hoyainspirit
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
When life puts that voodoo on me, music is my gris-gris.
Posts: 8,394
|
Post by hoyainspirit on Jan 16, 2007 12:10:59 GMT -5
No. 14 on the list. A truly wonderful point guard for the Hoyas who could take over a game if we needed him to. Could create his own shot, and set up his teammates for shots in their comfort zone. Knew his role on the team. As good as he was offensively, he was probably the 4th option during most of his career. Man, those Hoya teams had talent! www.hoyabasketball.com/features/top100/m_jackson.htm
|
|
harlemhoya
Silver Hoya (over 500 posts)
Posts: 901
|
Post by harlemhoya on Jan 16, 2007 12:17:10 GMT -5
he was the starting pg in his freshman year
|
|
HealyHoya
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Victory!!!
Posts: 1,059
|
Post by HealyHoya on Jan 16, 2007 13:16:06 GMT -5
the mustache is phenomenal...
I was eight years old his freshman year. He's one of the first guys I can remember watching, rooting for, pretending to be in the driveway. He had one of the best ever games by a Hoya against Syracuse in the Carrier Dome...as a freshman 9-13 from the field, 13-15 from the line for 31pts and a stunning win over the ninth ranked Orange. Great write-up on him linked above.
|
|
mapei
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 2,088
|
Post by mapei on Jan 16, 2007 13:33:51 GMT -5
I was a big MJ fan. Loved all those alley-oops to PE. Steady as a rock, too.
|
|
the_way
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
The Illest
Posts: 5,422
|
Post by the_way on Jan 16, 2007 15:01:45 GMT -5
He had a swaggar to him to.
Great PG!!
|
|
SirSaxa
Silver Hoya (over 500 posts)
Posts: 747
|
Post by SirSaxa on Jan 16, 2007 20:19:00 GMT -5
No. 14 on the list. A truly wonderful point guard for the Hoyas who could take over a game if we needed him to. Could create his own shot, and set up his teammates for shots in their comfort zone. Knew his role on the team. As good as he was offensively, he was probably the 4th option during most of his career. Man, those Hoya teams had talent! www.hoyabasketball.com/features/top100/m_jackson.htmHoyainSpirit! I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment. Michael Jackson was one of our best PG's ever. HoyaChris also had him at #14, although his list only covered the JT era onward. But I also would like to mention Mike Laughna at #15. Mike graduated in the Spring of '72. JT took over in September of that year. Laughna arrived when Freshmen could not play on the varsity, so his first varsity season was 69/70, the year we went to the NIT. Mike was a crucial player on that very talented team. During his junior and senior years, he was the ONLY standout player on a team that was nosediving. But he still gave his all. I always felt sorry for the guy being out there with nowhere near the talent he had around him his first year. Then, as soon as he departs, JT arrives with 5 top recruits from DC. JT turned the team around, but that team would have benefitted a lot if Mike were eligible for one more year to help in the transition. No subsitute for senior experience. I would bet that Lic, EasyEd, Nevada and a few others have some pretty good memories of Laughna too. Perhaps they'll share them.
|
|
hoyarooter
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 10,214
|
Post by hoyarooter on Jan 16, 2007 20:49:57 GMT -5
I was there. Laughna was a stud. I put him on my all-time classic team. The guy was a consummate hustler (in a good sense).
Appropos of nothing, I also recall that during his junior year (I think), he announced that his name, which had always been pronounced "Lauf-nah", should actually be pronounced "Lauf-nay". I always got a kick out of that.
|
|
lichoya68
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
OK YOUNGINS ARE HERE AND ARE VERY VERY GOOD cant wait GO HOYAS
Posts: 17,440
|
Post by lichoya68 on Jan 16, 2007 23:03:46 GMT -5
WE USED TO CALL LAUGHNA THE LUMBERJACK FOR HIS YEOMAN WORK IN THE PAINT GREAT REBOUNDER.. GREAT GUY AND MJ WELL HE WAS FROM THE SAME AREA OR SCHOOL AS ONE GRANT HILL I BELIEVE GREAT STEADY GUARD GO HOAYS OLD AND NEW AND FUTURE AS WE ARE GEORGETOWN AND WEEEEREEEEEEEE BACK BEAT RUTGERS AND THE HALL LETS GET ER MOVING ;D ;D
|
|
2ndRyan
Bulldog (over 250 posts)
Posts: 329
|
Post by 2ndRyan on Jan 17, 2007 6:52:10 GMT -5
Mike Laughna- his senior year, the abysmal 3-23 year, was my freshman year. he was the last link to the '70 NIT team which in those simpler times constituted as close to hoop glory as the Hoyas had come in a long time.
Mike was the captain of a collection of over-matched and discouraged souls. Older heads than me may remember Art White who had eligibilty in this period but couldn't stay in school. There are good stories about him.
|
|
GPHoya
Bulldog (over 250 posts)
Posts: 466
|
Post by GPHoya on Jan 17, 2007 8:44:19 GMT -5
Here is to the over-matched and discouraged souls that Colonel Sigholtz sent into battle against McGuire's Marquette powerhouse and through Texas and San Francisco en route to Jack Magee's Christmas break oblivion. With White sidelined at the Toombs and Lyons hoping to grow hands, it was left to Laughna and sophomores Lambour, Fletcher, Robinson and Willis to look into the glassy eyes of their disheartened coach and take their punishment without complaint and wait for the new coach to bring their replacements for the next season with the first year of freshman eligibility. McDonough was plenty big enough for that team. Do not mention the Penn State game.
|
|
SirSaxa
Silver Hoya (over 500 posts)
Posts: 747
|
Post by SirSaxa on Jan 17, 2007 12:54:23 GMT -5
Mike Laughna... was the last link to the '70 NIT team which in those simpler times constituted as close to hoop glory as the Hoyas had come in a long time. We should add here that the NIT and NCAAs were quite different in those days. The NCAA tournament did not take 65 teams as it does now. The number was only 24 -- and ONLY one team from each conference! A top ten team would be left out if it did not win it's conference. The NIT only took 16 teams and all games were played at MSG. The NIT, therefore, had much higher quality teams than today and playing in the NIT had a lot more prestige than today. Also, the NIT had a glorious history. In the 40s and 50s, it was the #1 tournament in the country. The NCAAs were the second tournament at that time. 1970 wasn't so far removed from that era. I guess my point is that for a team that had not been to any post season in years, getting into the then still fairly prestigious NIT was a big deal. Many know that our first game in the tournament -- at MSG - was against Pistol Pete Maravich's LSU team. Pete was one of the all time great performers in the history of NCAA basketball. Despite playing only 3 years (Due to freshmen ineligibility at that time), Pete still holds the NCAA all time scoring record at 3,667 points! An average of 44.2 for his entire basketball career. To further emphasize the significance of that, the next highest career ppg average in NCAA history is almost 10 ppg lower! -- DC's own Austin Carr who played at ND and averaged 34.6 -- after Carr comes Oscar Robertson -- just to give some perspective. Our Hoyas played valiantly, holding Pete to his second lowest career point total and lost the game by only a point, 83-82. Mike Laughna was a key member of that team. Unfortunately, things went totally downhill in the next two seasons. But, there's a bright side to everything. Because the disaster of Mike's senior season -- a 3-23 record despite Mike's efforts as captain -- led to the firing of coach and AD, and the hiring of Frank Rienzo (AD) and local high school coach John Thompson. OK -- I guess I went a bit deep on that one, but those were great days in Hoya hoops and were the precursor to the Hall of Fame career of JT.
|
|
TBird41
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
"Roy! I Love All 7'2" of you Roy!"
Posts: 8,740
|
Post by TBird41 on Jan 17, 2007 13:05:25 GMT -5
OK -- I guess I went a bit deep on that one, but those were great days in Hoya hoops and were the precursor to the Hall of Fame career of JT. SirSaxa (and all other older posters), Don't apologize for going into depth about Hoya history. As a member of Generation Roy, I think I speak for all of the newer fans, when I say that the posts on old Hoya teams and players from the older posters on are one of the best parts of this board. I don't really know anything about the history of Hoya Hoops, and I've read Big Man on Campus and the commorative book about the 1984 team (both of which are really hard to find) so you definately can't underestimate how little the newer fans know about the 100 teams that the Hoyas have put on the court. So feel free to go in depth about the 1970 NIT team, the 1988 olympic team or whatever Hoya history topic you'd like, because I, for one, want to know as much as I can about the program I'm devoted to.
|
|
hoyarooter
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
Posts: 10,214
|
Post by hoyarooter on Jan 17, 2007 13:34:51 GMT -5
Just to add a couple points on those Laughna teams - unless my fuzzy memory has failed me, the LSU NIT game took place on a Sunday, and the following Monday was declared a school holiday so as many of us as possible could travel to the game. Mike Laska et al did a great job on the Pistol, but one of LSU's forwards, Danny Newton, killed us with 31 - I think it was a career high.
I was at that Penn St. game in 1972. In retrospect, the finish was positively Esherickian. Nuff said.
|
|
Boz
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
123 Fireballs!
Posts: 10,355
|
Post by Boz on Jan 17, 2007 13:36:26 GMT -5
More on the LSU game: www.hoyabasketball.com/features/hist14.htmTBird, and any others, spend an afternoon at the Hoya basketball history project. That is an amazing undertaking and I applaud all of those who contribute to it (DFW most of all, obviously, but I'm guessing he has had some help)
|
|
2ndRyan
Bulldog (over 250 posts)
Posts: 329
|
Post by 2ndRyan on Jan 17, 2007 13:37:48 GMT -5
GP Hoya, I remember the Penn State loss. The tiny band of players and supporters from Nittany Land celebrating in stone-silent and what seemed like cavernous MCDonough after a length of the court inbound pass at the buzzer.
I remember losing to Division II Assumption College at home as well.
For fifty bonus points, does anyone remember Ron Lyons' nickname?
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 17, 2007 13:43:23 GMT -5
For fifty bonus points, does anyone remember Ron Lyons' nickname? "Psycho"? No, wait....that's Steve Lyons
|
|
|
Post by wildhoya on Jan 17, 2007 14:03:53 GMT -5
|
|
2ndRyan
Bulldog (over 250 posts)
Posts: 329
|
Post by 2ndRyan on Jan 17, 2007 15:02:11 GMT -5
Too good- I really wil have to visit the site in depth.
|
|
|
Post by hoyaeighties on Jan 17, 2007 21:53:51 GMT -5
Hailing from South Lakes High School..
|
|
SirSaxa
Silver Hoya (over 500 posts)
Posts: 747
|
Post by SirSaxa on Jan 18, 2007 3:11:48 GMT -5
So feel free to go in depth about the 1970 NIT team, the 1988 olympic team or whatever Hoya history topic you'd like, because I, for one, want to know as much as I can about the program I'm devoted to. Thanks TBird -- and to everyone who posted their memories. Having read all of the comments about Mike Laughna, I started to feel we had done an injustice to the original subject Michael Jackson. All of the positive comments about Laughna were warranted. But Michael Jackson was awesome too and was an absolutely vital member of our Championship team in '84. I recall MJ going for 32 (or so) v. the 'Cuse -- IN THE DOME -- and doing it as a FRESHMAN! Boeheim packed the zone (big surprise there!) to stop Patrick, but left our freshman PG wide open. I am guessing he was thinking he'd stop our #1 threat and see if our freshman could beat him. Ooops, big mistake. Jackson always exhibited poise and control. Excellent fundamentals. Underrated athlete. Class act all the way. I believe he went on to become a very senior executive at Turner Sports (TBS, TNT, TNN). So to BOTH Michaels -- A Shout Out and big time THANKS!
|
|