PhoenixRising2 wrote:

https://www.historicfilms.com/tapes/9030_1378_1448_1955+NIT

Thought that this would be nice to share during the bye week. Many of you have never seen this newsreel footage of the glory days on the Bluff; at that time, the winner of the NIT was declared the de facto National Champion. There may be a couple of our board members who were around 64 years ago to experience it.

Actually, the NIT winner was no longer the de facto champ by that time. There really was no de facto champ in the 1950s, it was generally disputed, although in hindsight, most consider San Francisco to be the best team that year, and probably the best team ever until UCLA started their run. Regardless, winning the NIT remained a very big deal until UCLA.