Who was your team growing up through HS and College?

Donate To GopherHole
R

RockChalk

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 26, 2022
Messages
766
Reaction score
585
Points
93
As youngsters we all had our favorites we followed. Who did you follow?

I loved watching Dean Smith, Billy Tubbs, Al McGuire, Jud was always a good follow as well.
 

Gotta confess I loved the John Wooden coached UCLA Bruins. I liked Al McQuires Marquette Warriors. The early years of Duke success were fun and that Glen Rice Michigan team had me hopping. And, I liked those Hoosier. Fundamentally sound basketball is a beautiful thing to behold.
 



The Gophers, anyone?

Yes, the Gophers for me.

After them, I loved the Tark UNLV teams, enjoyed BJ Armstrong/Roy Marble combo, Big East 1980's ball, loved Majerus on the sidelines and always wanted him here (RIP), loved watching the Badgers suck for a few decades, and the Fab 5 was fun.

Go Gophers!!
 


I fell in love with Georgetown when Ewing went there in 1981-82. I saw a documentary on PBS about him when he was in high school in Boston, and realized how dominant he was. The Hoya love was part of my overall infatuation with Big East basketball and Big Monday in the early/mid 80s. Couldn't get enough of those teams. But I grew up in Big 10 country and always loved hoops in the conference, and caught the wave of Clem's first success at the U when I was a student season ticket holder. Haven't stopped loving the Gophers since.
 


I really enjoyed the Lawrence moten John Wallace cuse teams, the Tommy penders Texas teams, and inexplicably LSU with Randy Livingston and Ronnie Henderson.
 

The Gophers by a long shot...then it kind of depended. I loved watching Temple and pretty much the entire ACC Tourny.
 



In addition to the Gophers it was Georgia Tech from 1983 onward.
 


After the Gophers, it was MJ, Sam Perkins, James Worthy, Matt Doherty, and any NC. Then Louisville with Dr Dunkenstein and the Macrae Brothers, and Lancaster Gordon. Used to make my own brackets on my moms typewriter and stay up late filling everything in.
 

Kansas Jayhawks. Was a big Danny Manning fan and later the Roy Williams teams.
 





Indiana and Syracuse. Loved those Derrick Coleman, Pearl Washington, and Rony Seikaly teams. The Big East was a beast back then.
 

Outsider said:
After the Gophers, it was MJ, Sam Perkins, James Worthy, Matt Doherty, and any NC. Then Louisville with Dr Dunkenstein and the Macrae Brothers, and Lancaster Gordon. Used to make my own brackets on my moms typewriter and stay up late filling everything in.
Click to expand...
Lancaster Gordon, pride of Jackson Miss! Cousin went to HS with him.
 

GopherPoke said:
He’s a high falootin, rootin tootin son of a gun from ole Wyoming, ragtime cowboy, talk about your cowboy, ragtime Cowboy Joe!
-Fennis
Click to expand...
Liked Eric Leckner from those teams as well. Their games vs New Mexico were epic.
 




I was a wrestler in elementary school and won a Walkman like radio in a drawing at a tourney in Worthington the year of the Elite 8 run. The tourney was the night of the Sweet 16 game and before that night I was vaguely aware of what was going down. I forgot all about the wrestling tourney and was tuned into the game, giving live updates to those around me. I became a basketball player, and Golden Gopher basketball was my absolute favorite sports team. Loved watching the Voshon Leonard teams on MSC tape delay. I was on cloud 9 during the Final 4 run. It's a shame what's happened to the program.

I loved the Fab 5 teams at Michigan. What wasn't to love for a young kid? The baggy shorts, the black shoes, the swagger. Amazing to think we were competing for players like that once upon a time.

And I had a real love hate thing with Bobby Knight's Indiana teams. I of course hated the Hoosiers when our Gophers played Indiana but had a real respect for Knight and his accomplishment, and the history of Indiana basketball. It seemed like Assembly Hall was the cradle of CBB.
 

Wayman Tisdale will never be replaced as my favorite non-Gopher college player. I also cheered for Granville Waiters because I was convinced he was somebody's Grandpa.

As for other teams, it had to be LMU and Westphal's offensive blitz. I'm not ashamed to admit that I wept after watching Hank Gathers collapse on the court. Those images stay with me as if I watched it yesterday.
 

I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention my love for Phi Slamma Jamma in the 80s. How the hell a team with 2 of the 50 greatest players in NBA history didn’t win a national title with Houston still baffles me. An underrated reason for my affection was their weird habit of wearing numbers that were one digit higher on their road unis than on their home unis. Plus, in later years I’ve gotten to know Tommy Bonk, the former journalist who coined (but didn’t trademark) Phi Slamma Jamma. He has some awesome stories about covering that team and Guy Lewis, who was a real character, the kind they just don’t make anymore.
 


I was into football and hockey growing up but it took me a while longer to really get into basketball. Originally wasn't into it when I was younger.

I was already a fan of the Gophers in other sports, though. Grew up in northern Minnesota so they were who I always rooted for. The basketball team popped up on my radar first in 2009 when they made the Big Dance and I started following loosely from there.

The season where I really became a fan and started watching every game was the 2011-2012 season, my last year in college actually. There was nothing on one night other than the Big Ten-ACC Challenge match against Virginia Tech. Figured I'd tune in and had a really good time watching.

Started watching more from there. I went to Minnesota State-Moorhead and at the time the Dragons basketball team was getting better as well, so I was paying more attention to the sport in general. By the end of the season I was a full on fan of basketball, following both teams.

That was an entertaining March, too, with the fun NIT tourney (except for the title game) and the hockey team going to the Frozen Four. Then the next season really solidified me being a fan, the Rodney Williams dunks, Hollinsanity, Mbakwe making blocks, the Indiana upset. That all helped.
 

Slim Tubby said:
Wayman Tisdale will never be replaced as my favorite non-Gopher college player. I also cheered for Granville Waiters because I was convinced he was somebody's Grandpa.

As for other teams, it had to be LMU and Westphal's offensive blitz. I'm not ashamed to admit that I wept after watching Hank Gathers collapse on the court. Those images stay with me as if I watched it yesterday.
Click to expand...
SelectionSunday said:
Oklahoma & Wayman Tisdale (RIP).

Memphis & Keith Lee.

‘89 Flyin’ Illini were a joy to watch.
Click to expand...

I may have shared this on here in the past, but when I was in 7th grade we lived in Tulsa and I attended the Wayman Tisdale Basketball Camp. They had a shooting contest and the winner won $10. I won the shooting contest so Tisdale called me up in front of the full camp and said “I’ll give you a 3 point attempt, you miss it and I keep the $10, you make it and I’ll mail you a $75 check.” I took the ball and drilled the 3, he picked me up, and hoisted me in the air. He wrote down my address on his arm, a week later I received a signed 8x10 and a $75 personal check.

I still have the 8x10 and a copy of the check (I photocopied it before I cashed it). He went on to have a great second career as a jazz musician. And died way too soon.

Go Wayman Tisdale!!
 


Maryland Terrapins in the mid 90s. Duane Simpkins, Johnny Rhodes, Keith Booth, Exree Hipp, and Joe Smith. All 5 averaged in double figures for two straight seasons. That was the first year of Coach K College Basketball, and my high school basketball team would have tournaments and that would be my team.

They had a really nice run until around 2005 with some really nice guards (Steve Francis, Juan Dixon, Steve Blake). Then the wheels fell off a bit.
 

I was a dumb kid who was drawn to cool names and color schemes, I loved me some St. John's in the late 90s when I saw their logo on a hat (the logo was way cooler back then than it is now) at Lids and then found out that they were also pretty good at hoops. This was during their Ron Artest->Erick Barkley->Omar Cook->Marcus Hatten stretch of seasons. I stopped caring about them shortly after that, mainly because it was around the time my friends and I stopped caring as much and spending gobs of our parents' money to get Mtn Dew bottle caps around tourney time. I've been fairly checked out since then, aside from following the Gophs under tubby for a bit when we had Grier and Hollins and Mbakwe and that tall skinny hoss from the Dakotas
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom