By Kent Lowe
Special to LSUsports.net
Im really starting to run out of adjectives to describe this 1999-2000 LSU mens basketball team.
Theyve all be used to describe a team that has defied the imagination of just about everyone other than the players and the coaching staff. They all believed from day one that this could be a special season and from the first day they huddled up and chanted “1. . . .2 . . . .3. . . .Championship,” one had to think they knew more than we did. I hope they did anyway.
So let me just state it in the best way I can. This LSU basketball team is. . . . . . . .uh. . . . . .well. . . . .GOOD. Let me put it another way. This LSU basketball team is VERY GOOD.
Which now begs the question — If they are this good, how good are they? Now that may be like asking if a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to see it, does it make any sound when it hits the ground.
But how good are they in relationship to the rest of the SEC? All I have to say is lets go to the standing board if we could please.
There are your LSU Tigers standing a top the SEC Western Division, tied with Auburn and just one game out of the tie for the overall SEC title with the top boys in the East. Weve come a long way from a team we were hoping would win 16 games and make it to the NIT, arent we.
Funny how these things happen. But when you blend great talent and coaching together sometimes things happen. Those two things arent quite enough to get you through all the time. This team has one special ingredient. Now its not something magical and other teams have it. But when you add it to coaching and talent, then magical consequences can abound.
This team has a chemistry and camaraderie that is hard to explain. They are a wonderful group of people to be around. This team likes eating together, watching TV together, having fun together and most of all and perhaps most importantly, winning together. Oh sure, like any good organization, they have their ups and downs emotionally and mentally. But when the curtain goes up and the lights are shining, this team gathers itself as one unit and gets down to business.
So back to how good can this team or how good will this team be when all is said and done. If I knew, Id be in Vegas right now.
But I do know this. The 1999-2000 team will go down as one of the best LSU teams in many a year. Notice I said one of the best. Someone is going to have to go a long way to topping the 1980-81 team from the top of the list, but this teams got a chance to do it. Defensively, are they as good as the 1986 Final Four team. Thats a good question that will get lots of debate. Lets put it this way. They are very, very good defensively and that has and will get them in position to win a lot of games the rest of the way.
But before visions of tournament sugar plums start dancing in our heads, there is business to take care of. Mississippi State comes to town, sporting the last win over LSU when the Tigers lost an 11-point lead in the last five minutes. Do you remember that, LSU.
Then next Saturday Ole Miss comes to town. We will not know the starting time of that game until Monday because television may request it be moved to the afternoon. Check your favorite media outlets and we will keep you posted. It will be the final home game for the big senior center of the Tigers, Jabari Smith. Whenever the game is played, I hope you will come out early for the senior day presentation.
But thats next week. Lets enjoy the game!!!!
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You have probably read and heard many remarks this week about a man who passed away this past Sunday, Paul Manasseh. Mr. Manasseh was Sports Information Director at LSU for many years and had a distinguished career in the sports media business. What is truly amazing is the vast number of present day SIDs, print and broadcast media members, who worked with him over the years, including yours truly.
I wish he could have been around the last six weeks to watch what was going on with this LSU basketball team. He wasnt a big basketball fan, but he loved to see the Tigers win. Hed never show that outwardly too much, because as SIDs, we are not supposed to cheer in the press box.
Well have a moment of silence today for Paul, someone new will begin to sit in his chair and while Im frantically trying to get ready for the NCAA Tournament, I might silently wonder how Mr. Manasseh would have handled something similar. All I know is he would have handled it with class, honesty and integrity. I certainly hope that for the rest of my journalistic career I can follow his lead as all of us try to carry on his memory. Thanks Paul. Well miss you. It wont be the same on press row or in the football press box without you.