25 year ago today ...

[RubberSoul1979]

I always thought he was aptly named: Wimp. He wimped out against LMU. He had 3 NBA players on his team and he chose the slowdown when he had 3 of the 4 best players on the court. He bought into the LMU mystic and paid for it. He also had a 60-52 lead with about 3-1/2 minutes to go and didn't score again. LMU closed the game on a 10-0 run.
Another memory. In the tourney opener against New Mexico State, Kimble got his fourth foul before halftime ... and played the rest of the game without fouling out.

What ever happened to head coaches in loud, plaid sportcoats?

 

[Baron Scicluna]

WOW. Could the defib have saved his life?
Adds to the sadness that LMU hoops was never the same again.

Makes you wonder, what if? And would so even make that same decision today to wait, and lose a few precious minutes.

Such a sad story. And those LMU teams were the most fun teams I've ever watched.

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

What ever happened to head coaches in loud, plaid sportcoats?

They assaulted their secretaries and got ****canned.

 

[swingline]

Kimble shooting free throws left-handed was a powerful sight every time he stepped to the line.

 

[da man]

What ever happened to head coaches in loud, plaid sportcoats?

It was once a popular fashion statement.

I swear there are photos out there of El Deano wearing a plaid jacket and bell bottoms, but I can't find any on the Google.

 

[da man]

Kimble shooting free throws left-handed was a powerful sight every time he stepped to the line.

I thought he only did that on his first free throw of each game.

 

[swingline]

I thought he only did that on his first free throw of each game.

You might be correct. I just remember watching him shoot left-handed. Chris Long could tell us for sure.

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

Jeff Fryer was a man possessed in that Michigan game.

 

[JackReacher]

If I get time in the next day or two (snow day tomorrow, maybe), I'm hoping to find some of those games on YouTube. Anyone know for sure if they're available?

 

[LongTimeListener]

Wasn't there some blowback on that from LMU teammates who said Hank and Bo weren't all that close, and Bo was being a bit of a showman there while Hank's actual friends were off on the fringes?

 

[poindexter]

My own two cents, Long Beach State had fired Ron Palmer after the 1986 season, and hired Joe Harrington from George Mason as their new head coach. He was a hurry-up offense coach as well (although not nearly in the Westhead mode).
I was a student at that time, and on a sunday afternoon in the fall, watched the Harrington-led Beach team play LMU in the old West Gym at Long Beach State. It was the most breathtakingly exciting game I ever watched live. Both teams sprinted up and down the floor (Beach's best player was pg Morlon Wiley, who played in the NBA several years). It was like I was watching a different sport. I remember Long Beach player Jeff Eastin standing during a time out, gasping to catch his breath. What a game. And if you had the worst seat in the house, you were five rows up.

Either Kimble or Gathers didn't play in that game, due to injury. Westhead had them running, though.

 

[JackReacher]

And later, Westhead took over at George Mason. 93-97, I believe.

 

[Steak Snabler]

If I get time in the next day or two (snow day tomorrow, maybe), I'm hoping to find some of those games on YouTube. Anyone know for sure if they're available?

It's not the whole game, but here are 20 minutes worth of highlights from Loyola Marymount vs. LSU in Baton Rouge in February 1990:



LSU won 148-141 in overtime. Gathers had 48 points and 13 rebounds. Kimble had 32 and 11.

Chris Jackson scored 34 for LSU despite going 1-for-7 on 3-pointers. Stanley Roberts had 21 points and 12 rebounds. Shaquille O'Neal (who was a 17-year-old freshman) had 20 points, 24 boards and 12 blocks.

Boxscore:

LSU 148, LMU 141 (ot) - Loyola Marymount Official Athletic Site

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

Remembering Hank Gathers on 25th anniversary of his death - ESPN

 

[Dick Whitman]

Wasn't there some blowback on that from LMU teammates who said Hank and Bo weren't all that close, and Bo was being a bit of a showman there while Hank's actual friends were off on the fringes?

If there was, that seems kind of petty by them. He was the best player on a team where the other best player died on the court. Close or not, it seems like it was perfectly justified for him to take the lead on something like that. (Reminds me a little of Joe Girardi announcing to the crowd at Wrigley Field that the game had been canceled due to Darryl Kile's death.)

 

[ChrisLong]

My own two cents, Long Beach State had fired Ron Palmer after the 1986 season, and hired Joe Harrington from George Mason as their new head coach. He was a hurry-up offense coach as well (although not nearly in the Westhead mode).
I was a student at that time, and on a sunday afternoon in the fall, watched the Harrington-led Beach team play LMU in the old West Gym at Long Beach State. It was the most breathtakingly exciting game I ever watched live. Both teams sprinted up and down the floor (Beach's best player was pg Morlon Wiley, who played in the NBA several years). It was like I was watching a different sport. I remember Long Beach player Jeff Eastin standing during a time out, gasping to catch his breath. What a game. And if you had the worst seat in the house, you were five rows up.

Either Kimble or Gathers didn't play in that game, due to injury. Westhead had them running, though.

It was the 87-88 season in which LMU burst upon the scene. Gathers and Kimble joined Corey Gaines after sitting out the previous season as transfers.
Yes, Kimble shot his first free throw each game left-handed. Gathers was a horrible free-throw shooter (I wrote a feature on that in which my lede was: What's worse, the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard or Hank Gathers shooting a free throw?). He tried shooting them left-handed and that's why Kimble did it that way. It gave LMU an incredible boost in all of its NCAA games, when he did that, the crowd went nuts.
And it is true Gathers and Kimble actually weren't the best of friends, but they did rely on each other. Kimble was lazier and Gathers had to prod him to do the extra work required.
I know the two radio guys mentioned in the story linked above. In fact, one of them, Berger I think, told me about the medication issue. LMU went to Philly for 2 games, against St. Joseph's (?) and Temple. It was a glorious homecoming for Gathers and Kimble. Gathers sucked in the first game. Before the second game, in the layup line, he threw down a monster dunk and circled around in front of the two radio guys courtside. He said to Berger, "Ain't gonna be all drugged up for this game."
I was going to dig up that LMU-LSU game for Reacher, but Sneak beat me to it. Chris Jackson said it was the most fun he ever had playing basketball. Gathers battled Stanley Robert AND Shaq the entire game. He had a bunch of shots rejected, but he never backed down. LMU would have won but Lowery missed a free throw near the end of regulation that would have iced the game.
I will say here that LMU was damn lucky to have Westhead as the point man when all the media descended in the aftermath. He was/is a highly intelligent, sensitive, thoughtful person who could concisely and accurately convey what was going on there and give a true reflection of the impact on his team. He was no "WE'RE SAD, BABEEE" or "somebody's got to step up" etc...
Boy, my memory bank is in overdrive.

 

[Chef2]

My own two cents, Long Beach State had fired Ron Palmer after the 1986 season, and hired Joe Harrington from George Mason as their new head coach. He was a hurry-up offense coach as well (although not nearly in the Westhead mode).
I was a student at that time, and on a sunday afternoon in the fall, watched the Harrington-led Beach team play LMU in the old West Gym at Long Beach State. It was the most breathtakingly exciting game I ever watched live. Both teams sprinted up and down the floor (Beach's best player was pg Morlon Wiley, who played in the NBA several years). It was like I was watching a different sport. I remember Long Beach player Jeff Eastin standing during a time out, gasping to catch his breath. What a game. And if you had the worst seat in the house, you were five rows up.

Either Kimble or Gathers didn't play in that game, due to injury. Westhead had them running, though.

Here's the thing. Westhead would take them anywhere to whoever would give them a game. @LSU..@ Arkansas.......He didn't care. He wanted to get that team as many high profile games as he could.
I wish more teams would play like that. Not this secondary break stuff. Get 5 guys out there from 6-3 to 6-9 that can shoot. And let them shoot.
But make no point about it. Their press was a ***** to break. Now if you broke it, you could pull up for a 3 on 1 3, or make one more pass and get a dunk off a
lob. But they were going to make you work at it. Then, if they did score, run like hell to a spot 25 feet from the basket, and let it go.

 

[Starman]

Here's the thing. Westhead would take them anywhere to whoever would give them a game. @LSU..@ Arkansas.......He didn't care. He wanted to get that team as many high profile games as he could.
I wish more teams would play like that. Not this secondary break stuff. Get 5 guys out there from 6-3 to 6-9 that can shoot. And let them shoot.
But make no point about it. Their press was a ***** to break. Now if you broke it, you could pull up for a 3 on 1 3, or make one more pass and get a dunk off a lob. But they were going to make you work at it. Then, if they did score, run like hell to a spot 25 feet from the basket, and let it go.

This is what bugs me about the "play the right way" stick-up-asses who coach sludgeball and act like a 90-80 final score is some kind of affront to morality and decency.

They usually go straight to, "Do you want everybody to play like Loyola Marymount or UNLV?" And the answer is "No, but it would be nice if SOME teams would." Instead we get 52-49 walk-it-up sludgeball.

 

[MileHigh]

The LSU-LMU game was on ESPN Classic a few weeks back. It was awesome. And shows how far in the gutter college basketball has gone.

The Gathers collapse/death is etched in my memory as one of several dark days in SoCal in the late 1980s/early 1990s.

I was working as a runner at Long Beach Arena for the first- and second-round games. And the fact the defending national champions put up 115 points -- and lost by thirty-freakin-four points -- still ranks as one of the greatest games I've ever seen. The left-handed free throw -- yes, it was the first free throw Bo took -- was epic.

I was a HUGE UNLV fan, but even I wanted to see the Lions win the Elite Eight game. They had no chance.

Bo was on Dan Patrick's show this morning and was tremendous. And the Guru of Go was great.

Sadly, there will never be another LMU. But watching them was tremendous fun.

RIP Hank.

 

[Just_An_SID]

I was at the LMU first round NCAA game against New Mexico State, the first game after Hank's death and it was an amazing experience.

It remains the only first round game since the bracket expanded to 64 teams that featured two ranked teams. Bo picked up his fourth foul in the first half and then dared the officials to call the fifth. He finished with something like 45 points, including the famous left-handed free throw.

The game was played at the Long Beach Arena and was about as pro-LMU as it could have been. It started at 8:30 PST and was televised nationally to 100% of the country (back then, there was always one game played at that time on both Thursday and Friday night so the eastern and central time zones could air it right after the news. Poor NMSU was sacrificed on national TV. . . they never stood a chance against LMU and the emotional roller coaster that they were on.