re: How didn’t LSU win the NCAA Championship in 89/90?

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I think we could have made the Final Four that year. LSU beat UNLV the year before and the year after, but it probably wasn’t happening in 1990.

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LSU had already beaten UNLV earlier that year. In fact, UNLV would only lose one more time the rest of the season after the LSU loss.

Say what you want about Brown, he never backed down from a big game and was always willing to play anyone...even if it may have been to his team's detriment at times. More than that, look at the 1990 schedule compared to now. I can't recall the last time LSU played a really big non-conf. opponent at home. Maybe #1 Oklahoma in 2016. But that was a part of the Big 12/SEC challenge. Not something LSU scheduled.

LSU played UNLV on a Sunday. They played Florida the day before. Coaches would NEVER schedule that way today. Yet, that was the second time Brown had done it in a week! The weekend before LSU played Notre Dame in the Super Dome before playing Alabama (in Alabama) the very next day.

In the span of nine days between Jan. 20-28, 1990, LSU played: Notre Dame, @ (#25) Alabama, Georgia, Florida, (#5) UNLV. A week later Loyola-Marymount came to the PMAC and played one of the fastest paced games in the history of college basketball.

two words, Dale Brown. frick that guy

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two words, Dale Brown. frick that guy

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You do realize Dale Brown is the reason Shaq went to LSU, he also recruited Jackson and Roberts. We don’t automatically have the same team with a different coach. So you seem to be saying you’d rather have the program in the state it is now, than to have some incredible players and really good teams but didn’t win the National Title

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two words, Dale Brown. frick that guy

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I'll never understand why there is so much animosity towards Brown unless those who have it simply weren't around during his peak.

Brown had his flaws, but LSU basketball was NEVER better than it was between 1979-1993. The PMAC was constantly full. LSU played countless big games at home during that time. Hell, LSU basketball filled up the Super Dome a few times. They were a fixture in the NCAA Tournament, reaching the Final Four (2) and the Elite Eight 2 other times in 10 years. LSU has only been past the Sweet 16 ONCE in the last 30+ years.

Yes, the ending was rough and Brown had his fair share of disappointing results. But the ONLY reason they were disappointing is because fans actually cared enough to have high expectations and be disappointed. Before Brown, outside of Maravich and, to a lesser extent, Petit, LSU basketball was wholly irrelevant. That has largely been the case since then.

The biggest irony with Brown's purported dislike of Wade is Wade was the closet thing to Brown since Brown. Unapologetically bold and aggressive...ultimately to his own detriment. A guy who relentlessly promoted the program and believed it could be great. Flawed, but passionate. Today and in between LSU didn't have that. The results speak for themselves.

While it will always be disappointing Brown didn't win the ultimate prize with some of his supremely talented teams, I'm glad to have lived through much of his tenure and got to experience the only truly exciting period of LSU basketball. Falling short of great expectations is much more fun than having zero expectations at all and watching more last place seasons that great, or even good seasons. There has rarely been disappointment since Brown left...but that has been mostly a product of fans not caring enough to actually be disappointed

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LSU played UNLV on a Sunday

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I would check this again.

LSU played UNLV on Jan 27, 1991, which was the same day as Super Bowl 25 (BUF vs NYG).

I do not believe LSU played UNLV in 89-90. LSU did play UNLV in 88-89 (Ricky Blanton buzzer beater).

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I would check this again.

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I agree you should check again

LINK

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LSU played UNLV on Jan 27, 1991, which was the same day as Super Bowl 25 (BUF vs NYG).

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Wrong SB, it was Sunday Jan 28, 1990, Sf-Den in New Orleans. We played UGA the Wed before and there were a lot of press that drove up from NOLA for that game, which we blew.

We did not play UNLV in the 90-91 season, when they went undefeated we did play them again in 91-92 at Vegas in late November and lost.

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Is it because Chris Jackson was too much of a ball hog and didn't have more assists?

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That's a harsh way to put it.

The year before, LSU had mediocre talent (for what LSU was expected to have). Blanton was a heroic individual, but the fact was that he was a slow, 6'6" guard/forward with limited skills and a huge heart. Vernell Singleton was totally unexpected, not highly recruited, not very skilled, but a phenomenal athlete. Rest of the team was a bunch of generic dudes, and Chris Jackson. Without him, we're lucky to get an NIT bid. He had to shoot his team to victory almost every game, with Blanton providing leadership, and Vernell cleaning up rebounds for second chance points.

You take CJ, who had to average 30 pts and had a couple 50 pt games as a freshman, and put him on that 89-90 roster, it was foreign to him. Maybe ideally, he gets 10 pts and 10 assists feeding the big guys, and makes a couple 3's in the course of the game= that wasn't his experience. Had no senior leadership convincing him this was the way. Had no trust it would work. Shaq could dunk, that was about it. Stanley had more offense, but would get into foul trouble at times.

They were asking him to completely change his game, as a sophomore, and also be the leader. It just didn't work.

Dale Brown.

Dale got us there depite silly nega tigers !