forums

OT/ RIP John Thompson

Liberty City El said:
I missed the prime of Georgetown in the 80's, but GTown Basketball in the 90's was amazing to watch.

Georgetown was literally the only college Basketball team I ever liked, even more than Miami, I never really watched Canes college Basketall growing up just Football, but GTown BBall was always appointment viewing.

Big John was a legend & pioneer, he opened the door for so many Black coaches in Basketball & did so much off the court affecting the lives of so many young Black men in an impactful way, he was truly a Godsend for hundreds of kids.

I still remember that 1995 Georgetown season like it was yesterday, with Allen Iverson, Junkyard Dog Jerome Williams, Othella Harrington, Victor Page, Jahidi White & Jerry Nichols, they were really good, went to the Elite 8 but lost to John Calipari's UMASS team that made it to the National Championship game with Marcus Camby.

Big John was a true Basketball icon & one the greatest coaches of all-time, he changed the game & left behind a legacy that will carry on for ages, I really feel for his sons Ronny & John III who also coached the Hoyas for 13 years.

RIP John Thompson 🙏🏾
Click to expand...
There were 2 teams in the 80’s which were considered “black” teams, though obviously there were black players on every college team.
Georgetown and UNLV.
Hoya Paranoia was real. And so was Big East basketball.
Georgetown jackets were the coolest in the 80’s. They were the equivalent of the Miami Hurricanes from the standpoint of attitude, persona and their reception by the establishment.
 
Advertisement



Scroll to @1:56 to hear another legendary Head Coach in the great Nolan Richardson talk about what Big John meant to him in his HOF induction speech back in 2014.

Nolan Richardson was the 2nd Black HC to win a national championship in college basketball since Big John did it in 1984, a decade later Nolan followed in his footsteps & beat Duke in the 93-94 NCAA championship game.

He even beat John in the 2nd round of the tournament that year when Arkansas played GTown in the Midwest bracket. Beat the Fab 5 Michigan team too (minus Chris Webber) & beat Lute Olson's Arizona squad that had Damon Stoudamire & Khalid Reeves.
 
Last edited:
Wow. This thread has quickly become one of my favorites of recent memory. Not having been able to go to Miami or Georgetown for college, I’ve really only known 1 other person who was a diehard Cane and Hoya fan. Seems like such an odd combo. Great to see so many fans of both. JT was an amazing coach and leader of men. I always loved how much he expected his teams to work on both ends of the court. His defenses were so much fun to watch. Being a guard myself, loved watching Charles Smith, Joey Brown, AI And company being the generals. There is nothing like Big East basketball back in the day. Knock em out drag em out edge of your seat games. The good ole days. Appreciate all these stories and taking me down memory lane. RIP JT
 
Liberty City El said:



Scroll to @1:56 to hear another legendary Head Coach in the great Nolan Richardson talk about what Big John meant to him in his HOF induction speech back in 2014.

Nolan Richardson was the 2nd Black HC to win a national championship in college basketball since Big John did it in 1984, a decade later Nolan followed in his footsteps & beat Duke in the 93-94 NCAA championship game.

He even beat John in the 2nd round of the tournament that year when Arkansas played GTown in the Midwest bracket. Beat the Fab 5 Michigan team too (minus Chris Webber) & beat Lute Olson's Arizona squad that had Damon Stoudamire & Khalid Reeves.
Click to expand...

**** shame and possibly criminal how he was blackballed.
 
Shoot, not to change the subject, but I missed Lute Olson passing just this past August 27th. Guy was a great coach as well and put Zona on the map. Crazy these two HOF coaches went out on nearly the same day.
 
SayWhat said:
Shoot, not to change the subject, but I missed Lute Olson passing just this past August 27th. Guy was a great coach as well and put Zona on the map. Crazy these two HOF coaches went out on nearly the same day.
Click to expand...
Had no clue. Wow. Dude was a great coach.

Since we have all been remembering JT, I did a little research and found Lou Carnesecca is still alive. I couldn't believe it. 95 years old.

I was such a big Big East basketball fan back then. The competitiveness was unlike anything I have seen since. Maybe the early 90s Pistons Bulls, but that's it. If any of you weren't around for it, do yourself a favor and go find some on youtube. Those battles between Georgetown, St. Johns, Syracuse, Providence, Uconn, Seton Hall ,Villanova were what basketball was all about... Man, I miss that those days.
 
WaterburyCane said:
Wow. This thread has quickly become one of my favorites of recent memory. Not having been able to go to Miami or Georgetown for college, I’ve really only known 1 other person who was a diehard Cane and Hoya fan. Seems like such an odd combo. Great to see so many fans of both. JT was an amazing coach and leader of men. I always loved how much he expected his teams to work on both ends of the court. His defenses were so much fun to watch. Being a guard myself, loved watching Charles Smith, Joey Brown, AI And company being the generals. There is nothing like Big East basketball back in the day. Knock em out drag em out edge of your seat games. The good ole days. Appreciate all these stories and taking me down memory lane. RIP JT
Click to expand...
Not such an odd combo. The Canes and Hoyas were city schools that were considered “too black” which scared the **** out of the establishment. The attitudes were similarly unapologetic.
 
Advertisement
Ash Joshi said:
Not such an odd combo. The Canes and Hoyas were city schools that were considered “too black” which scared the **** out of the establishment. The attitudes were similarly unapologetic.
Click to expand...
It is if you grew up in CT hahaha. But yeah, there are definitely some similarities. I wouldn’t change a thing.
 
WaterburyCane said:
It is if you grew up in CT hahaha. But yeah, there are definitely some similarities. I wouldn’t change a thing.
Click to expand...
OK, but I guess it didn't sound odd to me because as a kid growing up in Michigan I liked the same teams.
So it probably was odd, just not to me, or you
 
Back
Top