1944 Utes: Original Cinderella Team

Butler could be this year’s NCAA Tournament Cinderella team. Or maybe Northern Iowa, Cornell or St. Mary’s.
But the original Cinderella team, according to Sports Illustrated, was the 1943-44 NCAA championship team from Utah.
S.I. writers Alexander Wolff and Michael Atchison have produced a fine retrospective on the Arnie Ferrin-led team that won the national championship.
si.com
A couple of interesting notes here: The article refers to St. John’s as being the Redmen, which they were called at the time, and Dartmouth as the Indians. Yet Utah was then known as the Redskins, but in the article they are called the Utes throughout. They didn’t actually switch over to that nickname until the late 1960s.

Also, I found it interesting that Wat Misaka spoke to S.I. of his experience in wartime America. I once called Misaka to do a story on what it was like for him back then, but he politely declined. Now, at least some of the story is getting out.