The greatest of all Rutgers basketball players is no longer with us.
Phillip Sellers Jr. (no middle name) was born on November 20, 1953 in Brooklyn. He graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School there, and was recruited to play for Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey by Dick Vitale, an assistant to head coach Tom Young. He helped Rutgers reach the NIT in 1973 and 1974, and reach the NCAA Tournament in 1975.
Now, under coach Tom Young, they had a basketball team ready to challenge the rest of the country. The usual starting lineup was guards Mike Dabney and Eddie Jordan, forwards Phil "the Thrill" Sellers and Hollis Copeland, and center James Bailey, a freshman.
It was one thing to beat regional rivals like Princeton and Seton Hall (also in New Jersey); Columbia, Fordham, Manhattan College and Long Island University (New York City); the University of Pennsylvania and Temple (Philadelphia); Bucknell, Lehigh, Lafayette (Northeastern Pennsylvania); the University of Delaware; the Naval Academy (Maryland); American University (Washington, D.C.); the University of Connecticut; and Boston College.
But beating bigger teams was another thing. On December 4, 1975, they beat Big Ten team Purdue. Between Christmas and New Year's, they went to Greenville, South Carolina to play in the Poinsettia Classic, and beat The Citadel (not a big deal) and Georgia Tech (which was a big deal. They beat West Virginia at Madison Square Garden on February 5.
By this point, home games at the 3,200-seat College Avenue Gymnasium were next to impossible to get into unless you were a student. It got so loud, paint chips fell from the ceiling. The decision to build a new arena was made.
Rutgers beat the University of Pittsburgh, then Syracuse. On March 1, they closed the regular season at home to St. Bonaventure, still undefeated at 25-0. The Bonnies took an early lead, but the Scarlet Knights came back, and won, 85-80. They entered the ECAC Metro Tournament at Princeton's Jadwin Gymnasium, and beat LIU and St. John's, Queens and Brooklyn, to go 28-0.
It was on to the NCAA Tournament. This was only the 2nd time RU had made the Tournament, having gotten in the year before, and going out in the 1st Round. They had gotten to the Semifinals of the NIT in 1967, with future North Carolina State coach Jim Valvano playing for them.
They played Princeton -- not in New Jersey, but at the Providence Civic Center in Rhode Island. (It's now named the Dunkin' Donuts Center. It was the closest game of the season, but Rutgers beat their ancient rivals, 54-53.
On to the Regional Semifinal, in Greensboro. Connecticut was not yet the power it would become, and Rutgers won, 93-79. That led to the Regional Final, also in Greensboro, against VMI. This time, Rutgers was solidly favored, and won, 91-75. They were undefeated. They were 31-0. They were ranked Number 4 in the country. And they were on their way to the Final Four.
Since it was 1976, the Bicentennial year, the Final Four, and the All-Star Games for MLB, the NBA and the NHL, were held in Philadelphia. On March 27, against the University of Michigan, ranked Number 9 entering the Tournament, the bubble finally burst. The Wolverines jumped out to an early lead, and the Knights just couldn't get into their game. Michigan won, 86-70, and RU were 31-1.
In those days, there was a 3rd Place Game, and Rutgers lost that, too, 106-92 to defending National Champion UCLA, to finish 31-2. Indiana, coached by Bobby Knight, and featuring future NBA players Kent Benson, Scott May and Quinn Buckner, beat Michigan, and completed an undefeated season, 32-0. There hasn't been an undefeated season in college basketball since.
Calendar year 1976 was magical for Rutgers: In the Autumn, the football team also went undefeated, 11-0, but was not invited to a bowl game.
In 1977, Rutgers moved into the Rutgers Athletic Center, across the Raritan River, on the Livingston Campus in Piscataway. Now named the Jersey Mike's Arena, it only seats 9,000, and has never been very good. Plans for renovation, or for a new arena in downtown New Brunswick, have been floated, but it looks like the current nondescript chunk of concrete is going to stay. The College Avenue Gym still stands, and hosts the RU wrestling and volleyball programs.
Despite being the team's top player, Phil Sellers played just 1 season in the NBA, with the 1976-77 Detroit Pistons. Hollis Copeland played 2 seasons with the New York Knicks. James Bailey lasted 9 seasons, playing for both the Knicks and the New Jersey Nets, among other teams.
Eddie Jordan had the most successful pro career, playing 7 seasons, 3 of them with the Nets, and 3 with the Los Angeles Lakers, including winning the 1982 NBA Championship. He later coached the NBA's Sacramento Kings, Washington Wizards and Philadelphia 76ers.
After his release by Detroit, Sellers played for the Jersey Shore Bullets in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA), and then for BV Amstelveen in the Netherlands. He tried out for the Pistons again in 1979, then coached by his former assistant coach at Rutgers, Dick Vitale, but was cut before the season began. He returned to Rutgers as an assistant coach for four years in the 1980s, before moving to work in the private sector, and doing some fundraising for the University.
He remains Rutgers' all-time leader with 2,399 points and 1,115 rebounds. In 1988, the University retired his Number 12. In 1993, it inducted him into the Rutgers Athletics Hall of Fame. In 2010, he was inducted into the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame.
After a series of health setbacks, Phil Sellers died from a stroke yesterday, September 20, 2023, at the age of 69. Having been predeceased by his wife Pat, he was survived by son Phil Sellers Jr., daughter Kendra Sellers Palmer, and a granddaughter.
RU athletic director Pat Hobbs called him "a special player, and an even better person." Teammate Eddie Jordan said, "I will miss him with all my heart."