Norm Peterson Posted November 19, 2012 Report Share Posted November 19, 2012 We have Tulane coming up on our schedule and it might be worth a little stroll down memory lane to discuss the Tulane teams of about 20 years ago. The Green Wave as they're called just opened play this year in newly renovated Devlin Fieldhouse, which seats about 3600 fans, has been Tulane's home since 1933, and is the 9th oldest basketball arena currently in use in Div 1. Former Tulane Coach Perry Clark left a good gig as Bobby Cremins's assistant at Georgia Tech (during a period where Georgia Tech was making Final 4s) in order to take the head job at Tulane in 1988. He inherited a Tulane program that was languishing. OK, they were worse than languishing. They were non-existent. Quite literally non-existent, as the school had disbanded the basketball program for 3 years due to a point shaving scandal in the mid-80s. They hadn't reached a post season in almost 7 years when Clark took over, and they'd never been to an NCAA tournament. Now, factor in that ancient, 3600 seat arena, and you think Tim Miles faces a challenge at Nebraska? In Clark's first season at the helm, Tulane won a total of 4 games. Four. The next season, they won 15. And then the Posse arrived. The Posse was a group of 5 stud recruits who arrived as part of the entering class of 1992. They became known as the Posse because it became Clark's habit to do a mass substitution shortly after the first media timeout and bring in his 5 talented newcomers whom many argued were better, though less experienced, than the starters they backed up. And, in that third season of Perry Clark, the Posse and their Green Wave teammates took Tulane to the school's first ever NCAA tournament appearance, where they promptly knocked off Lou Carnesecca's Redmen of St. John's before succumbing to Eddie Sutton's Oklahoma State Cowboys in the 2nd round. The Green Wave returned to the NCAA tourney each of the next two seasons, winning their first round games both times. Sadly for the Green Wave, they've never returned to the form they exhibited under the Posse in that 3 year span from '92-'93 to '94-'95. It's ironic (or coincidental if you'd prefer), though, that their program's zenith roughly corresponds to the best years of Cornhusker basketball ever. Except they have three more NCAA tourney wins to show for it. And, while we've never been quite as high as Tulane (close but not quite), neither have we ever been as low. Not nearly as low. We're getting ready to discard an arena much newer and much larger than the one in which the Green Wave has played for decades. And they don't have a state-of-the art practice complex. When Perry Clark took over in 1988, Tulane also had no quality facilities. Neither did they have tradition. And they didn't play in a quality conference. And they didn't have money. And there were all kinds of reasons why they should NEVER have been able to ascend to the level to which they ascended in the basketball world of 20 years ago. But they did. And that's just something to think about as we gird our loins and prepare to face this year's version of Tulane's men's basketball team. And, as bad as we fear it could get for us this year -- girded loins or no -- we've almost already equalled the win total of Perry Clark's first Tulane team. The one he fielded just two years before they brought home their program's first NCAA tourney win. Just sayin'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
49r Posted November 19, 2012 Report Share Posted November 19, 2012 Man, yeah, I remember those guys. It was like the team just shifted into a whole new gear when those 5 came on, they were fun to watch! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HB Posted November 19, 2012 Report Share Posted November 19, 2012 There you go again Norm, with that loin girding talk. Seems you may be a bit obsessed with loins at the moment. Since we are talking about men's basketball, that is quite troubling! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Creighton Fan Posted November 19, 2012 Report Share Posted November 19, 2012 In all fairness, Tulane was totally decimated by Hurricane Katrina. The University itself, not to mention the sports teams, was almost shut down completely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hhcmatt Posted November 20, 2012 Report Share Posted November 20, 2012 In all fairness, Tulane was totally decimated by Hurricane Katrina. The University itself, not to mention the sports teams, was almost shut down completely. Hurricane Katrina didn't happen in the 90s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Posted November 20, 2012 Report Share Posted November 20, 2012 Sometimes we put too much emphasis on facilities, maybe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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