Coming Thursday: A look back at the 1986 Tigers.
Tigers To the Top Now
Fighting Tigers of LSU
Dale Brown and the Tigers
Win Cause They’re A Team
With Talent, Heart and Hustle
They’ve captured All our Dreams
The Purple and Gold Will Go the Philly Way
LSU Will be The Champs of the NC-Double-A
The 1981 Tigers didn’t win the NCAA title 30 years ago as the song written that season hoped, but the team took its fans on a magical ride to get “Silly in Philly” as LSU advanced to the NCAA Final Four for the first time since 1953.
The 1981 and 1986 LSU NCAA Final Four teams will be introduced one more time on the Pete Maravich Assembly Center court Saturday afternoon when the current LSU team hosts Ole Miss at 12:30 p.m. Members of the teams will also be on the concourse prior to the game signing autographs for fans and will be at the gathering of the Sixth Man Club (Apply here, .pdf) in the L-Club.
Tickets for the game are on sale at the LSU Athletics Ticket Office, online at www.LSUtix.net and on game day beginning at 11 a.m. at the ticket windows at the upper concourse of the PMAC.
Amazingly, a 1981 team which had its season defined by a long winning streak may have found the chemistry and ethic for success on the frozen tundra of Alaska at the Great Alaskan Shootout.
“We didn’t play well, but it helped us find ourselves,” said All-American and All-Century team member Rudy Macklin.
The Tigers were beaten in the second game by Arkansas and Coach Dale Brown left a strong, powerful message with his team in the dressing room.
“He said we just can’t come out and expect to win automatically. I remember that. We were a top five team,” Macklin said. “We just came out and we just ran through the motions. We thought that because we were LSU, everybody was going to lay down and die. That didn’t happen.”
But after that loss, LSU wouldn’t lose again until the final game of the regular season – a span of 26 games, including an amazing 17 straight in the league. Only a late loss at Kentucky in the regular season finale stopped the Tigers, who easily won the SEC Championship with an unprecedented 17-1 record.
The Tigers were a tight-knit group off the court and it showed on the court.
“We all hung together,” said Leonard Mitchell, a freshman that year. “We had our own little nucleus. We had our own little family-thing going. When somebody was down, someone else picked up the slack.”
Ten years ago, this team gathered for their 20-year reunion. Stories were shared with lots of laughter and tears. They reveled in each other’s company and shed a tear for those who couldn’t be with them anymore. Since then, others have left much too early as well.
The memories are still fresh in their mind of their time in the Superdome where they would go through the regional semis and finals with 30,000-plus of their wildest fans watching them take the LSU journey to the ultimate ride – all the way to Philadelphia where LSU fans truly got “silly in Philly.”
When the great teams of LSU are remembered, the 1981 team is always at the top of the list. From an early lesson learned to the Final Four. From Alaska to Philadelphia. Quite a ride.
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Members of the 1981 Final Four Tigers
Head Coach Dale Brown
Associate Coach Ron Abernathy
Assistant Coach Rick Huckabay
Assistant Coach Jordy Hultberg
Trainer Dr. Martin Broussard
Manager Stan Harris
Mark Alcorn
J. Brian Bergeron
Tyrone Black
Howard Carter – All-Century Team
Andy Campbell
Greg Cook
Joe Costello
Matt England
Johnny Jones
Brian Kistler
Durand “Rudy” Macklin – All-Century Team
Ethan Martin – All-Century Team
Leonard Mitchell – All-Decade Team
Willie Sims
John Tudor