Even with a two game SEC winning streak, you’d have to agree that this is hardly the Golden Era of LSU Basketball. The Tigers appear to be on their way to their third straight season of not making the NCAA Tournament.
Hardly the stuff of which legends are made.
While no one will confuse LSU’s college basketball legacy with that of Kentucky, Duke or UCLA, there have been periods of time in which the Tiger fan will remember as being special.
But there is one that clearly stands above the rest. Stay tuned.
It’s not 2006, when LSU knocked J.J. Redick and Duke out of the tournament and made it to the Final Four. The Tigers won their first outright SEC regular season championship in 20 years and then beat No. 1 seed Duke and No. 2 seed Texas to make it to the Final Four. But one year does not make a Golden Era. LSU was knocked out in the first round in 2005 and didn’t even make the tournament for the next two years after reaching the Final Four.
Scratch that one.
Then there is the Chris Jackson/Shaquille O’Neal era, which was, to be sure, a lot of fun. But when you get right down to it, the biggest highlight was the 1990 game against Loyola Marymount in which the final score was 148-141. But Jackson and O’Neal overlapped only one year (1989-90) and in the three years at least one of them was in a Tiger uniform, LSU won exactly one NCAA Tournament game.
But we will always have 148-141!
Compare that to the two-year run LSU has in 1985-86 and 86-87, which the Tigers did do damage in the NCAA Tournament, making the Final Four the first year and were perhaps one uncalled technical on Bobby Knight for slamming a phone from going to another. No doubt it was a magical run that LSU fans will remember fondly. But in both, the excitement was basically contained to the three-week post-season. Neither team ever challenged for the SEC title in the regular season (a combined 17-19 in conference play).
Definitely memorable, but not Golden Era material.
Then there are the days of Pete Maravich and there is certainly a case to be made there. Almost 60 years later, Maravich is still regarded as one of the greatest players in college basketball history. He was unlike anything anybody had seen before or even since. Quick – name another player on the team (bonus points for knowing the nicknames of Al Sanders and Bill Newton). Now name an NCAA Tournament win (hint: there aren’t any). About the best you can come up with is a second place SEC finish and two wins (and two losses) in the NIT.
All nice choices for the Golden Era of LSU Basketball and if you want to be generous, you can say they all tie for second. Defending on your age, you may have a particular allegiance to one of those teams. But there is only one correct answer.
The Golden Era of LSU Basketball is, without question, the three-year period that began with the 1978-79 season and ended with a run to the Final Four in 1980-81. Here come the stats, but before we get into that, you are going to need to understand that these numbers and accomplishments – as great as they are – don’t tell the whole story.
In those three years, the Tigers were 23-6, 36-6 and 31-5. In conference play they were a combined 45-9, including an insane 17-1 in 80-81. They either won the regular season or conference title in all three seasons. There was a tremendous mix of players through those years – Rudy Macklin, Dewayne Scales, Ethan Martin, Al Green – and when one would graduate, along came another (Leonard Mitchell, Howard Carter). Jackson and O’Neal were great, but as far as an overall collection of talent, no period beats this bunch.
But what truly defines this as the Golden Era of LSU Basketball is the atmosphere that was created by this group with Dale Brown as head coach. It was a show that had fans lining up outside the doors begging to get in so they could be a part of what was obviously something special.
The Tigers were in the Top 15 in the AP poll every week for three straight seasons. They finished 7th, 3rd and 4th in the final regular season poll.
If you’ve got the time, look up the attendance figure for any random home game from that time and you are just about guaranteed to see a number with five digits.
And if you question why LSU only went to one Final Four during that time, consider this: they lost to the eventual national champion in all three years (Michigan State, Louisville and Indiana).
Here’s the most blasphemous statement of all: The atmosphere at the Assembly Center rivaled – if not surpassed — that of Tiger Stadium. The fact that it is even an argument is proof enough of how great it was.
It’s only natural for LSU fans to wish for those days again. Wish all you want, but it’s never going to happen again.
It can’t.
Contact JJ at johnjamesmarshall@yahoo.com