by Kent Lowe
LSU Sports Information
When the horn goes off tonight and they begin to turn the lights off on another home season, I will be turning out the lights on the home portion of my 16th year as the basketball SID at LSU.
Editor’s Note: You mean we’ve been reading this stuff for 16 years. Geez!!!!)
Ahem. Excuse me, as I was saying, it’s the final home game of the year and as I look back on what college basketball was and what it is now, I just sometimes wonder, what happened?
Oh, college basketball had its problems back in the 1988-89 season. But there was something different that is hard to explain. At least I think it was that way. Was college basketball as big-money oriented and seemingly cutthroat as it appears today? Maybe 16 years have taught me to look at things through a different shade of glasses than some others.
Make no mistake. I still love college basketball. Give me two teams playing for nothing more than a soft drink and I’m ready. Give me Big Monday, Super Tuesday, ACC Wednesday and of course my favorite, Throwdown Thursday, and I’m ready with the TV on and the soft drinks poured.
(Editor’s Note: He really doesn’t have a life, does he?)
Okay, knock it off. I’m just saying that my sport is college basketball, but there’s something about the game that really is driving me crazy. We’ve got players coming to schools who suddenly don’t get their way and they take the easy way out. So when someone like Charlie Thompson runs out of the dressing room and by me onto the court where I’m typing this column just as hard as he did four years ago, it says something to me.
Maybe it also says something about the people he grew up around and the family that raised him. For 2 1/2 years, he was the primary backup to point guard Torris Bright. Torris needed a break; Torris got in foul trouble, along came the Lake Charles product. Nothing fancy, nothing flashy, but a good solid basketball player.
Midway through last year, Xavier Whipple moved to the point and led LSU to nine wins in the last 13 games and Bright moved to the off-guard position. Thompson’s playing time gradually lessened and further recruiting success brought another strong point guard into the mix this year. But never once publicly has Thompson shown displeasure about the situation. If you watch the bench, he’s the one leading the cheers, waving the towel and I swear a couple of times, he was helping coach the team.
When I’m gathering the players for interviews, Charlie will sometimes come up to me and ask if I need him. There have been a few times I’ve said yes, but more often than not you know who the standard interview subjects are. It’s become a bit of a running joke between the two of us sometimes after practice.
Well Charlie, get ready; tonight they’ll be taking your picture before the game as Senior Night ceremonies take place. Every team has a Senior Night and LSU will be no exception. It’s just a part of the college basketball landscape I like so much.
The season is a long way from over, even though this is the final home game. There’s a lot to play for and that effort against Kentucky showed me this team is still clawing and scratching for that win or two that will get them back in the NCAA Tournament. It’s going to be interesting, to say the least. Enjoy the games and hopefully, we’ll see all our wonderful fans back here next year.