Why are you manipulating the data, G_MAN113? Why just 16 years (round number???). Use the whole 25 or none at all. Geez.
Well, we could go back further, but, taking the bad into account with the good, do you really want to? I was addressing this claim: Brown goal wasn't just making the NCAA, but actually winning more than one game. I was demonstrating how, after Dale's first Final Four run (1981, where I picked up my list), this wasn't always the case. However, if you insist: 1972-73: 14-10, no postseason 1973-74: losing record, no postseason 1974-75: losing record, no postseason 1975-76: losing record, no postseason 1976-77: 15-12, no postseason 1977-78: 18-9, no postseason 1978-79: NCAA, lost in 2nd round to Michigan State 1979-80: NCAA, lost in regional final to Louisville 1980-81: NCAA, lost to Indiana in national semifinal
That just might be the most ridiculous thing I have ever read on this forum... Find me one LSU basketball fan that doesn't want to win the NC?
He, like his mentor, TE, cannot see beyond their dislike of Brady. They refuse to enjoy this ride because to do so may be interpreted as an endorsement of Brady. G-Man has done the research to show that, aside from an occasional spike in the graph, LSU hoops has always been a red headed stepchild to football. Brady has recruited talent to LSU and we are now beginning to reap the fruits of his labors. Let the bashers howl all they want. If we are not childishly crying that we didn't win the NC, they'll accuse us of "tolerating" or "settling". Meanwhile, we will all enjoy the dance while they bitch about the band.
It would be more enlightening if the margin of the loss to some of those teams were published. I have always appreciated what Brown did for LSU. However for those who are old enought to suffer some of the disappointments of those years Brady is actually a ray of hope. I remember yearly getting my hopes up that some of the great talent produced in Louisiana would come to LSU. Instead, while Brown was chaseing Big Foot, the top players were going to Kentucky, Alabama, Georgetown, Villanova, and the state schools. Now we see players like Bass, Hudson, Davis and Mitchell wearing the purple and gold instead of heading out of state.
The fact of the matter is, when it comes to the SEC, that Kentucky is the *only* program that wins consistenly and wins big. All others have their "up" years, making occasional runs as far as the Final Eight or Four (LSU, Florida, Miss St, Alabama come to mind) or, in one case, to a National Title (Arkansas). Nobody comes close to matching Kentucky's level of excellence. This is somewhat unusual for a major conference, though I guess you could say that Indiana historically has quite an edge over their Big Ten counterparts. The ACC, Big XII, Big East...all have multiple big programs that ebb and flow time and again over the short term. The PAC-10 falls somewhere in between, with the traditionally dominant UCLA having given way to Arizona in recent years with occasional showings by Stanford, though all in all PAC-10 teams tend to be all noise and little substance come Tourney time. I guess my original point is, while I think LSU should aspire to excel in all sports, history suggests it's hard to do much more than be a perennial top 30 team and, every 3 years or so, pop up and win the conference and/or make a run in the NCAAs.
I could go back and find that, but the way I recall it, just off the top of my head, was that the only fairly close losses were to UNO (in OT), Indiana in '87, Georgetown in '88, and Cal in '93. The rest of them were pretty much blowout losses...in some cases (i.e., Dayton, Navy and UTEP) to teams that talent-wise, didn't even belong on the same court as the Tigers.
It should be pointed out that calling out fellow TF members is against the user agreement. With that being said, I don't particularly mind this thread if Brett doesn't.
