Front Row: (l-r) Mike Luchi, Dean Foster, John Howard, Paul Weidner, Mike Leurck, Dean Lampros, Jerry Cousins, Dick Bouldin.
Back Row: (l-r) Assistant Coach Ray Dieringer, Charles Houston, Ken Calloway, Ron Krick, Tom Biedenharn, Mike Rolf, Don Rolfes, Roland West, Head Coach Tay Baker.
The 1965-66 University of Cincinnati Bearcats basketball team represented a triumphant return to national prominence following the program's storied Oscar Robertson and national championship era. Under first-year head coach Tay Baker, the team defied preseason expectations, capturing the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) championship and finishing the regular season ranked #7 in the AP poll with a 21-5 record.
Led by All-MVC First Team selections Don Rolfes and Roland West, along with standouts Ron Knick and sophomores John Howard and Dean Foster, the Bearcats competed against one of the nation's toughest schedules. They notched impressive victories over defending national champion UCLA (coached by John Wooden), Utah (a 1966 Final Four team), and traditional powers like Wake Forest and Wisconsin.
The team's defining characteristic was their resilience, embodied by their adopted motto "We Try Harder" – inspired by an Avis Rental Car pin that players began wearing during road trips. This mindset proved crucial during conference play, where they secured vital victories including two dramatic wins over Louisville – one on Dean Foster's buzzer-beating hook shot and another on John Howard's last-second jumper.
Their 10-4 conference record earned them their first MVC title since 1963. In the NCAA Tournament, they pushed eventual national champion Texas Western to overtime in the Midwest Regional, falling just short in a historic 78-76 contest. Texas Western would go on to become the first team with an all-Black starting lineup to win the national championship.
The 1965-66 Bearcats' success established a high-water mark that wouldn't be matched for decades – their national ranking remained the program's highest until the 1990s. Under MVC Coach of the Year Tay Baker, they compiled a 9-1 record against top-25 teams and finished fifth nationally in strength of schedule. Their season represented more than just wins and losses; it marked a compelling bridge between UC's championship dynasty of the early 1960s and the modern era of college basketball.
