re: What was the pinnacle of LSU MBB?

quote:

---

jackson, shaq, stanley, vernell

---

Imagine if they had a better coach...

Just imagine that, like WW coaching that group...

For anyone crapping on Dale Brown consider this:

Here are the top 10 teams with the longest consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances leading into the 1994 tournament:

North Carolina – 24 consecutive appearances (1975–1994)
Indiana – 18 consecutive appearances (1976–1994)
Duke – 14 consecutive appearances (1986–1994)
Kansas – 13 consecutive appearances (1981–1994)
UCLA – 12 consecutive appearances (1982–1994)
Louisville – 10 consecutive appearances (1980–1989)
Kentucky – 9 consecutive appearances (1983–1991)
LSU – 9 consecutive appearances (1986–1994)
Purdue – 8 consecutive appearances (1984–1991)
Missouri – 8 consecutive appearances (1980–1987)

LSU was nearly a blue blood with multiple final fours, multiple other great 8s and sweet sixteens under Brown. No one beat Kentucky more than Dale Brown 18 times. No one has come close to what he accomplished at a school that didn't care about basketball

quote:

---

LSU was nearly a blue blood with multiple final fours, multiple other great 8s and sweet sixteens under Brown. No one beat Kentucky more than Dale Brown 18 times. No one has come close to what he accomplished at a school that didn't care about basketball

---

While all that is true, with all that talent, there is no other reasonable explanation for not winning it all is that he just wasn't a very good coach, however good a recruiter he might have been.

People crap on Mac, too. People who don't understand football crap on him, that is. Mac overperformed relative to resources and talent, while Dale underperformed (at least at times).

86' and 87' is up there .... a few free throws and a phone slamming induced tech from making it to back to back Final Fours.

quote:

---

While all that is true, with all that talent, there is no other reasonable explanation for not winning it all is that he just wasn't a very good coach, however good a recruiter he might have been.

People crap on Mac, too. People who don't understand football crap on him, that is. Mac overperformed relative to resources and talent, while Dale underperformed (at least at times).

---

Name the LSU players under Brown that went on to become NBA All stars. I will help you.
1) Shaq (a bunch)
2) Chris Jackson (once in 1993)
Shaq was a skinny freshman for the one year he played with Chris Jackson.

Dale was a master of finding hidden gems and developing and getting the absolute most out of his players. He didn't lose because of Xs and Os. He lost to bigger programs with deeper benches and teams with future NBA HOFs.

The loss to California was terrible at the time but that guy who won it single handedly named Jason Kidd turned out to be a pretty good player. And that Isaiah Thomas for Indiana in 1981 wound up being a pretty solid player for Detroit.

quote:

---

Home COURT (gym/arena) is much bigger than simply being in the home city. That's why the home court advantage in college basketball is the biggest in all of the major sports, even if the home crowd is not raucous.

---

I guess LSU playing in New Orleans is not an advantage. Again, the 86 team also beat a much higher seeded Georgia Tech and Kentucky in Atlanta - not the PMAC - to get to the final four.

And, I believe they were leading Louisville at halftime of the final four before collapsing in the 2nd half.

I know you will say they would have never got that far without the first two rounds, but you don't know that. I remember LSU in 06 needing an almost half court shot from Darrell Mitchell to get out of the 2nd round against Texas A @ M.

86' and 87' is up there .... a few free throws and a phone slamming induced tech from making it to back to back Final Fours.

Fess Irvin and Bobby Knight. Damn, Knight intimidated those refs so bad they didn't know what to do. That was the 87 sweet sixteen game. I couldn't sleep for two days.

quote:

---

But to not get out of the first two rounds with Shaq, Stanley Roberts (who was just as good in college), Jackson and a good supporting cast is the most irksome part. Especially that lost to a good Ga Tech team that went on to the final four.

---

1981 Final Four team....31-5.

It'll never be any better than that....

No regular season game would count for being the pinnacle. Here are the highest points:

1. 1978-1981 - Macklin, Martin, Cook, Carter, Scales, Mitchell, etc. Great basketball for a sustained 4-5 years. 1981 Final Four, 1980 Elite Eight, 1979 Sweet 16.

2. 1985-1987 - the John Williams/Nikita Wilson years. The 1986 team was the most inspiring team ever. They were also fundamentally sound (maybe because of Tex Winter?). 1986 Final Four, 1987 Elite Eight.

3. 1989-1991 - the Shaq years. They should have made it past the second round. CJ/Shaq/Roberts team was incredibly talented but young and inconsistent.

After that, it has to be the Wade years. Brady and JJ were way to erratic.