RIP John Thompson (Big John)

John Thompson, aka "Mr. Bronze," helped create the Dream Team concept. His 1988 Olympic team didn't have any shooters, either. I respect what he did at Georgetown, but his methods oftentimes left something to be desired.

 

"Inside the NBA" crew all wearing towels over their shoulders in the studio.

 

One remarkable thing about John Thompson: his tenure there managed to lead a couple of generations to think Georgetown was an HBCU.

 

Big John had Mary Fenton to thank for that one. She kept the players working off the court.

John Feinstein got plenty on that one in one of his earlier books ... might have been "A Season Inside."

 

If he look at what his players on that team did in the pros, he chose pretty good team. Foreign ball was just too good.

Shit, Knight kept a few stiffs and cut Barkley.

 

Two things I don't care about: Georgetown's basketball academics and Mary Fenton's boobs.

 

Corrected. Ouch ... that one hurts.

I think Big John cared more about his players getting an education and earning a degree than most. If he didn't, I doubt Fenton would have been mentioned as prominently ... or that Thompson vehemently defended any criticisms involving her.

 

Mark me down as one of those. When I was kid in Brooklyn, Georgetown basketball was everything. I couldn't have told the first thing about the school or the location or anything. I just knew that the players looked and played like the guys I watched on the courts and the coach reminded me of father. Imagine my surprise when I started reading about the school and student body many years later.

I still watch the Georgetown-Kentucky 1984 semifinal from time to time just to see a example of a team being shut completely down defensively.

I did get a chance to talk to him one town on a story about Horace Broadnax when he took the Savannah State job. Once he warmed up he told some great stories. Horace, who is also an attorney and a member of the bars in a few states, has such reverence for him and talked about how much JT supported him when he expressed interest in law.

 

When I was growing up in Brooklyn, everyone had a Big East team. People with no connection to any school would root for Georgetown, Syracuse, etc.

 

I grew up in Brownsville so it was pretty staunchly Georgetown or Syracuse if you were friends or played with/against Pearl Washington.

My mom wouldn't get me a Georgetown starter jacket for Christmas because they were getting stolen at a pretty high clip, so I got a Hoya Paranoia t-shirt and a cool navy blue Georgetown sweater instead.

 

It’s Fenlon, not Fenton. Mary Fenlon.

 

For me back then when I watched it was ...

GEORGETOWN!!11!!!

Love Pearl Washington! but FUCK THAT ASSHOLE JIM BOEHEIM!

Neither here nor there on St. John's but loved watching them ball it up with GEORGETOWN! and Pearl Washington. And I liked Walter Berry and was intrigued by super white bread lefty Chris Mullin.