Stefano DiMera said:
Big12Fan2024 said:
Peace with you Stefano. You are one of the old dudes in here. Bilas was just talking about Phi Slamma Jamma and its 3 consecutive trips to the Final Four in the 1980s. You were around then. What were they missing that kept them from winning any of the 3 ?
Even though he's in the Hall of Fame their coach was often criticized for being out coached in big games . especially the two title games against Valvano of NC St.and John Thompson of Georgetown...NC State slowed tempo and he had no answer.
And they were the worst free throw shooting team almost every year.So in close games it was a liability.
The joke back then was the Guy Lewis's primary coaching skill was inflating the balls before practice. UH had far and away the most talent back then, but they were like a rec league champion: they primarily out-athleted everyone. When an opponent forced them into having to think a strategy, that's when they got beat.
In 1982 Rob Williams tried to single handedly beat Georgetown in the semis and went something like 4-30 in the game. His draft stock dropped dramatically.
We all know what happened in 1983: NCSt took the air out of the ball and UH didn't know how to respond. In 1984, Georgetown and Ewing finally had equal or more talent than them.
Drexler and Olajuwon had very successful NBA careers, but what was most telling was that the 3rd most talented player Michael Young was a first round pick of the Celtics and got cut in training camp.
