Tag: Lute Olson

USC Big Ten Tour: Before building Arizona, Lute Olson took Iowa to the Final Four

.@HawkeyesWire reminds us that #Iowa’s last Men’s Final Four appearance came under Lute Olson.

Before he became a Pac-10 legend at Arizona, Lute Olson was already beloved in Iowa City. Olson took the Iowa Hawkeye men’s basketball team to the Final Four in 1980. Iowa went to Indianapolis and lost to eventual national champion Louisville in the national semifinals.

Yes, that run to the 1980 Final Four was a fun and special ride for Iowa and its fans, but what makes that run even more special, 43 years later, is the reality that Iowa has never gotten back to the Final Four since then. The closest the Hawkeyes came was in 1987, when they reached the Elite Eight but lost to UNLV and Jerry Tarkanian in Seattle.

Lute Olson is widely known and remembered in Pac-12 country (we refer to him as a Pac-10 legend because his coaching career ended before the Pac-10 became the Pac-12). Yet, it’s important to know how much of an imprint he made on Iowa basketball before he journeyed to Tucson and created a Western college basketball powerhouse.

Hawkeyes Wire editor Josh Helmer helps us remember Lute Olson, the Iowa years, on the latest edition of our USC Big Ten Tour summer series podcast.

(CORRECTION INSIDE THE PODCAST: We mentioned on the podcast episode below that Fat Lever was part of Iowa basketball. That is incorrect. He played at Arizona State in 1980.)

[lawrence-auto-related count=1 tag=696092235]

21 people that can ruffle the feathers of every Oregon Ducks fan

There are just people that know what buttons to push for instant irritation. Here’s a list of those that do just that for most Duck fans.

For one reason or another, there are just certain people in this world that can push your buttons to cause instant irritation. For Oregon Duck fans, that list can be lengthy, and sometimes it’s through no fault of their own.

Whether if it’s just having that ability to defeat Oregon on a yearly basis, saying something derogatory towards the Ducks, or leaving them high and dry for their supposed “dream job,” a select group of people will forever be on the ****-list for Oregon fans.

This is a list of 20 people or entities that can put any Duck fan in a bad mood right away just by mentioning them. And while this list is in no particular order, we will mention first those that have really drawn the ire of every Oregon Duck fan young and old.

Chris Paul speaks on deaths of Chadwick Boseman, Cliff Robinson

Chris Paul spoke about the impacts that Chadwick Boseman and Cliff Robinson had on him.

Before NBA games on Saturday, the league paid tribute to three different legends who died in recent days.

Longtime University of Arizona coach Lute Olson died Thursday at the age of 85. On Friday, former NBA player Clifford Robinson at the age of 53 and actor Chadwick Boseman died at the age of 43.

The Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets held a moment of silence for the three before Game 5 began, as did other teams who played Saturday.

After the game, Thunder point guard Chris Paul was asked about Boseman.

“It’s a lot to unpack. Chadwick was a special guy. I think everyone took it hard, you know, especially the Black community,” Paul said.

“That was one of our Black superheroes. I think Black Panther was something so powerful for myself, along with my kids, to see a superhero that looks like them. And the way he played it with such class and elegance, that was tough.”

He then brought up Robinson.

“As well as losing Cliff Robinson. I think that on top of everything, one of our brothers, at such a young age at 53 years old,” Paul said. “I remember being a kid, watching Cliff Robinson, growing up, watching him play against Michael Jordan.”

Robinson played 18 seasons in the NBA, spending eight years on the Portland Trail Blazers, where he was named the 1993 Sixth Man of the Year, an All-Star in 1994 and made two All-Defensive second teams.

Robinson also played for the Phoenix Suns, Detroit Pistons, Golden State Warriors and New Jersey Nets. His 1,380 career games are the 14th-most in NBA history.

He died of Lymphoma, his family said in a statement to The Athletic’s Shams Charania.

Boseman died Friday night from colon cancer, which he was diagnosed with four years ago, his family said in a statement.

His prominent roles in movies included T’Challa in “Black Panther,” Jackie Robinson in “42,” U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall in “Marshall,” and a leader of a group of Black soldiers in the Vietnam War in Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods.”

Olson, who died at the age of 85, turned Arizona into a powerhouse.

He coached the Wildcats from 1983 through 2007, making the NCAA Tournament 23 years in a row, reaching four Final Fours and winning the 1997 National Championship.

Overall, he went 589-187 with Arizona and won 11 Pac-10 championships.

[vertical-gallery id=437259]