30 for 30 running thread

Watched it and enjoyed it. Only major failing was not including an interview with Magic Johnson during all the talk about how Magic ran Westhead out of L.A., though I'm sure the producers tried.

I was a junior in high school in 1990, and not being a huge college basketball fan at the time had barely heard of Gathers when he died. But the interview clips of him show what a bright, engaging young man he was. A tragedy.

 

I was a freshman in high school in SoCal in 1990, and that was the tourney that made me an addict. Just a great, memorable time for Loyola Marymount University. Granted, it's the only thing the university has ever done athletically that was worth a hill of beans . . .

Thought Guru of Go was too much on the worshipful/reverent side. The documentary was like a love letter to The Genius of Paul Westhead. The players spoke arrogantly of how great his system was (and it was hilarious to see Tom Peabody get quoted so much; what, Per Stumer wasn't available?), and they acted like they dominated a conference not named the West Coast Conference.

Great to see all those old videos, though. And amusing to see Hank Gathers' brother squirm and search for answers when the lawsuit was discussed.

 

I also had no idea Gathers and Kimble started out at USC. What an idiot Raveling was for running them off when he got that job.

Along those lines, I didn't really follow how they wound up at USC in the first place. How did SC pry two North Philly kids away from Villanova and Temple, not to mention regional powers like Georgetown, Maryland and Syracuse?

 

They both wanted to get out of Philadelphia at the request of their families I believe.

I remember watching LMU play LSU (and a 17-year-old Shaq backing up Stanley Roberts). I was flipping around and heard "there are going to be a lot of points scored in this one" and the final was something like 150-145 in OT.

I kept that team on memorex and when the 5 p.m. second round Sunday game came on against Michigan, I knew I'd be entertained. Pretty sure Frier had 41 in the beatdown of Michigan and Kimble had 37 or so.

Ridiculously fun to watch.

 

Talk about snapshots of a moment in time . . .

 

Shaq wasn't backing up Roberts when the LMU game came around. He started and had 20 points and 24 rebounds.

 

And 12 blocks. You are correct.

The box score is great. Some serious offense put out by these two teams. And the fact that Dale Brown was willing to play LMU's game with his talented squad made it all the better.

http://www.lmulions.com/sports/m-baskbl/archive/022405aab.html

 

Looking at that box score, I'm reminded what a great college player Chris Jackson was, and how he seems to be forgotten by a lot of people. I think he gets penalized for turning into such a wacko after he converted to Islam (and became Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf), and also because he was just an above-average NBA player.

But Chris Jackson could flat-out shoot. He was the best high school player I ever saw. He played at Gulfport (Miss.) High, and had some legendary battles with Moss Point when they had Litterial Green (who went on to Georgia and briefly played for the Orlando Magic).

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Abdul_Rauf

I wouldn't exactly say he was a "wacko." He converted and had a strong religious belief. Didn't Sam Perkins' own status as a Jehovah's Witness keep him from honoring the national anthem as well?

Abdul-Rauf also dealt with Torrette's Syndrome his entire NBA career. That repeated head bobbing/snapping he did on the court wasn't "wacko," it was medical.

Maybe there's some kind of "wacko" behavior I'm missing here?

EDIT: Speak of the wacko . . . errrr . . .Devil . . .

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ap-abdul-raufstillplaying

 

Chris Jackson as a freshman was unreal. How the hell Dale Brown gets to a FF with Ricky Blanton as the star and doesn't get there with Shaq, Stanley Roberts and Chris Jackson is amazing.

 

No, the "star" of that 86 LSU team would've been John Williams, who was a lottery pick in the NBA draft that year.

 

As I alluded to by having seen him play in high school, I'm from the same part of the country as Jackson/Abdul-Rauf. He's well known in this area for his eccentric behavior, and it has nothing to do with his faith or his Tourette's.

Just one example, his house burned down about 10 years ago, and he pestered the local paper for weeks wanting them to do a story about it being a hate crime, even though the police and fire departments ruled it to be an accident.