Two days before Christmas in 1989, I went with a high school buddy to watch a basketball game between Oklahoma and Loyola Marymount. The Sooners were coached at the time by Billy Tubbs, LMU's Lions were directed by Paul Westhead, and both teams had been running up big scores all season long. Mike and I were there for the spectacle; there was talk that the winning team might actually get to 200 points.
This was not an unreasonable expectation -- Loyola would top 150 points three times that season and set an NCAA tournament record by hanging 149 on the defending champion Michigan Wolverines. In upcoming years, the Lions would actually score in the 160's three times and top out at 181 and 186 in two games against U.S. International. Paul Westhead, the evil genius behind LMU's hardwood track meet, had crafted a game never seen before, and the stories that came out of the West L.A. campus were delicious:
• Looking to keep the game moving as much as possible, Westhead apparently ordered the nylon nets stretched out before games so that balls would drop through without delay.
• Following their first made basket of every game, an LMU player would grab the ball before the opposing team could inbound. He'd then hold it until the referee issued a delay of game warning to both teams, meaning that the opponents would receive a technical foul if they ever attempted to delay LMU's fast break by interfering with the ball after their own made basket.
• An opposing team once went into a stall, trying anything to slow down the Lions. Westhead responded by ordering one of his defenders to stand on the offensive end of the court, assuming that the 5 on 4 situation would entice his opponents to get into their offense. When this didn't work, he simply pulled another defender across center court, putting his team at a two-man disadvantage. This got the game going again.
The game that night between Oklahoma and Loyola didn't see either team approach two hundred points (Oklahoma won, 136-121), but it was certainly worth the trip. Hank Gathers had recently been diagnosed with a heart condition, so he didn't play. The fans started calling for him ("We want Hank! We want Hank!") during the second half, which sadly remains the only time I've ever heard a crowd chanting my name. It would be almost two months before everyone knew how serious Hank's heart condition really was.
All of this came to mind tonight when I ran across an item about a high school basketball game played Thursday night in Milton, Vermont. BFA-Fairfax beat Milton High in a thriller, 5-2. BFA hit one basket in the first quarter, then a three-pointer in the second to take a 5-0 lead. Doing everything they could to keep the game at a snail's base, the Milton anti-Lions answered with a basket of their own to close within three at half-time, but neither team was able to score in the second half. 5-2.
Although it was described as "one of the most boring games in the world," I'd have loved to have seen it, and I would've loved to have seen it with Paul Westhead sitting right next to me. Yin to Milton's Yang, I'm certain Westhead would've gone down into somebody's huddle by the second quarter.
taking a snowy east coast day to catch up with your blog. and i am always glad to recall that magic 1989 lmu squad. the second round ncaa lmu-michigan game at the long beach arena is the most exciting hoops game i have ever witnessed. the only time i remember literally shedding a tear at a sporting event (when bo kimball shot his first free throw left handed in memoriam). the sadness of hank's recent death was quickly eclipsed by the furious running and gunning, as the physically superior michigan squad thought they could match lmu's style. when they run the tape on espn classic you can see my buddy roy and me a few rows up in the stands, jumping up and down, screaming maniacally at rumeal robinson and terry mills to push it up the court faster.
Posted by: howard reynolds | January 22, 2005 at 11:29 AM
Howard -- always good to see you checking in. I didn't focus on Hank Gathers in my original post, but I remember being surprizingly upset when he died. I was in college at the time, and I think I was struck by the fact that he was roughly the same age that I was. What if something like that were to happen to me? Or to one of my friends? Incredibly sad...
And LMU's tourney run was something to behold. If I remember correctly, Bo Kimble didn't miss a single one of those left-handed free throws.
Posted by: Hank | January 23, 2005 at 03:00 AM