New York University (NYU) of Manhattan reached the Final in 1945. St. John's University (SJU) of Queens reached the Final in 1952, and the Final Four in 1985. Seton Hall University of South Orange, New Jersey reached the Final in 1989. Princeton University of Princeton, New Jersey reached the Final Four in 1965. Rutgers University of New Brunswick, New Jersey reached the Final Four in 1976.
Despite jokes about it being "The University of New Jersey at Durham," no, you can't count Duke University as a "New York team." And, given the distance, no, you can't count Syracuse University, either. They will be included among the Honorable Mentions when I do this list for Western New York (Buffalo). The University of Connecticut is in Storrs, closer to Boston than to New York City, and thus will be included among the Honorable Mentions when I do this list for New England.
Honorable Mention to local teams that won the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), in the years when it was considered more of a basketball national championship than the NCAA: 1939 and 1941 Long Island University (LIU) of Brooklyn, 1943 and 1944 St. John's, and 1950 CCNY -- the only time the NCAA/NIT double had ever been done, and, after the 1951 point-shaving scandal that relegated the NIT to 2nd-class status, no team has ever been allowed to enter both tourneys again.
Seton Hall won the NIT in 1953. St. John's won it again in 1959, 1965 and 1989. Princeton won it in 1975.
10. 2010-13 New York Knicks. 3 straight Playoff seasons, but only 1 Division title (2012-13), and only 1 Playoff series win (same). The Carmelo Anthony years were the last time Knick fans really had hope.
9. 1981-86 New Jersey Nets. The team of Buck Williams, Mike Gminski and Otis Birdsong produced 5 straight Playoff berths, but only 1 Playoff series win, in 1984 against the defending NBA Champion Philadelphia 76ers. This would be the only Playoff series the Nets would win between the 1976 ABA title and the run to the 2002 NBA Finals.
8. 1980-84 New York Knicks. An interesting team, a fun team, but not a great team. 4 seasons, 3 Playoff berths, 2 runs to the Conference Finals, and the excitement of Bernard King. But it all came crashing down in 1984-85 -- literally, in King's case. Result: The top pick in the 1985 Draft, Patrick Ewing.
7. 1991-94 New Jersey Nets. 3 straight Playoff berths, but lost in the 1st round each time. This team had hope, until John Starks clotheslined Kenny Anderson in one of the Nets' few national TV appearances in the 20th Century, causing him to land on his wrist and break it. He was never the same. The death of Drazen Petrovic in the following off-season didn't quite put an end to any hopes, but dampened them. And then, in 1994-95, it all fell apart, resulting in the famous "Waaaah!" Sports Illustrated cover for Derrick Coleman.
6. 1997-2002 New York Liberty. 6 seasons, 4 trips to the WNBA Finals, but lost them all.
5. 1949-53 New York Knicks. 5 seasons, a regular-season Eastern Division title, 5 straight Eastern Division Finals, 3 straight Eastern Division titles -- but lost the NBA Finals all 3 times, including 2 Game 7s. Dick McGuire, Nat Clifton and their teammates had everything but luck.
4. 2002-06 New Jersey Nets. 5 seasons, 4 Atlantic Division titles, 2 Eastern Conference Championships. Jason Kidd and company had the misfortune to smack into the Shaq-Kobe Lakers and the Robinson-Duncan Spurs, but they are, for the moment, the last Tri-State Area team to reach the NBA Finals. Indeed, here's how bad it's been for local basketball: Since June 17, 1994, nearly a quarter of a century, the Knicks and the Nets combined are 3-14 in NBA Finals games.
3. 1993-99 New York Knicks. 7 seasons, 2 Atlantic Division titles, 3 Eastern Conference Finals, 2 Eastern Conference titles -- but no NBA Championship. They had their chance, with Michael Jordan not being available for 1994, and they beat the Chicago Bulls, but they lost the Finals. The really odd thing about this team is not that Patrick Ewing never won a title, but that, in 1999, they did every bit as well without him as they ever did with him.
2. 1972-76 New York Nets. 5 seasons, 2 Eastern Division titles, 2 trips to the ABA Finals, 2 ABA Championships (1974 and 1976). Not the best basketball team in New York Tri-State Area history, but the flashiest, and, although it was the ABA, still the last one around here to win a league championship.
1. 1969-74 New York Knicks. 6 seasons, 2 Division titles (1970 Eastern, 1971 Atlantic), 6 Eastern Conference Finals, 3 Eastern Conference titles, 2 NBA Championships (1970 and 1973). No, Red Holzman did not invent "team basketball," but he might have perfected it with Willis Reed, Walt Frazier and the rest. Given the amount of hype then, and nostalgia since, for this team, it's amazing that the glory days only lasted 6 years.
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