and Grambling leading, 45-44, after a long Rex Tippitt shot.

Monopolizing the final 123 seconds to take the final shot didn’t work, and Willis Reed going 9-of-10 from the floor for 20 points powered the Tigers into the NAIA title game.

Reed closed out with 21 points in a much less competitive championship game, which Grambling won, 95-75.

Grambling’s title came amid a run in which HBCUs dominated the NAIA crown. Hall of Fame coach John McClendon led Tennessee A&I — now Tennessee State — to three straight from 1957 to 1959, and Prairie View A&M followed Grambling’s championship in 1962.

Grambling did not win another national championship in Willis Reed’s career, but he put a cap on his time with the program averaging 26.6 points and 21.3 rebounds per game as a senior.

Reed’s dominance of the boards in particular resonated with me as I saw Grambling’s first NCAA Tournament game sealed with a rebound. Willis Reed had to smile looking down on Smith’s high-flying play.