Rest in peace coach Iba.

I went to his Baylor basketball camp back in 1986... my first visit to BUgreat experience. Great coach!

Most young people have no idea how bad swc basketball was towards the end, particularly after it lost Arkansas who was the only national competitor in much of the 80s and 90s after Houston's glory days. Swc football was declining but basketball was a punchline.

Ewalker80 said:

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Most young people have no idea how bad swc basketball was towards the end, particularly after it lost Arkansas who was the only national competitor in much of the 80s and 90s after Houston's glory days. Swc football was declining but basketball was a punchline.

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Seems like the SWC always had one good team, but only ever one good team, each season. And some were only good-ish frankly.

I was pretty shocked when I moved to Texas in the late 80s that no one cared about college basketball.

Delmar 2.0 said:

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Always thought he was underrated as a coach. He took Baylor to the post-season 3 times after 35+ years of wandering in the wilderness (first app. since 1950).
1987 - NIT
1988 - NCAA
1990 - NIT

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His early 90s teams with David Wesley really failed expectations.

GoodOleBaylorLine said:

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Ewalker80 said:

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Most young people have no idea how bad swc basketball was towards the end, particularly after it lost Arkansas who was the only national competitor in much of the 80s and 90s after Houston's glory days. Swc football was declining but basketball was a punchline.

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Seems like the SWC always had one good team, but only ever one good team, each season. And some were only good-ish frankly.

I was pretty shocked when I moved to Texas in the late 80s that no one cared about college basketball.

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More like two, really (but sometimes just one). Usually Arky and/or Houston (from the mid-70s on anyway). Occasionally an upstart would emerge for a season or two (SMU had a run, Texas had a run, Tceh had a year or two, even Frog and Aggy had a year of glory). But that was about it.

Nobody liked playing in Lubbock against Gerald Myers teams -- regardless of year (tough getting in/out of there in winter, plus had to play Tceh at home). Playing in Fayettenam was pretty much guaranteed defeat -- back then one of the more raucous scenes in all of college hoops at old Barnhill Arena. Road games against Longhorn and Aggy were usually no picnic either. Baylor was consistently meh to poor -- even with Teagle or Johnson -- though solid-ish in the late 80s. And the Bears' days in HOT Coliseum -- LOL ... arguably some of the worst facilities in major college hoops for many years until Ferrell finally got built in the late 80s (and it was quite the struggle to get that done).

But it was pretty much just Arky and Houston out of the old SWC (mostly Arky) that made any sort of consistent splash on the national scene. Big 10/ACC/Big East ruled the day, plus the two traditional powers out of the Pac 10 (UCLA, Arizona after Lute Olson arrived) and SEC (Kentucky and LSU under Dale Brown), Can't forget KU and Mizzou (and occasionally K-State) out of the old Big 8.Some good teams out of smaller conferences too (Louisville, Memphis, BYU, UNLV in the Tarkanian days, Marquette, DePaul, etc.)

Good coach.

Good man.

Good Bear.

- el KKM

D!

{ sipping coffee }

{ eating donut }

Go Bears!!

Media Bear said:

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GoodOleBaylorLine said:

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Ewalker80 said:

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Most young people have no idea how bad swc basketball was towards the end, particularly after it lost Arkansas who was the only national competitor in much of the 80s and 90s after Houston's glory days. Swc football was declining but basketball was a punchline.

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Seems like the SWC always had one good team, but only ever one good team, each season. And some were only good-ish frankly.

I was pretty shocked when I moved to Texas in the late 80s that no one cared about college basketball.

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Baylor was consistently meh to poor -- even with Teagle or Johnson -- though solid-ish in the late 80s.

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It was impressive to me that both Vinnie Johnson and Terry Teagle could almost always be counted on to get their points, despite the fact that everybody we played knew upfront that was all we had when going up against us. Johnson once dropped 50 plus points on TCU - and this was before the days of the 3 point shot.

Almost the same same scenario as his uncle Hank Iba had in the 72 Olympics against Russia...

My son went to Gene Iba's summer basketball camp a couple of times and really enjoyed it.

Big12Bear said:

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That first NIT in 1987 comes with a story.

The Bears had to play Arkansas-Little Rock at their place. Game goes down to the wire. UALR ends up winning the game by one point, by making two free throws after time had expired.

Iba was so furious because the timekeeper deliberately delayed the buzzer. He said that the guy actually told him that he did delay it and that he enjoyed it. UALR ended up going pretty far in that tournament.

Kind of reminds me of the Lady Bears getting screwed in NCAA's at the horn against Tennessee on a foul at the buzzer, but this one was even worse.

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That was a gut wrenching loss. I remember listening on the radio. Still kinda mad about it. Somehow UALR went the length of the floor in like 2 seconds, passed or rebounded the ball, and still had time to shoot free throws. The timekeeper clearly delayed the buzzer, then admitted to it. And nothing to do about it. 1980s NIT I guess...

But Gene did put some good teams on the floor, especially for Baylor in that era.

Robert Wilson said:

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Big12Bear said:

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That first NIT in 1987 comes with a story.

The Bears had to play Arkansas-Little Rock at their place. Game goes down to the wire. UALR ends up winning the game by one point, by making two free throws after time had expired.

Iba was so furious because the timekeeper deliberately delayed the buzzer. He said that the guy actually told him that he did delay it and that he enjoyed it. UALR ended up going pretty far in that tournament.

Kind of reminds me of the Lady Bears getting screwed in NCAA's at the horn against Tennessee on a foul at the buzzer, but this one was even worse.

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That was a gut wrenching loss. I remember listening on the radio. Still kinda mad about it. Somehow UALR went the length of the floor in like 2 seconds, passed or rebounded the ball, and still had time to shoot free throws. The timekeeper clearly delayed the buzzer, then admitted to it. And nothing to do about it. 1980s NIT I guess...

But Gene did put some good teams on the floor, especially for Baylor in that era.

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Although in game video reviews can be a bit frustrating at times due to the delays, etc. this is the kind of example that makes you grateful we have them today. Back in the day whatever got called on the court or field stood no matter how obvious it was that it was wrong.