By Jack Healey
In mens basketball last night Evansville shocked #1 ranked Kentucky 67-64 in what is one of the greatest upsets in college basketball history. It’s not Chaminade over Ralph Sampson and Virginia in 1982 or UMBC over Virginia in 2018, but it’s close. It’s certainly ahead of UVM over Syracuse in 2005. Sorry Catamount fans!
Evansville at one time was a college division program. That is a predecessor to today’s Division 2 and Division 3 programs. In the 1958 national college division tournament St. Mike’s defeated Evansville in the national semi’s 78-70 before losing to South Dakota in the national championship game. The late Judge Frank McCaffrey of Rutland was on that team as well as Jim Browne of Rutland who formerly was the boys varsity basketball coach at MSJ and Otter Valley. That team was coached by the legendary Doc Jacobs assisted by Ed Markey who died recently. That team was inducted into the St. Mike’s Hall of Fame in 2017.