1968-69 Eagle Basketball Team

[Stuart Van Auken]

I was among the fortunate to attend games at the old Men's Gym in the latter 60's.  It was a tough place to play and fantastic for fans.  We would go into a stomp clap on those wooden bleachers and chant "Welcome to the Pit, Welcome to the Pit, Welcome..." The sound was incredible.  Dan Spika played a full-court press the entire game and teams would get rattled by the deafening sound. In 1868-69, we were undefeated at home in the MVC, which was equivalent to the ACC of today.  We lost every MVC road game, yet those defeats indicate the home court advantage that we had.  1968-69 was the most exciting year of basketball that I ever experienced and I had experienced SMU's 1965-66 team that beat Wes Unseld and Louisville.  That team was second best in excitement during the 1960s.  There was nothing like the pit and Dan Spika.  Unfortunately, UNT's new digs never matched the excitement of the old Men's Gym.

Later on, I moved to Louisville and experienced Denny Crum's cards from 1972-1986.  I have indeed been to basketball Nirvana.

[bstnsportsfan3]

When we did the one throwback game at the snake pit in 08? 09? It was awesome. We played Cameron (who was always our warm up game under Johnny Jones) and it was crazy loud in there. I can’t imagine what it was like in the 60’s

[UNTLifer]

I was very young, but remember going to the games.  I even remember where we always sat.  The thing that stands out to me was the noise and they used to hand out these "clickers" to everyone.  We would leave the games and your ears would ring the remainder of the night.

[GrandGreen]

12 hours ago, Stuart Van Auken said:

I was among the fortunate to attend games at the old Men's Gym in the latter 60's.  It was a tough place to play and fantastic for fans.  We would go into a stomp clap on those wooden bleachers and chant "Welcome to the Pit, Welcome to the Pit, Welcome..." The sound was incredible.  Dan Spika played a full-court press the entire game and teams would get rattled by the deafening sound. In 1868-69, we were undefeated at home in the MVC, which was equivalent to the ACC of today.  We lost every MVC road game, yet those defeats indicate the home court advantage that we had.  1968-69 was the most exciting year of basketball that I ever experienced and I had experienced SMU's 1965-66 team that beat Wes Unseld and Louisville.  That team was second best in excitement during the 1960s.  There was nothing like the pit and Dan Spika.  Unfortunately, UNT's new digs never matched the excitement of the old Men's Gym.

Later on, I moved to Louisville and experienced Denny Crum's cards from 1972-1986.  I have indeed been to basketball Nirvana.

Graduated in 1970, Dan Spika was very underrated as a coach.  I don't think I missed a home game, fantastic atmosphere at the old Pit. 

There was no comfort just hard wood bleachers, that were hardly ever sit in.   All the night times games were sellouts and students had to get tickets in advance.  

Joe Hamilton, Leroy Winfield, Crest Whitaker and others, the best team ever at NT.   Hopefully, they will get competition this year for that honor. 

[UNTLifer]

The 76-77 NTSU team might challenge your claim as to who is the best team. 

[GrandGreen]

6 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

The 76-77 NTSU team might challenge your claim as to who is the best team. 

They were very good, but Blakeley's teams just did not play close to the Defense of 1967-70 squads.

Plus the older squad played fast break ball the whole game.  They had very little size, so they had to compensate.

The mid-seventies teams had a lot more size and depth but were not close to as quick.  Blakeley played a fast game on offense, but he relied on outscoring teams rather than stressing defense. 

Blakeley played tough schedules but nothing like the competition of the old MVC.  

 

[Cooley]

1 hour ago, GrandGreen said:

They were very good, but Blakeley's teams just did not play close to the Defense of 1967-70 squads.

Plus the older squad played fast break ball the whole game.  They had very little size, so they had to compensate.

The mid-seventies teams had a lot more size and depth but were not close to as quick.  Blakeley played a fast game on offense, but he relied on outscoring teams rather than stressing defense. 

Blakeley played tough schedules but nothing like the competition of the old MVC.  

 

The MVC was a tough conference but Blakeley had to play an independent schedule and nobody (Top 20) wanted to play them.