ON THIS DATE IN COLLEGE BASKETBALL

1 9 4 4 — St. John’s, coached by Joe Lapchick, cruises by DePaul 47-3 9 to become the first back-to-back winner of the National Invitation Tournament.

1 9 4 6 — Hank Iba’s Oklahoma A&M Aggies beat North Carolina 4 3 -4 0 for their second straight NCAA men’s basketball championship. Bob Kurland scores 2 3 points, including the first two dunks in NCAA tournament history.

1 9 4 9 — Alex Groza leads Kentucky to a

4 6 -3 6 win over Oklahoma State for the NCAA title.

1 9 5 2 — Kansas’ Clyde Lovelette scores 3 3 points to lead the Jayhawks to a 8 0 -6 3 win over St. John’s for the NCAA basketball title.

1 9 7 3 — Bill Walton scores 4 4 points to help UCLA win its record seventh NCAA basketball championship with an 8 7-6 6 triumph over Memphis State.

2 0 0 5 — In the NCAA men’s basketball regional finals, Louisville and Illinois make tremendous comebacks to force overtime and advance. Louisville, trailing by 2 0 to a West Virginia, complete an amazing comefrom-behind 9 3 -8 5 win. Illinois, trailing by 1 5 with just four minutes to play, went on a dazzling 2 0 -5 run to send Arizona to a crushing 90-89 defeat.

2 0 0 6 — George Mason stuns No. 1 seed Connecticut 8 6 -8 4 in overtime to become the first No. 1 1 seed to reach the men’s Final Four since LSU in 1 9 8 6 .

2011 — Shelvin Mack scores 27 points, including five in overtime, as Butler returns to the Final Four with a 74 -7 1 victory over Florida in the Southeast regional. Kemba Walker scores 2 0 points, freshman Jeremy Lamb adds 1 9 as Connecticut beats Arizona 6 5 -6 3 to win the West regional.