La Salle basketball's fall from grace landed here. This humble blog chronicles the Explorers' ascent back to greatness with news, analysis, and the occasional post about real lions.
The soon-to-be-senior center from Glen Mills has Temple, Villanova, La Salle, Saint Joseph's, Pittsburgh and West Virginia very, very interested. He's no longer a secret, no longer the gangly curiosity who first played organized basketball only a few years ago. He's way beyond that.
He's someone growing in stature, not just physically - he has sprouted another inch so far this summer to 6-11 - but on the court as well. Where Murray was once a toe-in-the-water big man, unsure around the basket, he's now become a force, rebounding, blocking shots and intimidating shooters.
So yeah, it'd be great to have him. He's 6-11 and he's already wearing La Salle colors.
Aaric's mother, Latoya, has got more than basketball on her mind.
"The main reason why I wanted Aaric to stay at Glen Mills is the way the streets are today in Philadelphia," said LaToya, who once was a 2-year starter herself at Gratz as a 6-foot center. "Aaric is a big kid, but I don't care, I don't want anyone hurting him. Glen Mills has great structure. Glen Mills always has something for him to do.
"The murder rate in this city is high, and we're talking about a kid who is 6-11 walking down the street. I won't see anything bad happening to my son like that. He stays in school all week and comes home on the weekends. That's fine with me. We don't live in the best neighborhood. But he's safe at Glen Mills. Aaric has a future now."
Eeek. Can Philly please hire Rudolph Gulianani and fix crime like New York has? Honestly, step your game up.
Vernon Goodrige seems to be the real deal. Especially if he's abusing NBA Draft picks. Here's a proxy report from GoExplorers on Scout.com
* GoExplorers * Rasual Butler Status
Posted: Yesterday 11:39 AM RE: Vernon Goodridge Yesterday on ESPN 950, Michael Bradley, filling in for Jody Mac, talked about how DeAndre Jordon was in town to work out for the Sixers and how he was over at La Salle playing against Vernon, and how Vernon abused him. I couldn't be more excited to watch this guy play. I just hope he knows how to avoid foul trouble.
Sual got caught flashing the whistle. (That's not a picture of Rasual Butler. That's a famous celebrity.)
A witness told investigators that Butler pulled out a gun near a South Beach club early Monday, according to a Miami Beach police report. Butler was sitting in an SUV when officers arrived and found a loaded gun in the vehicle.
“We take these matters very seriously and we’ll work with all appropriate authorities,” Hornets general manager Jeff Bower said in a statement.
I generally think guns are bad. While they make awesome shirt designs, they seem to kill people moderately often and that's not cool.
That being said, Sual is a millionaire. And occasionally millionaires, especially tall ones, garner a little too much attention from troublemakers.
Javon Walker, Antoine Walker, Eddy Curry, Sebastian Telfair, (he's not that tall) etc, etc. The list goes on and on and if I was a rich athlete, I might abide by the old "I'd rather be caught with my gun than without it." Marvin Harrison does.
So fair enough, you've got a burner. But why are you holding? Where's your weed carrier? Where's your boy from Roman who gases up the SUV? What's he doing? Your shitty friends will sometimes put you in a tricky spot. Ask Ray Lewis. But every once in a while, they handle your shit so you can keep your nose clean. Rasual is not just an nba player. He's not a businessman he's a business, man. (More Jay-Z later)
Businesses usually have some sort of security. Maybe it's a laser eye scan, maybe it's that bulletproof revolving thing at your corner deli. Sual went out and brought his security system with him. The only problem is that the CEO of the business should not be on security detail. Outsource that baby.
Take it from Hov. Here's the end of La-La-La
But get a pen, I can tell you pricks my plans for the future I'll never make the news again, my man will shoot ya
First of all, John Johnson is a dope name. I assume that's not the only reason we've got our eye on him though. From CAAinsider.com....
A
The freshman guard can already attack off the dribble, shoot from the outside or distribute the ball. This past season, he lead Girard College to the PIAA Class A Quarterfinal round. In Class A, he was a second team all state selection as a freshman. He averaged 20 points per game for Girard College......
As he progresses on, look for John to see his recruitment pick up. Thus far, he told us he has city school St. Joe's, La Salle and Villanova tracking his progress.
Bernadette McGlade is the new A-10 commissioner. Long story short - she's from the ACC and knows about television.
From 1995-2000, McGlade served on the NCAA Women's Basketball Selection Committee and chaired that Committee in 1999 and 2000. Additionally, McGlade served on the NCAA Working Group to Study Basketball Issues (1998-2000), as well as the NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Marketing and Promotions Group (1997-1999). During that period, she also participated on the eight-person NCAA Television Negotiating Committee. This group secured the largest television contract for any sporting event, totaling $6.2 billion in revenue from CBS for the NCAA men's basketball championship. Additionally, the group secured the current ESPN contract for the NCAA women's basketball championship and numerous additional National Championships' rights, in excess of $162 million.
It'll be interesting to see if McGlade can bring some additional television exposure to the A-10. It's a little bit of a chicken and egg situation. TV brings exposure and interest. Interest and exposure brings TV. My thoughts - pack your gyms and the cameras will follow.
(Unrelated note - the Red Wings just played Kenny Loggins "Highway to the Danger Zone" during a stoppage in this neverending game. If I was the music coordinator, I'd play the whole Top Gun soundtrack. "Playin'! Playin' wiht the boys!")
A few days ago we posted a link to about Lionel and Richard Hamilton. Rip attended Lionel's baskeball camp, won a free throw shooting contest, and was supposed to win Lionel's sneakers. For some reason, Rip never got the shoes.
Here's a link to a video of Devon White. Firefox couldn't handle this so good luck. If Devon's offense is as hard to handle as his videos, then we're in good shape.
No snarky comments from me on this one. I love water snakes and Chris Pontius and people jumpping over things. As silly as this looks, it's a pain in the ass to get this done. There's like snake handlers on set and they're invoicing and everbody wants to know when craft services will be here blah blah blah. Getting anything done in production is a production so kudos to whatever agency was behind this. Water snakes are the new chimpanzees. Comedy gold!
As much as I enjoyed watching the Hornets during the playoffs, I was always a little bummed that I never got to watch Sual. Something's wrong when one of the best basketball players you've ever seen gets as much PT as you do.
Hornets fans aren't too happy with the money they're giving to our boy. Here's offsideswithfletcher.....
Mike James & Rasual Butler. Next season these two stiffs will make a combined 9.6 million dollars! Seriously!
Because of these garbage contracts the Hornets will not be able to trade these two players. They’re stuck with them!
So, If I were GM I’d hand Mike James the back-up point guard spot. I hate how selfish he is, how he looks to shoot everytime he touches the ball…..but if he’s on the roster eating up 6 million dollars in salary he should be playing more. I’d give him a shot!
Butler is a total bust to me. Just make him inactive and hope he retires or asks for a buyout!
Damn. Hornets fans are calling for Birdman to come back and Sual to retire. The world is upside down.
Being the only Den writer who works in the non-profit sector, I feel compelled to not only promote the betterment of LaSalle basketball, but the betterment of our community.
Two-thirds of the Den wear glasses (gazelles and boars are not known for their eyesight) and May is "Recycle for Sight" month. No organization in history has done more to promote sight and end preventable blindness than the Lion's Club, the international network of lions and ladies dedicated to humanitarian service. Drop off your used prescription and nonprescription glasses and sunglasses to a Lion's Club near you or send them by mail. Read more about "Recycle for Sight" month. The Den is looking to collaborate with the Lion's Club to be our official charitable partner.
On a related note, LaSalle basketball shall rise to prominence, or at least memorableness, when we get a baller with some thick rims, and not the kind you find on an Escalade. Cue Harris from Major League: "I think they like good, young man." Athletes don't like to show weakness, so few admit to bad eyesight. But everybody loves a guy in glasses who takes charges and hustles. Mufasa cheers for guys in masks; I like goggles.
All-Time Goggles & Spectacles Team:
Center: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (back-up is Moses for a quick blow) Forward: James Worthy (only one on this list who was born with goggles) Forward: Horace Grant (bro Harvey will get garbage time and you won't even know a switch was made) Guard: Thurl Bailey (okay, he's a forward but he could shoot. He's my two guard) Guard: Gazelle (since there is not one documented case of a point guard wearing glasses on the court I'm calling my own number) Sixth Man: Kurt Rambis Coach: John Wooden Towel Boy: Chris Sabo
Being the only native New Englander in the Lionel's Den crew, it's hard to figure out who to root for in the NBA. I grew up with the Celts but pretty much abandoned them once they tore down the Garden and ushered in the Antoine Walker era.
Mufasa always liked Rip while he was at UCONN - I'm a fan of passionate players and facemasks so Rip is two for two. Then there's this from MLive.com....
Being comfortable knocking down free throws in pressure situations, was something Hamilton learned how to do at an early age.
He recently told the story about how he went to a basketball camp that was being hosted by former NBA player Lionel Simmons.
Simmons wanted to see which of the kids could make free throws with all the other kids yelling and screaming at them. Whoever made three in a row would get a pair of Simmons' sneakers.
Hamilton said he was the only one to make all three free throws.
"I try to put myself in that zone as a kid, because I made those free throws," he said.
And the sneakers?
"He never gave me those sneakers and I'm still mad about it," Hamilton said jokingly.
If you like getting mad about irrelevant things like "Which PA city has the best junk food" then you're in luck. Gordie Jones, great name, wrote an article comparing all things Philly with all things Pittsburgh.
Turns out, Pittsburgh is way better than Philly.....I guess.
Iconic junk food: In Philadelphia, it is the cheesesteak. In Pittsburgh, Iron City Beer. Advantage: Philadelphia. (Though the fact that Pittsburgh also gave us the Klondike Bar and Heinz ketchup -- not to mention Rolling Rock beer, which used to be brewed in nearby Latrobe -- makes this closer than it otherwise might have been.)
Famous person: Andrew Carnegie (Pittsburgh) vs. Nicodemo Scarfo (Philly). Advantage: Pittsburgh -- but please don't tell Mr. Scarfo or any of his associates.
Fictional jock: Pittsburgh offers Reggie Dunlop (Paul Newman) of ''Slap Shot'' fame. Philly counterpunches with Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone). Advantage: Philadelphia. (Yo, do they have a statue of Reg in the Steel City? And did he ever go the distance with Creed?)
Entertainer: Mr. Rogers (Pittsburgh) vs. Bill Cosby (Philadelphia). Advantage: Pittsburgh, because of recent headlines and Eddie Murphy's old ''Saturday Night Live'' sendup of Mr. Rogers, ''Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood'' (''Oooh, it's Mr. Landlord, boys and girlsÂ…'').
Signature athletes: In Pittsburgh (and environs), they are quarterbacks (Johnny Unitas, Dan Marino, Joe Montana, Joe Namath). In Philly, they are ballers (Wilt Chamberlain, Earl Monroe, Paul Arizin, Tom Gola). Advantage: Pittsburgh, though the Wilt factor makes this a photo finish.
Your final score: Pittsburgh 3, Philly 2.
See, you're annoyed aren't you. This might be the only article to ever compare Joe Namath to Gola.
Let's say we had Donnie Carr, Rasual Butler, Tom Gola and Lionel all on one team. And they had to play 300 average players. And they lost. Would you call that a battle? 300 vs 4?
From the crew at Bounce Mag. Since Mufasa lives in NYC, I'm partial to New York dudes. Once you get beaten by an 11 year-old in a game of one-on-one you become a believer in New York talent pretty quick....or come to the realization that you've lost a step. I'll take any of the dudes in the video.....
The Big Apple Scholarship game on April 20th showcased NYC’s Top 40 NYC unsigned seniors, based on their academic achievements and basketball ability. Peep the kid who does the in and out, gets his shot punched, retrieves it, then gets his defender with the same dribble move and finally scores! That’s persistence!
Not growing up in or around Philly, I don't take for granted how awesome of a name "Strawberry Mansion" is. It sounds like some indie band or place where Robert Plant and David Bowie would make love to hundreds of women.
In any event, this makes me happy.
"When we played against Mississippi this past season, I saw a lot of kids 6-7 or 6-8, weighing 240 or 250 pounds," Giannini said of his team's close loss to Ole Miss in Puerto Rico. "They really impressed me with how strong and athletic they were in the post. They were practically unstoppable.
"I see that being Devon in the future. I like the way he plays now. And once we get him in the weight room, and teach him how to play college basketball, he's going to become that much better. I truly see him being a real force in the Atlantic 10 Conference in a few years."
Devon White, 6-8 from Philly, signed with La Salle and it is now appear what La Salle's gameplan is for next year.
Run. And fast.
No Milko Lieverst to slow things down here. We're running the floor and I'm lovin' every minute of it. This is exactly how we beat St. Joe's last year at the Palestra - they had nothing left in their tank at the end of the game.
Also, adding another 6-8 guy to the roster (to go along with the MSU transfer), adds enough height to make us competitive.
We're coming back to the days of Loyola Marymount when they would score 130 points a night. Beautiful things coming back to Olney, and it isn't the hail of gunshots that signals the start of spring and a second coming.
Keeping the dream of a new arena alive takes money. Know who has some money? Business school alumni in their 70s.
I'm going to guess LaSalle has more multi-millionaires among its alumni than does the University of Loyola (IL) whose student body will begin their 12th year of cheering the Ramblers in the Joseph J. Gentile Center.
In the early 90s, Joe Gentile, '46 Loyola grad and owner of a car dealership, made a $3.5 million dollar gift towards the construction of a new basketball arena. According to reporting on andrewsantella.com, Mr. Gentile was moved to make the big gift through a combination of being sick and tired of watching a losing program and a fond nostalgia for the glory days.
Loyola basketball is like the LaSalle of the Midwest - fall from grace program with a great tradition of winning throughout the 50s and 60s including an NCAA championship. Gentile, an up and coming business man, reflects fondly on that sweet spring evening in 1963 when Loyola won its only title:
"It was a three-cigar night, one of the most exciting nights in my life," he says. "I'll never forget it."
Time is starting to run out for us. LaSalle has a window of about 10-15 years before there aren't any more alumni who remember that 'three cigar night' in 1954. Where is the alum who did well and now wants to do good for the basketball program? Where's our Joe Gentile? This is a Catholic school so a Gentile shouldn't be too hard to find.
LaSalle has several expansion and capital improvement projects in the pipeline so this won't get done without an alum making the first move. Wealthy alum, if you bring the cigars to the ground-breaking, the Christian Brothers Brandy is on the English majors.
First up, the Islamic terrorists - we need to defeat them no matter what the cost. It will be a great day when the world is free of Islamic terrorists and we can all drive to work in our space cars eating dippin dots. Screengrab via lasalle-explorers.com
Until then, we should probably get a new arena.
Lionel's Den is on board with the new arena idea and will donate real hard earned money to see this happen. We were all at school when Gola opened and the first time we walked in we said......"Dude?" In a bad way. Like "Dude, tell me this is the practice court."
This informal survey that La Salle-Explorers did is pretty spot on. We co-sign all this too.
Informal surveys have indicated that LaSalle alums have listed the following needs for the new arena: 1. seating behind the baskets 2. an arena where most seating you walk down to 3. chairbacks with cupholders except for behind the baskets where bleachers are preferred by students 4. an above court scoreboard with 4-sided video feed 5. outside corridor with local vendor food concessions - (steak sandwich, hoagie, pizza, salad); 6. at least 6 luxury suites (center court and corners).
I'd like the joint to be terrorist-proof it possible.
By the way, your names Maalik The six-foot one freak Lets say we get together by the end of the week He simply said, no, labeled me a hoe I said, how you figure? You haven't been to the tourney since 1990 and my friends tell me so.
Maalik Wayns goes to Roman and is nasty. We've had two dudes come out of Roman in recent memory - they were also nasty. Good news - Maalik is coming to La Salle!...ummm...no.
NB: What went into your decision to commit to Villanova? MW: I [have been] watching them play since I grew up, and [it is] . . . like my dream school, so when . . . the opportunity presented itself, I jumped at it.
NB: What were some of the other schools that were offering you and were looking at you? MW: Georgia Tech, West Virginia, Pittsburgh, . . . [and] North Carolina St.
NB: When the offers first started rolling in, and the interest first started rolling in, were you . . . planning on making your decision before your senior year, or was it just something that, the time felt right? MW: The time felt right. . . . It’s a great school, great tradition, and I just, when I visited it, I liked it a lot, and I [have been] around the program a lot, so it just felt right.
NB: What about attending Roman Catholic for high school? . . . With all the private schools . . . around Pennsylvania, what made that school the most appealing to you? MW: The tradition. A lot of great players [have] went there, Eddie Griffin, Rasual Butler, players like that went there before me, so I just wanted to follow the tradition.
Rasual's name in there breaks my heart.
I hardly think that my college process was analogous to Maalik's. Yours wasn't either. But you had choices and you chose La Salle for one of two reasons.
1) The reputation of the school. Which for basketball, is severely tarnished.Last time we were in the tourney he didn't exist. Now if he wants to be a nurse.....
2) You made some type of connection with someone. A professor, a fellow student, an alum. Someone that made you think, "Yeah, this could be the spot for me."
So the question is - did we make a personal connection to Maalik? Did Dr. G say hello? Did Rasual call him? Did Donnie text him from Athens or wherever Donnie is? Legler? Glenn from North Dining? Anybody? Did anyone do anything besides complain on a blog at 1:05 after drinking four Sierra Nevadas?
While Dr. Giannini penned this feel good article about the importance of assistant coaches, Martelli and Wright were out pounding the pavement inking recruits. Can you name the last great PhD coach? You can stop thinking after you get to Dr. Naismith and Dr. Jack Ramsey.
Jerrell Williams, our freshman star in the making, is no longer jacketless. We're expecting big things out of Jerrell now that he doesn't have to battle swarming defenses and the Philadelphia winter.
We have many interconnected goals here at Lionel's Den and we should never lose sight of our magnetic north - calling on LaSalle basketball to return to greatness. However, we need small wins when we can get them.
The Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame, founded in 2002, is dedicated "to developing a sports hall of fame for Philadelphia as a means to preserve and promote the rich history of Philadelphia sports." Pro legends and college phenoms, players and coaches, arenas and stadiums - the Philly HOF is designed to recognize greatness in all forms.
What's LaSalle's corner of the yet to be built hall look like? Tom Gola, in. Joe Verdeur, LaSalle gold medal swimmer, in. Lionel? Shockingly, the namesake of this blog has yet to be enshrined. You can understand him not going ahead of Gola, but come on, the fourth class just welcomed a field hockey player and a soccer player.
You can try to ignore 3,217 points, but you can't ignore that many emails. I just submitted a nomination form and the response said "Thank-you. Your nomination has been received. Your choice is now eligible for consideration for Inductee Class IV." Is that all it took? Is it possible no one nominated him the past 5 years?
4 K'Zell Wesson F-C 6-7 254 SR 5 Julian Blanks G 6-2 181 FR 12 Donnie Carr G 6-3 212 JR 33 Kobe Bryant F 6-7 191 JR 45 Rasual Butler F 6-7 185 FR
Coming off the Bench… 25 Victor Thomas F 6-7 178 SO
No team in the A-10 could have even come close to this one in 1999. The starting line-up would feature 2 NBA players (Rasual Butler, Kobe Bryant), one First Team All-A-10 (Donnie Carr), and two solid players (Julian, and K'Zell - who at 254lbs. is still the largest vegetarian I know.) Victor Thomas could have come off the bench and we would be talking about that La Salle team that made a run into the Sweet 16 right now.
All because Kobe decided he was too good to be an Explorer.
I know I know. "Lionel's Den" has a much better ring to it. Problem is, this dude already has it. Word came down from marketing that we should change the title to the URL because "No one else has a blog that's a different name than the URL." Don't shoot the messenger.
1 minute left east coast time to wish Bo Kimble a very happy 42nd Birthday. Not sure if Bo is really Lionel's best friend, but both had Hank Gathers as a mutual good friend so I'm going with friendship by association.
According to his Wikipedia entry, Bo is "currently campaigning to be the head coach at LMU, citing their terrible record in recent years as well as himself being one of their most famous alumni, although he has never coached on any level before."
I love it. If Mufasa, Wild Boar, and I were Loyola Marymount alums, this blog would be called Bo's Dojo.
Excuse me, I'm going to go edit Lionel's record on Wikipedia and add that exact sentence and just replace "LMU" with "LaSalle". In addition to bootleg video, we will also use rumors to campaign for a return to greatness.
Your favorite gazelle represented LaSalle tonight at a National College Fair in Boston. Good to be on the ground, walking among the pre-frosh who may one day be cheering for the blue and gold. I got many "I hear your Nursing program is good. What's your average SAT score?" and a few parents prodding about the "safety of the neighborhood."
You know what question I didn't have to answer - "You must have been proud to see Darnell Harris win the 3 point contest. What's it like to watch a home game under the basket?" Which proves that the three point shot can only take you so far.
You know who did have to answer that question? Siena. That's right, # 13 seed Siena who upset Vandy in the first round. Siena was across the aisle, four students deep all night. Three weeks ago these kids knew as much about Siena as I did - it's a light brown color in the crayola palette. Tonight, they knew it as a cinderella team and swarmed around their recruitment table wanting to know about their forensics program.
I ran into the admissions guy from Siena at the refreshment stand and the first thing he said to me after learning I was from La Salle was "We used to play each other in the old MAAC. Man, it's been a long time since La Salle made the tournament." 16 years, Siena. 16 years.
We're going to try to keep this blog as focused on La Salle and lions as possible. We know that's why our readers are here. Every once in a while we'll deviate and post something about a Liger or another college basketball team that doesn't wear the blue and gold. It just so happens that Kevin Love's squad does wear the blue and gold so we're still good.
Senior Darnell Harris laced them up for the Explorers one last time and brought home the 3-Point championship. Darnell outshot Tennessee's Chris Lofton in the final round to win a glass trophy with the word Midas on it. Midas, I'm not joking, next time I need a muffler, I'm headed your way. You've got Darnell to thank for that.
Sidenote - Darnell was always pretty close to not getting the last money ball out of his hands. If you had three seconds left, it seems like you could just pretty much drop that last ball, count that as your shot, and then shoot the money ball.
Philadelphia Daily News reports that our old friend Speedy Morris has been suspended for three Catholic League games for 2008-2009. Archbishop Wood AD and Catholic League czar Joe Sette went against the voted plan and pulled a Roger Dorn, calling his own number in deciding the best playoff format for the CL. Speedy didn't take too kindly to the benevolent dictatorship. He didn't go John Chaney nuts, but to his credit, he didn't go for cheesesteaks either:
Therein, Morris expressed distress over a new playoff plan approved by the athletic directors and claimed that Joe Sette, Archbishop Wood's coach and AD and the moderator for CL basketball, had "stabbed his fellow coaches in the back" by not pushing harder for a plan the coaches had approved by an overwhelming margin.
Reached last night, Morris declined to comment.
When asked whether Morris could erase or reduce the length of the suspension by appealing to the league's principals, an administrator who insisted on anonymity said flatly, "I think that would be a futile experience."
Calling a fellow coach a 'backstabber' is three games in high school? Chaney threatened to kill John Calipari in 1994 and got one game. If an NBA player actually stabbed another player, he gets a game for every inch deep tops.
Speedy's Top 5 Most Hated Backstabbers Besides Joe Sette:
5. Geunter Parche against Monica Seles. She was 19 and going to retire anyway, but tennis is supposed to be civilized. 4. Danny Noonan against Ty Webb. Only lasted nine holes and he did redeem himself, but inexcusable. 3. Mo Cheeks against Dr. J. Mo has Doc on the wing in '83 to clinch the title against L.A. and he dunks it himself? 2. Rollie Massimino against the Big 5. Remember all those fun pasta dinners the Big 5 coaches had together? They became less fun with knives in our back. 1. Kobe Bryant against Philadelphia, LaSalle, and that young lady from Colorado. I could have had another 29-1 season and the city would have been proud to call you a son (even if you are from Lower Merion)
4. Penn - It's hard to work up much bile against a team that lets you play in their gym for like 3 games a year. OK, that's what's nice about them. Here's the rest: Penn students are cocky, arrogant, and rich, and we you have pathetic names like Chadwick PenworthWaddington IV.
3. St. Joe's - When I was younger, one of my brothers joked before we all sat down to dinner that he was going to apply to St. Joe's. Two things happened that night: He didn't get dinner and the rest of the family took shots punching him in the face until we could prove the he bled La Salle blue. That isn't a true story because of the color properties of blood when it hits the outside air, but you get the point.
2. Villanova - You break up the Big Five on the strength of the 1985 National Championship and you get our #2 spot, you overdressed humps. Nova fans aren't quite as full of themselves as Penn students (see above), but they did steal the right of La Salle fans to point to our 1954 National Championship banner and feel like we're special. And for that, we do not forgive you.
1. Temple - Yes, the Owls earn the top spot. Not only did you take Fran Dunphy from us (alumns should ALWAYS come back to their alma maters to coach like Roy Williams did for UNC - that's called loyalty, and you've got none of it Dunph), but we don't really like sharing Broad Street with you very much. You crowd the R5 regional rail line when you go to school (for those of you who do go to class) and you don't shower often. Bad combo.
La Salle is not accustomed to playing a key role in Final Four weekend over the last 50 years, but tomorrow night the road back ends. That is, if you don't mind hitchhiking and riding in the sidecar of a URAL to get there. The Blue and Gold is sending sharp shooter Darnell Harris to compete in the 20th Annual 3-point contest. The event will be televised Thursday at 9 pm on ESPN immediately following the NIT championship showdown between Ohio State and UMass.
Has anyone with decision making authority asked themselves this question: Who wants to watch a 3 point contest when the entire college game is a 3 point contest? 20 years this event has been going on? Unless you are Larry Bird in a green warm-up or Billy Hoyle shooting for Sudan, I don't want to see you standing on the elbow hoping you make the moneyball.
NCAA and ESPN, time to mix it up and get a little street with it. Forget about shooting skills and slam dunks. Time to bring back the match game. Seabiscuit and War Admiral. Kobra Kai and Myagi-Do. Lions call it "eat my dinner" in the animal kingdom; on the playground we call it "Rise and Shine."
There are 327 division one teams. 65 enter the dance. 32 go to the NIT. That leaves 230 schools to fall into the third dimension - The Fight Club. Each school sends one player to compete in a "Rise and Shine" tournament. Score three baskets, you advance. You lose, your school is out. I want 12 courts going at once like we are watching the All Valley Karate Championships, and keep track of the winners using a Big Board with removable panels stamped with their conference affiliation.
Hey, Bruiser Flint, don't go stepping in front of no car windows, you hear.
Thanks to some dude on ebay and $4 I got 50 La Salle alumni cards. These will provide me with minutes of enjoyment. Hopefully I will unlock some secrets to La Sallian success through these relics. If archaeologists can do it with broken dishes and pieces of tibia (great band name, feel free) then I should be able to do it with these cards.
First up, the best card out of the bunch.
I wonder what is helping Lionel rebound so hard and causing dude between his legs (pause) to look up at the L Train in awe....hmmmm........oh, I don't know, maybe the perfect length compression shorts?
The compression short is part jock strap, part spandex, part loving hug for your legs. Wearing the compression short is like dancing - do it right and look awesome. Do it wrong and look kinda like a girl.
Late 80's early 90's, compression shorts underneath your champion mesh shorts was very necessary. The bicycle hat and the Sizzler eating was optional. So what happened? If me and Lionel and Sidney looked so awesome in compression shorts, why aren't we still wearing them? Damn boosters. La Salle has never recovered.
Here's a random article from Beverly, Mass about their newest Hall of Fame Inductees. It's a cute little article. Especially this part....
Russell Rollins Sr.
When Russ Rollins, Class of 1956, entered Beverly High School people knew that he would be an outstanding basketball player. ........
While in the military service, he played basketball against outstanding teams and individual players. One such player, Tom Gola, was a five time NBA All-Star player for Philadelphia. Russ scored 29 points against Gola while holding him to 50.
WE MUST PROTECT THIS HOUSE! He don't wanna shoot. He scared. Yeah, you scared Tom. Shoot dat shoot dat....BRICK!....ok, you lucky..you offensive fouled me though. That was a push off. Do that shit again....do that shit again.....this here is called Tenacious Rusty...yeah...shoot dat....ok...you lucky again.....
Here's a nice video of Gola wearing a ridiculous shooting shirt. Has anyone considered bringing back the old shooting shirts? I feel like that could be our hook. We make it some sort of rule that you have to wear these ridiculous shirts when you play the Explorers. Maybe short shorts? We were very successful in these things. I don't see the Yankees giving up on the pinstripe.
Rasual Butler re-signed as free agent, originally acquired in a trade with Miami. Butler has been an enigma. After starting 57 games last season, leading the team in made three pointers, and setting career high in scoring and rebounding, “Sual Bop” looked like another underestimated pickup by Bower and the Hornets. But, he has not even played in 58 games this season. Inconsistent shooting is at the root of the problem (just 33% from three point range, 35% overall), and the Wells and James pickups probably prevent him from moving back into the lineup anytime soon.
This is not good. I can't deal with Sual not getting any burn. I've seen a handful of Hornets games and it seems like Sual is content to just be a pure shooter which I never really viewed him as. I did talk to CP3 about it. I asked him to tell Sual to drive more. It doesn't seem like that took.
About the same time he was accepting the National Player of the Year award, Lionel Simmons was just finishing up cinematographer work for a film called "No Apologies" - which is ironic since the L-Train would light up his opponents on the court with 'no apologies'.
Just 4 years later, in the spirit of the French La Sallian tradition, he goes to work on "Âge des images II: L'écran invisible, L' - which translated in English means, "I'm glad Derrick Coleman signed on to promote BK Dymacel shoes instead of me because their slogan ("Your welcome") was completely dreadful".
Senior Forward Haminn Quaintance of Kent State gets a little home cooking from the Cleveland Plain Dealer here. Apparently, "Q" reached a milestone in points, rebounds, blocks, steals, assists, and lost cell phone numbers never before seen in NCAA basketball. The "closest", according to the article, was national player of the year Lionel Simmons:
According to research by Kent State, since the NCAA began keeping track of blocked shots in 1986, 'Q' is believed to be the first player to achieve 1,200 points (1,297), 800 rebounds (867), 250 assists (286), 250 blocks (261) and 200 steals (211). The closest were 1989-90 national player of the year Lionel Simmons of La Salle - who later played for the NBA's Sacramento Kings (3,217 points, 1429 rebounds, 355 assists, 248 blocks and 239 steals)...When 'Q' first got to Kent State, he said he lost over 500 phone numbers off his cell phone.
What? Umm, Lionel had 2,000 more points, 500 more rebounds, more steals, more assists, and it's not even fair to compare lost phone numbers.
Brandon Marshall's McDonald's bag injury has sparked some discussion about the strangest sports injuries. This list has got some great athlete nemesises - Wade Boggs and cowboy boots. Nolan Ryan and coyotes. The L Train and Tetris.
Sacramento Kings rookie Lionel Simmons missed some games during the 1991 season when he developed tendinitis in his right wrist from playing too many video games, primarily the Nintendo GameBoy.
I'm going to give Lionel a pass but every other injury wreaks of sexual deviance. Nolan, that was no Astrodome coyote. That was a Four Seasons cougar. Rar.
It doesn't take a Saint Joe's grad to realize that there is no better number than 22.
Actually, 3,217 is a pretty good one, considering that's how many points L-Train scored in his career.
Next to Tom Gola and with due respect to Guy Rodgers, there was simply no better Big 5 player than Lionel Simmons. Shoot, rebound, block shots, eat 7 Explorers Den cheesesteaks in 2 minutes and kept everything down...the man simply did it all.
He makes us remember a time when you could go to the Convention Center or the Palestra and EXPECT that La Salle was going to win the game.
And yet, somehow I didn't get that feeling when Brian Flickinger took the court at Gola Arena.
Wherever you are Lionel, please have offspring and send them to 20th and Olney.
Scout.com reports that Speedy Morris recruited Mike Gizzi, offered him a scholarship, and then told him he should go play at Philadelphia Textile. Good thing he didn't listen as he racked up nearly 1,500 points before going on to play pro ball in Italy and marry Lady Explorer Laura Newhart. Great article on the failure of LaSalle recruiting to capitalize on the Simmons Era.
This five-year period may be many of La Salle fans biggest complaints. If it isn’t it probably should be. Sure 1990 brought a 30-2 record and NCAA bid. 1991 and 1992 brought an NIT and NCAA bid respectively. Still this era should have laid the groundwork for a stronger and more viable La Salle basketball program. This was a time when facilities should have been upgraded, better players recruited, and a more successful program prepared for the long-term. It did not happen. Once La Salle exited 1992 it would not see the post-season again.
USA Today reports that a winning sports program is not a determining factor in prospective student applications.
The study "refutes the so-called 'Flutie Factor,' (which holds that) intercollegiate athletics and winning teams have a major impact on enrollment decisions," says Rick Hesel, who did the poll by Art & Science Group of Baltimore. Widely known in admissions circles, the Flutie Factor refers to a surge in applications to Boston College after its quarterback, Doug Flutie, made his fabled touchdown pass to beat Miami in 1984. Applications rose 30% in two years.
Hesel said students rated jobs, internships, clubs and community service as more important extracurricular interests. The findings are based on telephone interviews with 500 college-bound high school students last spring — just after the men's national basketball championship tournament. Most respondents could not even recall which team won, Hesel said
LaSalle has seen a surge in applications - more than 93% - since basketball star and convicted drug dealer Kareem Townes left campus in 1995. Presumably because prospective students felt safer.
Our old friend Billy Hahn is into the Sweet 16. The Washington Post nicely recaps of his time at 20th & Olney. And by nice I mean kick in the throat painful.
The road Hahn took to this year's round of 16 was, to say the least, difficult. After spending 12 years as Gary Williams No. 1 assistant at La Salle. He had earned the chance to be a head coach again, and he believed he could revive a program that had been Philadelphia's best in the early 1990s, when Lionel Simmons was the national player of the year.
Two good recruiting classes later, Hahn thought he had the program in position to make a move. "We had four starters coming back," he said. "I thought we could be a 25-win team in the Atlantic 10. It was right where we wanted it." And then all hell broke loose.
Yeah, hell breaking loose never helps a program. We shouldn't ever play AC/DC just in case hell starts feeling frisky again.
South Carolina's "The State" puts Lionel in the same sentence with Nova's Scottie Reynolds. This article is probably on Reynolds' fridge.
If history is an indication, Villanova guard Scottie Reynolds, who averages 15.6-points per game, has the makings of a pro player. In five of Clemson’s previous six NCAA tournament games dating to 1990, the Tigers faced an opponent with at least one player who went on to play in the NBA.
Beyond their most recent appearance — a 1998 first-round loss to Western Michigan — Clemson played against Bobby Jackson, Michael Ruffin, Wally Szczerbiak, Shandon Anderson, Scott Burrell and Lionel Simmons in consecutive tourney games.
Don't quote me on this but Scott Burrell threw the ball to Tate George for one of the most famous shots in tourney history. Tate went pro too. Fair chance I name my kid Tate George.
When I was ten years old, I was forced to go to a family christening during March Madness. If it was the first weekend, the scheduling oversight could have almost been forgiven, but this was Elite Eight weekend, and #1 Temple was playing #2 Duke.
Without understanding the tradition of the Big 5, I knew that it was special for a local school to have a shot at the Final Four, and I refused to miss history. As the tip-off coincided with the anointing, I had a 4-inch black and white screen on my lap, an earpiece, and a small huddled mass of fathers over my shoulder.
From the men in my family I learned that being a good Catholic meant regularly attending services, but maybe even more importantly it meant being a basketball fan. Temple lost that day, but through its run in the tournament and the nervous anticipation I felt before each game, I can identify that experience as my baptism into the Big 5.
Over the next eight years, I found myself pulling for all the Philadelphia schools when they made it to the tournament – Temple with Macon or McKie, Villanova with Kittles or Alvin Williams, and LaSalle with Simmons or Woods.
When it came time to apply to college, it was a choice between Villanova and LaSalle. While recruiting class or post season prospects did not factor into my decision to attend LaSalle, it didn’t hurt that I fondly remembered Lionel’s 29-1 season or practiced his jumpshot in my driveway.
I never saw the Explorers play in the tournament my four years at LaSalle, and eight years later, I still haven’t had to decide how many rounds deep they will go in my bracket. That tough choice is reserved for St. Joe’s, Villanova, and Temple. It’s okay, I said, we don’t really belong with those teams anyway. They have the better tradition of excellence.
I’m not sure if turning 30 has made me more of a student of history, or I just need a reason to feel passionate about something again, but I want to love LaSalle basketball. There are many reasons to love it, and the more you read, the more you realize it takes a backcourt to no one in tradition and contribution to the game.
North Carolina. Kentucky. UCLA. Indiana. LaSalle Explorers? It may seem odd to include the Blue and Gold in a list of storied basketball traditions, but the other schools all have one thing in common – they have less National Player of the Year awards than the ballers of 20th and Olney. In fact, Duke (6) is the only school with more NPYAs than LaSalle (3).
Before Garrett Bragg, Mike St. John, and a bunch of out-of-state guys who averaged single-singles filled out the roster, LaSalle recruited local blue chips Gola, Cannon, Brooks, Simmons, Overton, and Woods who would define five decades of hardwood glory. LaSalle is one of only 17 schools to win both NCAA and NIT Championships (but they might as well have two NCAA titles as NIT Champion was the more prestigious honor back when they won it).
Consider this fact: There are only 12 players in the history of NCAA Division 1 basketball who have more than 4,000 combined points and rebounds in their career. LaSalle accounts for three players on that list - #1 (Tom Gola with 4663), #2 (Lionel Simmons with 4646), and #12 (Michael Brooks with 4000). When you see that the Big O, Elvin Hayes, Pistol, and Bird are part of this fraternity, you begin to understand how special these players were to the game.
Hell, even Bill Raftery (’63) is a LaSalle grad and there are few commentators who call a more exciting tournament game or whose voice you’d rather hear as a big fella goes in for a monster dunk…
When LaSalle won its 1,000th game in 1992, it did so in the fewest seasons (62) of any school. The more you examine LaSalle’s mark on the game, the more depressing it is to bear witness to its fall from grace.
A tragic thing happened to LaSalle basketball after Simmons walked out of the Hartford Civic Center in 1990, his last as a collegiate, after losing a heartbreaker to Clemson in the second round of the NCAA tournament: it stopped being relevant.
How did we go from the L-Train to the latrine over the last 20 years?
This year marked the first year that a graduating high school senior was not born while Lionel played here. I’m sure it helped Lionel to see Michael Brooks roaming the paint in blue and gold as a young boy, just as Brooks grew up with Ken Durrett. Who has the local Catholic league or public league star grown up watching? Donnie Carr? Rasual Butler? Darnell Harris? Exciting and memorable players for sure, but none can make the claim that LaSalle basketball rose from the ashes under their leadership.
The following local schools have all made the tournament since the Explorers last dance in 1992: Temple (10 times), Penn (10), Villanova (8), Princeton (5), St. Joe’s (5), Delaware (3), Drexel (3), Rider (2), and Lafayette (2). Yeah, Drexel has made it three times. If it doesn’t make you mad that an engineering school somehow engineered multiple runs to the tournament and LaSalle can’t muster a single bid, then you never watched Olaf Landgren get meaningful minutes.
When they closed the 1930s with 103 victories against 56 losses, the Explorers began a 70 year run of never having finished a decade with a losing record. With two seasons left this decade, LaSalle will enter 2008-2009 with 103-136 record. That’s unacceptable.
In the words of Rick Pitino, Lionel Simmons is not walking through that door. Tim Legler and Doug Overton are not walking through that door. But maybe they should. As ambassadors, as coaches, as alumni who care about LaSalle’s return to relevancy.
LaSalle has an amazing tradition of excellence. For a school with such a great reputation as a Communications School and such a rich story to tell about our impact on the game, you sure wouldn’t know it by looking at the website or visiting the campus. How about producing a video narrated by Bill Raftery that showcases the LaSalle tradition and play it for incoming recruits when they visit Gola Arena? How about erecting a statue of Lionel Simmons outside of Gola ala Michael Jordan at the United Center?
There is a lot to be proud about LaSalle from the Catholic tradition and the Brothers to its faculty and alumni who are leaders in medicine, education, financial services, non-profit, government, sports, and media. It’s time to start being proud of LaSalle basketball again.
Who knows, maybe one day my eight-year old nephew will get to experience a Big 5 christening by watching the Explorers play on a 4-inch screen in March.
Nice report here from College Hoops Heaven on the Big 5 coaches camraderie and the country's most underrated breakfast.
As the coaches ticketed for the Dance called one another, Drexel's Bruiser Flint, La Salle's John Giannini and Penn's Glen Miller all applauded the selection of their neighbors to the field of 65. Then, Monday morning, all six joined together and ate French toast on the Palestra's storied hardwood alongside one or two hundred of their fellow Philadelphians. It sounds strange. And quite frankly, it is strange. But that's how things are done here.
Here's a fun game for you when you're bored and thinking about killing wild animals. Here's the situation - your parents go away on a week's vacation and in the mean time, every animal in the wild kingdom has gathered in a park near your house.
The animals are all ranked in order of their toughness. So the first animal is a mosquito and the last is a grizzly bear.
You job is to fight one animal every day to the death. No weapons. Whatever you normally wear. If there's rocks and stuff in the park you can use them but nothing crazy.
Every animal fights as hard as it can. At the end of every fight, your health goes back to 100% and you retain the knowledge of fighting all these animals.
So first day you fight a mosquito. Pretty easy. Next day you've got a cockroach, etc etc. After a week or so, you start to have some real fights on your hands. Swans, foxes, etc.
So the question is...what is the last animal you kill and what is the animal that finally kills you?
The answer usually comes out somewhere around the bobcat. Maybe you're tougher. Anyways, my buddy and I had this conversation and he was convinced - convinced - he could kill a giraffe.
My life is where it is, for better or for worse, because of Lionel Simmons' jump shot.
When I was a teenager, I went to see Tate George and the UConn Huskies play an early tourney game at the Hartford Civic Center. The game before that, I watched a great team play a great game against Clemson. That team was the La Salle Explorers.
When I got a mailing from La Salle a few years later I thought, "Oh, I know La Salle. If the L Train went there it can't be all bad." Admissions to Brother Gerry to application to St Francis to Letterman to graduation to newspaper to New York City where I get paid to watch sports and think of things. Not a bad gig.
This all started at the tournament. As you might have heard the tournament just started and the La Salle Explorers aren't in it. This makes me mad and sad.
That's where Lionel's Den comes in. We'll chronicle all things La Salle basketball and we won't stop until somebody in the blue and gold is in the One Shining Moment piece.
PS - And oh yeah, there will also be posts about lions.
Lionel's Den is written by three frustrated La Salle alums who are tired of watching teams like Davidson make it deep into the tourney. We have never watched La Salle in the dance and drank a beer at the same time. We thought beer was disgusting in 1990.
The Lionel's Den crew consists of two former Collegian columnists and one former Collegian sportswriter. Leave your comments. Send your tips, questions, and let's grab a beer offers to: mufasa.simmons@gmail.com
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