Hall of Fame
The men’s basketball team claimed its place on the national scene when the 1973-74 team put together a 25-6 record and the school’s first appearance in the NAIA national tournament. The Griffons received the number thirteen overall seed in the tournament and won their opening round game against Monmouth 96-84 on March 13, the school’s first victory in the NAIA tournament. Only a day later, they bowed out of the tournament in a nail biting 80-72 loss to No. 4 Alcorn St., the eventual runner-up to national champion West Georgia. Western set an NAIA attendance record (8,284 people) in the loss, when many Griffons fans went down to Kansas City’s Municipal Auditorium to cheer on their team.
The entire front court consisting of Jeff Brown – St. Joseph, Mo. (1975), Mark Brown – St. Joseph, Mo. (1974) and Geoff Roberts – Chicago, Ill. (1974) was the only front court unit in the country to have three players named to the NAIA All-American list two years running.
In the seventh round of the 1974 NBA draft, the Kansas City Kings selected Mark Brown and the Chicago Bulls decided on Roberts. Mark Brown continued his playing career in a professional basketball league in Belgium for the next sixteen years. Jeff Brown followed his brother and Roberts as the Philadelphia Seventy-Sixers drafted him in 1975.
