Four LSU Basketball Players Selected in ESPN's Greatest of All Time Bracket
With no NCAA tournament to look forward to in 2020, it also means that a time-honored tradition is being left by the wayside, filling out a bracket sheet. Whether it's scribbling in just one or even if it's 100, filling out the NCAA tournament bracket every year is maddening yet leaves sports fans full of hope, even if it's just for a little while.
On Thursday, as a compromise, ESPN released a bracket of its 64 greatest college basketball players of all time, sparking much discussion and just as much outrage. A total of four former LSU basketball legends cracked the 64 player bracket.
Here are the former LSU greats to make the cut, their opening round opponents and why each player made the list. To vote for each LSU player into the second round, click the link.
Seimone Augustas (No. 16 seed)
Augustus was matched up with No. 1 seed Lew Alcindor, or as he would come to be known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the first round of the bracket. Augustus was arguably the greatest women's basketball player to come out of the LSU program, leading LSU to three straight Final Four appearances in her time with the Lady Tigers.
Augustus finished second in career field goals made at LSU, second in career field goals attempted, sixth in career field goal percentage, first in career free throw percentage and fourth in career free throws made as she finished her career with 2,702 points.
A two time Naismith and Wooden National Player of the Year award winner, Augustus was drafted No. 1 overall by the Minnesota Lynx and later had her No. 33 jersey retired in the PMAC on Jan. 26, 2010.
Chris Jackson (No. 15 seed)
One of the many head scratchers to come out of this bracket, Jackson, or as he's now known as Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, was paired up with No. 2 seed Diana Taurasi, who is arguably the greatest women's basketball player of all time.
In his two years with the Tigers, Jackson averaged 29 points and 3.6 assists per game while shooting 47% from the field. Jackson set an NCAA scoring record in his first season with the Tigers, averaging 30.2 points as a freshman, a year he also became just the second freshman ever to be named a first-team All-American.
In his two years with the team, Jackson rose all the way to No. 7 on the all-time LSU scoring list and was drafted No. 3 overall in the 1990 NBA draft. Most recently, Jackson had his jersey retired on Jan. 20, right next to his old teammate Shaquille O'Neal.
Shaquille O'Neal (No. 9 seed)
One of the most physically dominating presences in both college and the NBA, it's pretty staggering that O'Neal didn't receive a higher seeding. Shaq is paired up with No. 8 seed Sue Bird in the first round of the 64 player bracket.
In three seasons with the Tigers, O'Neal held career averages of 21.6 points and 13.5 rebounds per game to go along with 4.6 blocks. In 1991, O'Neal was chosen as the AP National Player of the Year, his sophomore year. He became the first SEC player to lead the conference in scoring (27.6), field goal percentage (62.8%) and blocked shots (5.0) in the same season.
O'Neal was selected No. 1 overall in the 1992 NBA draft where he would go on to be a four-time NBA champion and Hall of Famer. He was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2014 and had his No. 33 jersey retired in 2000.
Pete Maravich (No. 13 seed)
Perhaps the biggest disservice in the entire bracket is the NCAA scoring leader himself, who was selected as the No. 13 seed to go head-to-head with No. 4 seed Ralph Sampson in the first round of the tournament.
What can you say about the Pistol, other than the fact that he scored 3,667 points, an average of 44.2 points per game in his three-year career with the Tigers, without a three-point line. He was razzle, he was dazzle and just simply spectacular inside the Cow Palace.
"You look at Bob Pettit, Shaq, look at Pete Maravich, that's three of the top-50 players of all time," coach Will Wade said ahead of the 50-year anniversary of Maravich breaking the NCAA scoring record. "It's part of our tradition, we have a storied tradition, we have a great tradition which is why we've won the second most SEC titles to Kentucky. I always tell our players you can drink from the well but don't forget who dug it."
It's a record that has lasted 50 years and will probably never be broken, which is why Maravich was deserving of a higher seed in the bracket
