Do You Like Lists? I Like Lists.

Taylor,

Huck is busy and has asked me to make the gratuitous corrections today. The UH point guard in 1981-82 was Rob Williams, not Franklin.

Didn’t see the UTEP team of ‘66, but the ‘83 Phi Slamma Jamma team should be high on the list of teams with the greatest collection of talent in college basketball history.

Drexler and Olajuwon are included in the recent list of the Top 50 NBA players of all time. Young and Franklin were NBA first round picks and Micheaux was a second rounder. And then there was Benny Anders, who may have been the best athlete on the team - from the neck down, anyway.

That UH team simply toyed with a great Louisville team led by Rodney and Scooter McCray in the Final Four before their inexplicable loss to NCSU in the championship.

That UH team was loaded. They were also coached by Guy Lewis, which is why I have UT’s Final Four team ahead of the Phi Slamma Jamma bookend versions. There is a reason that the one coach to take a Texas college to more modern Final Fours than all other Texas college together had to wait before he was inducted into the HOF.

Seriously though, I like the list. I think the 2005 team was a bit better than this year’s mainly because our guards were big and our interior would have crushed James and Atchley. Ivey on Augustin, Mouton chasing Abrams, PJ backing down Mason. It’d be fun.

Oh, I agree with you on Guy V., Taylor. Hence the carefully worded “greatest collection of talent” comment.

Thanks for the Reid Gettys remembrance, Trips. He was fairly easy to pick out on the court. Particularly by his general acquaintance with free throw process - unique on that team. I seem to recall that Michael Young had a better FG % than FT %.

Easy, the 07 version doesn’t pressure. They’d be gassed.

<p><p>There is a team that at least deserves honorable mention on your Texas list. The 1971-72 squad. </p><br />
<p>They won the SWC, finished 19-9, reached the Sweet 16, and played their best basketball from the middle of the season on. In fact, a flurry of injuries kept them from reaching their full potential in the Sweet 16. </p><br />
<p>That team had Larry Robinson as its centerpiece. Robinson, a sophomore, was the first African-American superstar basketball player at UT. He was from one of the best HS programs in the country at that time — Hobbs, New Mexico. Larry was a 6-6 forward who had the skillset of today’s player. He was a smooth ball handler, good rebounder (he was 6-7 and a slight 205 pounds, but used his quickness) and an outstanding outside shooter. He had a marvelous first step on offense.</p><br />
<p>Robinson had averaged 34 points and 17 rebounds on the freshman squad. He averaged 21 points and 8 rebounds that year and was the SWC Player of the Year. </p><br />
<p>He had help on that team. Lynn Howden, a transfer from LSU was a 6-7 230 pound forward who was an enforcer. Eric Groscurth, a 6-6 forward, was a slasher and good outside shooter. B.G.Brosterhous was a 6-10 center from Oregon who was one of the first true big men to play for Texas who actually had agility and talent. Jimmy Blacklock started out as the point guard. He was the first African-American to be elected team captain of a team sport at Texas. </p><br />
<p>But right from the start he was pressed for playing time by another sophomore, Harry Larrabee, a 5-10 guard from Indiana. Scooter Lenox was guard with no remorse when it came to shooting. There was no 3-point line then, but he felt mid-court was his range anyway. John Mark Wilson was another forward, 6-8 235, who looked a helluva lot like Mike Wacker. Wilson was a strong rebounder who could shoot the mid-range jumper, but like Wacker, he saw his career cut short with knee injuries. </p><br />
<p>The team started out fairly well, and went to Los Angeles to play in the Bruin Classic, as in UCLA Bruins. They had a pretty good team that year. Bill Walton, Larry Farmer, Greg Lee, Henry Bibby,Kieth Wilkes. Not a bad lineup. Texas trailed by 16 at the half. At the start of the 2nd half, the Horns stole an inbounds pass, hit a couple of shots, and the lead was down to 10. John Wooden calls<br />timeout, benches the entire first team, and puts in the subs, led by Swen Nater. The lead is back up to 20 in about 5 minutes. Walton ends up with 28 points and 24 rebounds, and UCLA wins by 40. They would go on to capture their 6th straight national title. </p></p>
<p><p>Back then SMU was the dominant program in the SWC and actually had some success in the NCAA’s. Arkansas had recently discovered the game as well. They had a couple of outstanding players that year in Dean Tolson and Martin Terry and they looked to run at every opportunity. I was a student back then, and one of the wildest games I ever saw in Gregory Gym was that year when Texas beat Arkansas<br />117-93. </p></p>
<p><p>But halfway through the conference season, Texas was in the middle of the pack when Coach Leon Black put Larrabee in the starting lineup. Jimmy Blacklock could have pouted, but he didn’t and ended up being a valuable contributor off the bench. After Larrabee was inserted into the lineup, Texas won 9 out of 10 games. Larrabee was a better ball handler and shooter than Blacklock and he always seemed to make the right decision on when to pass. </p><br />
<p>Texas and SMU tied for the title and had a playoff game in Waco to see which team would go to the NCAA tournament. Texas won 91-89 in overtime as Robinson had 30 points and 12 rebounds. He also suffered a broken foot in the game. </p><br />
<p>Texas was sent to Las Cruces, New Mexico to face the University of Houston. The Cougars were a few years away from joining the SWC, but Guy Lewis already had Houston on the<br />national map in college basketball. That year, UH was 20-6 and led by the Double D’s — Dwight Davis and Dwight Jones. Houston loved to press from the opening tip off, and they jumped out to an early lead. Texas called timeout, and afterward simply cleared out after the inbounds pass to let Harry Larrabee bring it up. </p><br />
<p>It worked and Texas pulled the upset 85-74. Robinson spent the week leading up to the game in a soft cast, but he played, and had 23 points and 14 rebounds. </p><br />
<p>The best memory of the game came at the end when Dwight Davis fouled out. Larrabee goes over to shake his hand, and with the camera zoomed in, Davis looks at Larrabee and says, “Fuck You.” Larrabee tries again, and again Davis drops the F Bomb on TV.</p><br />
<p>Greatness. </p><br />
<p>It was a stunning win and got national attention for the Horns who then moved to the regional in Ames, Iowa. Big 8 champ Kansas State was the opponent. The other teams in the Midwest Regional were Louisville and Southwest Louisiana. </p><br />
<p>Texas was in no shape for the contest. Aside from Robinson’s broken foot, Lynn Howden was nursing a hurt ankle, B.G. Brosterhous had a bruised shoulder, and both Scooter Lenox and Larrabee were also slowed down by ankle injuries. In the write up for the<br />regional, Sport Illustrated’s Curry Kirkpatrick, in writing a preview said, “The Midwest Regional will consist of the Four C’s: The ‘Cats, ‘Cardinals, Cajuns — and the Cripples.” </p><br />
<p>Texas tried to protect the injured Robinson and others as much as possible by switching to a zone, but Kansas State, led by Lon Kruger, prevailed 66-55. </p><br />
<p>Robinson was drafted by the Boston Celtics after his senior season in 1974, and was the last man cut that year. The Celtics sent him over to Europe for some seasoning. Robinson became a star over in Sweden and didn’t come back. He later worked for Converse.</p><br />
<p>That team isn’t among the best, but they sure as hell were fun to watch, and believe it or not, Gregory Gym rocked and was an absolute pit for opponents to play in. Robinson was a true star, but there were other really talented players around him, and if they had been injury free it could have been even better.</p></p>

Taylor, that ‘81-’82 team consisted of two NBA-quality players and then 3 or 4 role players. I somehow viewed that as more of a personal tragedy for Mike Wacker, while I always thought that the 1971-72 was a missed opportunity to jump start the basketball program.

Leon Black had some real success recruiting out of state, and perhaps some more national notice would have built on that.

Of course this is also about the time that some SWC schools discovered that cheating in basketball also could pay dividends, so maybe it is a moot point.

Any team that had TJ would beat any other Texas team. Except a TJ team from another year, cause, that’s like, unpossiblle.

Anyway, TJ would get the W.

The best team I’ve ever seen in Texas was the 1985 Bay City team with Hart Lee Dykes and LaBradford Smith.

Also, we got to the Sweet 16 in 2003-04 as a #3 seed, not as a #6.

LaBradford Smith is the brother of Annette and Audrey Smith. Annette Smith (now Smith-Knight) may still be the all-time leading scorer in Lady Longhorn basketball history and was twice the SWC Player of the Year.

If we had had any semblance of a men’s basketball program in the mid-80’s, we could have had a great shot at landing LaBradford. Thank you, Weltlich.

I didn’t say Otis.

I meant Ralph Birdsong.

Good heavens, how many Cougar basketball nit-pickers are there? I’ve already confused Alvin Franklin with Rob Williams, and Don Chaney with Otis Birdsong. I haven’t even mentioned Cadillac Anderson or Linden Rose.

Aren’t we selling Baylor short (Terry Teagle, Vinnie Johnson)? Didn’t Rice have a star player in the early ’80s, too?

“Didn’t Rice have a star player in the early ’80s, too”

Ricky Pierce.

My brother guarded him in high school, and by guarded him I mean didn’t. Garland H.S, I think.