I dont know about you, but I think the best 'cross section' of intelligent basketball and athleticism was the 1980's.... I remember that the advent of the Big East conference was worth hurrying home from classes or homework to get together with the guys to watch the Big East games of the week. Get a couple of pizzas and have a room full of guys hanging out and discussing hoops.. Did not matter the teams as those games were all wars...Syracuse, Georgetown, St Johns, Villanova, Providence, Seton Hall, Boston College.. It was amazing that all those teams made the Final 8. I cant remember for sure but most of those teams made the Final Four in the 80's. Villanova, Georgetown, Syracuse, and Seton Hall made the NCAA Finals in the 80's....That was one night a week that we would enjoy those battles, as friends and basketball junkies.
Then the other big conference in the eastern US, the ACC, had North Carolina, NC State, Duke, Wake Forest, Virginia, and Georgia Tech make the Final Four in the 80's....Maryland had Len Bias, who is the greatest player I have seen in college that did not play in the pros because of the tragic overdose.. But gosh were those fun years. All of us had girlfriends and they would get together at someone else's apartment or house and us guys would have an ACC night, and Big East night, every single week of the season for a 4-5 year period.
Michigan won the national championship against Seton Hall in 1989 after the Illinois team dominating the regular season, that year. I hate Michigan but I loved the way that team came together with Rumeal Robinson, Terry Mills, Loy Vaught, Sean Higgins, and of course their star, Glen Rice. Indiana won the national titles in 1981(the same day President Reagan was shot) with Isiah Thomas and then in 1987 with the Steve Alford team. So the Big 10 was phenomenal... In 1988, Danny Manning led Kansas in a huge upset over conference foe Oklahoma led by the late Waymon Tisdale in the national championship... 3 years earlier, another national championship between conference teams where Villanova shot lights out to beat the heavily favored Patrick Ewing led Georgetown team.....Lots of last second national championship wins(Michael Jordan shot in 1982, Lorenzo Charles in 1983, Keith Smart in 1987).. Michigan and Seton Hall went to OT. Nicknames like Phi Slamma Jamma, Doctors of Dunk, Kiki and the Kardiac Kids.....Phenomenal recruits... Think of the players like Ewing, Olajuwon, Drexler, Jordan, Thomas, Manning, Tisdale. Worthy, Perkins. Rice, Wilkins, Barkley, Price, Pervis Ellison. The list goes on and on....To me, this was basketball's pinnacle.
Minnesota had a great beginning and ending of the decade.. The middle was marred with the scandal at Wisconsin but the early 80s had some of the best talent Minnesota has ever seen on the court together.... The end of the decade had Willie Burton, Kevin Lynch, and Melvin Newbern who were super talented in their own right. PLAYERS STAYED WITH COLLEGE TEAMS AND THERE WAS IDENTITY BETWEEN PLAYERS, FANS, AND THE UNIVERSITY.. OH, HOW I MISS THOSE DAYS AND COVET THEIR RETURN... I will always love the game but the 80's are the best I have ever seen.. What is your opinion??
Then the other big conference in the eastern US, the ACC, had North Carolina, NC State, Duke, Wake Forest, Virginia, and Georgia Tech make the Final Four in the 80's....Maryland had Len Bias, who is the greatest player I have seen in college that did not play in the pros because of the tragic overdose.. But gosh were those fun years. All of us had girlfriends and they would get together at someone else's apartment or house and us guys would have an ACC night, and Big East night, every single week of the season for a 4-5 year period.
Michigan won the national championship against Seton Hall in 1989 after the Illinois team dominating the regular season, that year. I hate Michigan but I loved the way that team came together with Rumeal Robinson, Terry Mills, Loy Vaught, Sean Higgins, and of course their star, Glen Rice. Indiana won the national titles in 1981(the same day President Reagan was shot) with Isiah Thomas and then in 1987 with the Steve Alford team. So the Big 10 was phenomenal... In 1988, Danny Manning led Kansas in a huge upset over conference foe Oklahoma led by the late Waymon Tisdale in the national championship... 3 years earlier, another national championship between conference teams where Villanova shot lights out to beat the heavily favored Patrick Ewing led Georgetown team.....Lots of last second national championship wins(Michael Jordan shot in 1982, Lorenzo Charles in 1983, Keith Smart in 1987).. Michigan and Seton Hall went to OT. Nicknames like Phi Slamma Jamma, Doctors of Dunk, Kiki and the Kardiac Kids.....Phenomenal recruits... Think of the players like Ewing, Olajuwon, Drexler, Jordan, Thomas, Manning, Tisdale. Worthy, Perkins. Rice, Wilkins, Barkley, Price, Pervis Ellison. The list goes on and on....To me, this was basketball's pinnacle.
Minnesota had a great beginning and ending of the decade.. The middle was marred with the scandal at Wisconsin but the early 80s had some of the best talent Minnesota has ever seen on the court together.... The end of the decade had Willie Burton, Kevin Lynch, and Melvin Newbern who were super talented in their own right. PLAYERS STAYED WITH COLLEGE TEAMS AND THERE WAS IDENTITY BETWEEN PLAYERS, FANS, AND THE UNIVERSITY.. OH, HOW I MISS THOSE DAYS AND COVET THEIR RETURN... I will always love the game but the 80's are the best I have ever seen.. What is your opinion??
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