The Bells Must Ring - A Rutgers Basketball History Blog: Columbia 74

Bob Greacen shoots over Columbia star, Jim McMillian, also pictured in the lower right hand corner is Hayward Dotson, Columbia's other star player - photo courtesy of Bob Greacen

In this game Rutgers was matched against Columbia, the defending Ivy League champions which reached the second round of the 1968 NCAA tournament. Gone from that team was 7 foot Dave Newmark who played two seasons in the NBA and one in the old ABA. There was plenty of talent returning, however, beginning with Jim McMillian perhaps a text book illustration of the ideal small forward of the day. McMillian averaged 22 points per game over his three years at Columbia and then went on to a nine year NBA career beginning with three years with the Los Angeles Lakers. In his second season, the former Columbia star averaged 19 points a game on the Lakers NBA championship team that also featured Wilt Chamberlain and Jerry West. A year later, McMillian again averaged 19 points per game on a Lakers team that lost to the New York Knicks in the NBA finals. The other prominent player on the Columbia squad was guard Hayward Dotson who was both quick and talented. Perhaps all one needs to know about Dotson can be found in a headline from the Columbia Daily Spectator at the beginning of the 1968-69 season - "Dotson lacks modesty, little else." Columbia would finish the 1969 season with an overall record of 20-4, 11-3 in the Ivy League, second behind 14-0 Princeton which Rutgers would face less than a week after the Columbia defeat.