Hearing Tiger Voices: Jones reminded of what might have been in 1987

BATON ROUGE

"March Sadness," LSU basketball coach Johnny Jones said while shaking his head last Wednesday as he relived — or re-died — the final moments of his team's 66-65 loss to North Carolina State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on March 19.

"It wasn't our year," Jones said following the season wrap press conference with hopes that another one very soon will be.

There is no reason to think that will not be next year with forward signee Ben Simmons, the No. 1 prospect in the nation who may already be NBA ready, and commitment Antonio Blakeney, one of the best guards in the country, set to join returning guards Keith Hornsby, Tim Quarterman, Jalyn Patterson and Josh Gray. Even if star forward Jordan Mickey does enter the NBA Draft, LSU will still be very good and back in the NCAA Tournament. But that doesn't help now as everyone cuts down nets.

This is why Jones is taking to heart two conversations he had in the days after that N.C. State loss — one with former LSU baseball coach Skip Bertman and the other with former LSU basketball coach Dale Brown.

"We are excited about the track that we are on after year three," Jones said as he opened the press conference. "I received calls from Coach Bertman and Coach Brown, and they talked about just how close that we are and the experiences that we share. Coach Bertman shared an experience back at the College World Series."

It was June 5, 1987. Bertman was then just in his fourth year as LSU's coach and on just his second trip to Omaha, Nebraska, for the College World Series. His Tigers lost, 6-5, to Stanford after freshman pitcher Ben McDonald relieved struggling reliever Barry Manuel with a 5-2 lead with two on and one out in the bottom of the 10th. McDonald hit the first batter to load the bases, then gave up an opposite field, high fly grand slam to Paul Carey. And it was over.

Carey was hitting .200 in the CWS with one RBI and was 0-for-3 in that game before that at-bat. "It was a fastball (up), and I got the barrel on it," he said. "And the wind was blowing out."

Stanford beat LSU 6-5 and went on to beat Texas, 9-3, and Oklahoma State, 9-5, to win the national championship. And that could have been LSU. "We thought we had it won," Bertman said.

"It wasn't your year," Stanford coach Mark Marquess, who would also win the 1988 national title, told Bertman.

"Unfortunately, a guy puts one out of the park," Jones said Bertman told him. "The ball gets caught in the wind, goes out of the park. Obviously a tough one."

That one bothered Bertman for a few years. One-point losses after a seemingly comfortable lead can haunt a coach. "I can handle the loss," Bertman said. "I'll be back."

With more of a vengeance than Arnold Schwarzenegger, that is. Bertman exorcised his haunting and became the Terminator. He returned LSU to the CWS again in 1989 and '90 before winning national championships in '91, '93, '96, '97 and 2000. In '96, Warren Morris did his best Carey imitation with a two-run home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to beat Miami, 9-8, for the only walk-off, championship winning home run in CWS history.

Like Bertman, Jones thought he had it won. His team blew a 64-58 lead with 4:30 to go and lost it to North Carolina State's version of Paul Carey on an opposite-handed shot with 0.1 seconds to go by BeeJay Anya, who was averaging 4.0 points a game. He was 0-for-1 through the first 39:15 of the game. He scored four points – two from each side - over the last 45 seconds.

"Threw it up left-handed," Jones winced.

N.C. State had not led since the 8:30 mark of the first half and trailed by 62-48 with 8:38 to go. LSU missed its final six free throws and its last 12 shots of the game to give the Wolfpack the victory. N.C. State went on to knock off No. 1 seed Villanova two days later to reach the Sweet 16. That could have been LSU, which would have matched up with Villanova very well. That will stick with Jones the way it did with Bertman. And Jones will be back, too.

"As a competitor, you always want to remember," Jones said. "It leaves you an empty feeling when that happens because of the magnitude of the NCAA Tournament."

Jones knows that feeling all too well from another afternoon in 1987. It was March 22 of that year, and he was in his third season as an assistant coach under Brown after playing on his Final Four team in 1981. This was the day Indiana and its phone destroying, referee intimidating, bully coach named Bobby Knight was lucky enough to beat LSU, 77-76, in the NCAA Midwest Regional final in Cincinnati. Brown's Tigers led a more talented Hoosier team, 75-66, with 4:38 to play but self-destructed as well.

Knight did little but benefit from his team getting to shoot 24 free throws with 21 makes as Indiana suddenly started going to the line frequently after he dismembered a phone in a typically childish rage in the first half. LSU shot just 10 free throws and made four for the game. LSU point guard Fess Irvin riddled the Hoosiers with 14 points, but he missed the front end of a one-and-one with 26 seconds left and LSU leading 76-75.

With one more bucket, LSU wins that game as it would have beaten North Carolina State. With two more points, Brown would have avenged a loss to Indiana in the 1981 Final Four. Knight would have finished with just two national championships as he got lucky again at the end of the Syracuse game a week later for the national title. The Tigers would have advanced to their second straight Final Four and third overall for Brown. Oh, and the 1987 Final Four was in New Orleans. So, those two points could have meant the first and only national championship in LSU basketball history in the Superdome — 87 miles from home.

Don't mention 1987 around Bertman or Brown.

"I was sitting on the bench and talked to Coach Brown about the '87 game in Cincinnati," Jones said. "It was an opportunity to win it and get to the Final Four there in New Orleans, but we came up short."

Brown never returned to the Final Four or got as close as he did that day 1987, but he did return to the NCAA Tournament every year from 1988 through 1993 with the likes of Chris Jackson and Shaquille O'Neal to complete a then SEC-record run of 10 straight NCAA Tournaments. He also won a fourth SEC title in 1991. Only coaches from Kentucky and Florida have more SEC titles in men's basketball than Brown.

"Just those instances and understanding and going through some setbacks like that made them stronger and propelled them forward," Jones said. "We are hopeful that we will continue to grow as a team by not only getting to the NCAA Tournament, but to take that next step and make sure we are able to secure wins. The satisfaction wasn't getting there. We also wanted to make some noise and thought we could win."

Jones got LSU to its first NCAA Tournament since 2009 this past season. He will continue to have the talent to start his own March streak, considering the way he has recruited in just three years.

"As close as those guys got this year, I know it left a taste in their mouth to keep them hungry for the future," Jones said. "You talk about being able to break the rearview, and you remember that experience that you shared."

Skip and Dale will be watching — cracked rearviews in hand.