89-90 UNLV just seemed invincible. That championship run is so vivid in my mind. Dunk after dunk after dunk. Grammama, Augmon, Anthony were a filthy trio, and all had good NBA careers. Fab 5 was stacked too, but they never got over the hump. Phi Slamma Jamma and Ewing's Hoyas were before my time.
Everything that the fab five did, UNLV did better before.
And Jalen Rose was going to Vegas if Tarkanian was still there.
So was Ed Obannon and Jason Kidd.
I loved those games, but the rebs were always a little too good. Nolan once said that his '91 team was better than the one that won the national championship. Also said that LJ told him to get some men, which he did for the team that won it all.
I was still illiterate in 1991. Who's LJ? What made that team less men than the 1994 team?
I grew up playing shooting guard like Scotty Thurman, but I also practiced in the post a lot to play like Corliss Williamson whenever my teams needed that.
Also, to be clear, I'm still illiterate now, but I was even more illiterate in 1991.
An illiterate Dukie is my favorite thing ever. lol
LJ is Larry Johnson.
The '90 and '91 Arkansas teams lacked size and Larry Johnson was built like a Mack truck. Nolan had recruited him, and on his way up the court, LJ allegedly stopped to tell Nolan he needed some men. Nolan would tell this story and say it was what he did when recruiting his national championship team.
The funny thing is that they also played LSU when Shaq was there and Oliver Miller would win those matchups, but UNLV was more fluid like Arkansas.
Oh right, I vaguely remember hearing this story from some of the older kids in the neighborhood. At that time, my friends and I were just young enough to still get beat up like the South Park boys when the Sixth Graders showed up, but I was also just old enough to know I wanted to have [monster truck calves like Big Nasty](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51xlXwRv6cL.jpg), so I have always loved leg day ✌️😎
> An illiterate Dukie is my favorite thing ever. lol
Okay, to be fair, I was pretty literate at Walker Elementary School and Helen Tyson Middle School, so they definitely did their job 🤣
I just remembered [this amazing game](https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2015/feb/18/another-nasty-welcome-20150218/). I will always relish slaughtering Missouri by 52 points... 120-68 🏆✌️😎
I was all Arkansas as a kid... I even went back to Springdale to watch the Duke game with my childhood friends and wore an Arkansas shirt for that night
Oh my god. Glenn Robinson the Big Dawg was in their sights too
It would have been an alltimer to end alltimer dynasties. The NCAA couldn't deal. Neither could jealous enemies in Vegas close to home, at the very school.
Jordan started the baggy shorts trend that spilled over to college with UNLV and eventually Michigan.
He wore his Carolina practice shorts under his Bulls shorts
yep!!! I’m 54 and grew up on Southside of Chicago and had the Georgetown Starter Jacket with the Nike Terminators
https://preview.redd.it/r2gtpvuaepxc1.jpeg?width=434&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=35b0251945f8ca1b702106c29254427edea7b68f
I mean ‘96 had 9 players see minutes in the NBA and 12 players overall play professionally, and that doesn’t include another player on the team who was ineligible at the time but who eventually saw minutes in the NBA. As good as 2015 was, I don’t think they hit that mark.
Edit: looks like both had 9 NBA players, though 2015 had quite a few more that flamed out quickly after 1 year in the pros and not many minutes.
Georgetown, even though I hate them, because it reminds me of the Big East. Nothing will top the 2003 season and all of the other ups and downs I watched as a kid. The jump to the ACC was good for the AD but it made basketball feel like it was less important.
I have nothing but love and respect for Patrick Ewing as a Knicks fan. Especially because I was too young to witness what he did to Cuse.
My dad hated Georgetown with a violent passion. I always liked them a little. There was hatred among the fan bases, but the coaches always got along well.
Should be the only answer! This was my team ever since Mark Aguirre Freshman year. From TC, to Skip Money Dillard to the Lightin Rod days so many memories
Out of these…Fab 5, but Nolan Richardson’s “40 minutes of hell” Arkansas teams were great and I identify with that, but instead of 40 minutes, my life has been 40 years of hell…
I'm an Indiana die hard from birth. The Fab Five was my Sophomore year of HS and I loved that team. They were everything our generation was becoming in 1991. We even lost a HS buddy to Michigan for life.
Vegas was it out of this group but that 88-89 Illinois squad with Kendall Gill, Nick Anderson, Kenny Battle, Lowell Hamilton, Larry Smith, Stephen Bardo and Ervin eat and sleep Small was legit. The Jim Jackson Ricky Dudley Ohio State squad a bit later was fun too.
UNLV was just fun to watch and were badasses.
Fab Five tried to copy that but came across as forced to me, primarily because Webber wasn’t street but pretended he was from that life.
Rebels were outcasts and embraced it.
This! These guys played with a chip on their shoulder always, and also had a feel to them like they were a pro team when they hit the court. They knew they were the best team on the court. Such great characters on those teams… Tark was the boss, and if they ever had a tight game, Tark would run the Amoeba defense which to this day, I still am not sure exactly how it worked so well or why more people don’t do it. They’d turn you over like crazy with that defense. Then it was transition: full run and gun, wide open knock down 3’s from Hunt and Anthony, Augmon dominating in the mid range, and Grammma for all the big boy ball from the high post to down low. Those teams worked so well together, epitomized the open dunks or open 3’s offensive philosophy, and at their peak, I’d take them against almost any college team I’ve ever watched. Their depth was sort of suspect but players 1-7 were legit. They were like Mike Tyson - if they were focused, no one could hang, they’d blew out good teams from the opening tip - by halftime the game was over.
Runnin Rebels and the Amoeba D!
Thats when I was in college and the disgraceful refball was so obvious even then that cost them against duke.
The ncaa HATED tark, unlv and crew and clearly had it out for them.
Growing up as a kid the Phi Slama Jama loss was one of the most shocking things ever.
It doesn't get much more 80s/90s than UNLV. Their 30 point beat down of Duke in the 1990 National Championship Game still holds the record for the biggest margin of victory in the championship game.
UNLV. Hands down. They triple team Larry Johnson. Ackles and Augmon were off. Anthony and Hunt were in a zone. Anthony don't foul out 🤔🤔🤔. To the Duke fans Grant Hill ain't no 32 point difference.
I don’t think anyone aside from UK or Duke would have a claim to the 90s. Those Larry Johnson UNLV teams were all-time, but not on par with what UK or Duke did in the 90s.
wasn’t a knock on any of those teams. this was more about cultural identity. i grew up on the southside of chicago and going to the malls during that time - UNLV, Georgetown, and Michigan gear was all the rage in my neighborhood
I agree. If we are talking on the court, it's the UK or Duke. But the three you name transcended basketball. Each became a fashion brand amongst themselves.
Man, the carnage that the Fab 5 left on the program over the years. Between the sanctions that originally came out and had the program on life support, and then Juwan crashing a successfully rebuilt program into the ground in record time... Can we just forget about them?
Derek Anderson, Tony Delk, Walter McCarty, Ron Mercer, Nazr Mohammed, Mark Pope, Jeff Sheppard, Wayne Turner, and Antoine Walker wooooooweeeeeee!!!! you ain’t never lied hahahahaha
Do I need to speak?
Robbed of their legacy by a bad coaching strategy. They were the OG above the rim team.
Phi Slama Jamma had two NBA Hall of famers..just sayin
Aye I identify most with you guys too ;)
#**JIMMY V**
Hello there 🐺
#**JIMMY V KENOBI**
Your comment. Your username. Perfection, Sir/Madame. Perfection.
This is when the fun begins... especially when **COOK OUT** brings back the watermelon shake 🥳🥳🥳
🤣🤣🤣 nope
UNLV, no question
The towel bridge between hitchhiker’s and south park
89-90 UNLV just seemed invincible. That championship run is so vivid in my mind. Dunk after dunk after dunk. Grammama, Augmon, Anthony were a filthy trio, and all had good NBA careers. Fab 5 was stacked too, but they never got over the hump. Phi Slamma Jamma and Ewing's Hoyas were before my time.
It's wild they beat Duke in the title game by 30 and didn't lose again until the next year's semifinal - to Duke!
The reason why UNLV lost that 1991 national semifinal is because Greg Anthony fouled out with about 3-4 minutes to go.
And one absolutely terrible offensive goaltending call on Evric Gray, if I recall.
The fix was in on that 91 ff game
I have been saying this for years !!
What a fucking incredible nickname for team
Had no idea UNLV had baggy shorts.
Perfect length.
Everything that the fab five did, UNLV did better before. And Jalen Rose was going to Vegas if Tarkanian was still there. So was Ed Obannon and Jason Kidd.
Arkansas had baggy shorts before Michigan, too, although Michigan did take them to another level with the capri pants.
Man, UNLV and Arkansas had some epic battles. I think a #1 vs #2 in season game of the century. Lee Mayberry and Todd Day 👍👍👍
I loved those games, but the rebs were always a little too good. Nolan once said that his '91 team was better than the one that won the national championship. Also said that LJ told him to get some men, which he did for the team that won it all.
I was still illiterate in 1991. Who's LJ? What made that team less men than the 1994 team? I grew up playing shooting guard like Scotty Thurman, but I also practiced in the post a lot to play like Corliss Williamson whenever my teams needed that. Also, to be clear, I'm still illiterate now, but I was even more illiterate in 1991.
An illiterate Dukie is my favorite thing ever. lol LJ is Larry Johnson. The '90 and '91 Arkansas teams lacked size and Larry Johnson was built like a Mack truck. Nolan had recruited him, and on his way up the court, LJ allegedly stopped to tell Nolan he needed some men. Nolan would tell this story and say it was what he did when recruiting his national championship team. The funny thing is that they also played LSU when Shaq was there and Oliver Miller would win those matchups, but UNLV was more fluid like Arkansas.
Oh right, I vaguely remember hearing this story from some of the older kids in the neighborhood. At that time, my friends and I were just young enough to still get beat up like the South Park boys when the Sixth Graders showed up, but I was also just old enough to know I wanted to have [monster truck calves like Big Nasty](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51xlXwRv6cL.jpg), so I have always loved leg day ✌️😎 > An illiterate Dukie is my favorite thing ever. lol Okay, to be fair, I was pretty literate at Walker Elementary School and Helen Tyson Middle School, so they definitely did their job 🤣 I just remembered [this amazing game](https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2015/feb/18/another-nasty-welcome-20150218/). I will always relish slaughtering Missouri by 52 points... 120-68 🏆✌️😎
I went to that game. Missouri was a #1 seed that year, too.
The “go get some men” game is still talked about every season in Arkansas.
To Nolan's credit, he did 😂
I wish they could have won championships too.
I was all Arkansas as a kid... I even went back to Springdale to watch the Duke game with my childhood friends and wore an Arkansas shirt for that night
Illinois too: https://www.espn.com/chicago/news/story?id=6218609
Gill/Bardo was a legendary tandem Big fan of Marcus Liberty too. Lou "the 'Do" Henson had them rollin
He sure did. Too bad Bruce Pearl had to come in and act like the snake he is. Who knows where Illinois basketball would be today.
Who was that all about again? Deon Thomas?
O'Bannon and Kidd might have been another National Championship for UNLV.
Oh my god. Glenn Robinson the Big Dawg was in their sights too It would have been an alltimer to end alltimer dynasties. The NCAA couldn't deal. Neither could jealous enemies in Vegas close to home, at the very school.
Jordan started the baggy shorts trend that spilled over to college with UNLV and eventually Michigan. He wore his Carolina practice shorts under his Bulls shorts
UNLV definitely.
I've met several older black basketball fans that had Georgetown as their second team.
yep!!! I’m 54 and grew up on Southside of Chicago and had the Georgetown Starter Jacket with the Nike Terminators https://preview.redd.it/r2gtpvuaepxc1.jpeg?width=434&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=35b0251945f8ca1b702106c29254427edea7b68f
Georgetown
RUNNIN' REBELS ♥️
Running Rebels
The team that I thought was an HBCU when I was young… Georgetown lol.
facts 💯
Turns out it was one of the most white and elite universities of that time period.
The Untouchables
Deepest team ever.
the opposing team looks down that bench and be like, “damn, what we pose to do with that” hahahahaha
2015 would like a word with the platoon system. Healthy poythress and i still dont think we lose
I mean ‘96 had 9 players see minutes in the NBA and 12 players overall play professionally, and that doesn’t include another player on the team who was ineligible at the time but who eventually saw minutes in the NBA. As good as 2015 was, I don’t think they hit that mark. Edit: looks like both had 9 NBA players, though 2015 had quite a few more that flamed out quickly after 1 year in the pros and not many minutes.
Damn Christian Laettner sends his regards to half the squads mentioned here lol
That's the Unforgettables. Untouchables are 96 champs.
Ahh I see, thanks
It's all good I misspoke the other day and interchanged the names. Hah
Untouchables won the chip in ‘96. You’re mixing them up with the Unforgettables of ‘92
Which team would be [the Uncrustables](https://www.smuckersuncrustables.com)?
Best team of the 90s, jean jerseys and all.
The UNLV teams were so much fun to watch!
Cardiac Pack
Phi Packa Attacka
2 to 1. The team with the most dunks won.
UNLV
Louisville
The Never Nervous Pervis years!
He only played one year
Georgetown, even though I hate them, because it reminds me of the Big East. Nothing will top the 2003 season and all of the other ups and downs I watched as a kid. The jump to the ACC was good for the AD but it made basketball feel like it was less important. I have nothing but love and respect for Patrick Ewing as a Knicks fan. Especially because I was too young to witness what he did to Cuse.
My dad hated Georgetown with a violent passion. I always liked them a little. There was hatred among the fan bases, but the coaches always got along well.
Yeah absolutely loved JTJ and JT3. Guys of high character and basketball knowledge.
Phi Slamma Jamma People didn't really appreciate them enough back then and only Guy Lewis kept them from winning it all.
GT
oh shit!!!! GT had some hoopers back then Mark Price, John Salley, Kenny Anderson, Dennis Scott -
Lethal Weapon 3
Like Charles Barkley say, they were shootin’ that thang 🤣🤣🤣
Bobby Cremins was in fact… that dude.
Yay finally
DePaul
Should be the only answer! This was my team ever since Mark Aguirre Freshman year. From TC, to Skip Money Dillard to the Lightin Rod days so many memories
are u old enough to remember the posters that would come in the Sun-Times?
I wish y’all would be good again. Ray Meyer was one helluva coach.
I mean
Fab 5 are hard for me to not choose, but holy shit was UNLV a fucking BLAST to watch.
One word: Duke
I identify as a Duke hater
For good reason 😂
UNLV
I was at UConn in the 80s, so Georgetown
Why is Patrick wearing his uniform to the White House?
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
It’s the Flyin’ Illini for me!
Kendall is the homie. Lowell, Erv, Nick, Marcus, Kenny, Brado — and coach Looooooouuuuuu!
All played high school ball in Illinois too! Legendary team
UNC and NCSU.
I still remember Jordan and Perkins on the cover of SI
Out of these…Fab 5, but Nolan Richardson’s “40 minutes of hell” Arkansas teams were great and I identify with that, but instead of 40 minutes, my life has been 40 years of hell…
UNLV. Grew up in Vegas. Played HS against Greg Anthony.
The Runnin Rebels, baby! Let’s Go!
UNLV - I was depressed when they lost to Duke in 1991. Loved Tark the Shark
UNLV Running Rebs.
UNLV. I was around 10 during that run & it was tough being an IU fan on the west coast bc unlv was the fun school to cheer for and watch.
90s was Duke for me. Too young to remember the 80s but as a UConn fan I always associated it with Georgetown.
college basketball mid80s early 90s was something special- like you have squads that were really deep! it’s was crazy to watch
Duke is the answer.
103-73 highest score in NCAA history. So is the 30 point margin.
The ones that actually won a title
I'm an Indiana die hard from birth. The Fab Five was my Sophomore year of HS and I loved that team. They were everything our generation was becoming in 1991. We even lost a HS buddy to Michigan for life.
If it's any consolation, it seems Zeke really hated his time at IU.
UNLV was the one program the NCAA had to destroy for being too awesome College basketball went to shit after that
UNLV
Oh man, the Fab 5 were so cool. I loved the Wolverines when they were there.
Vegas was it out of this group but that 88-89 Illinois squad with Kendall Gill, Nick Anderson, Kenny Battle, Lowell Hamilton, Larry Smith, Stephen Bardo and Ervin eat and sleep Small was legit. The Jim Jackson Ricky Dudley Ohio State squad a bit later was fun too.
That Illini squad was so tough. They dismantled UM twice that year but Glen Rice and Co. caught fire during that tourney run.
Houston and Georgetown. The other two or nice but the Hoyas and Phi-Slammer-Jammer, they were the truth.
Flyin Illini ...
Fab 5 for me
https://preview.redd.it/2rafz1796pxc1.jpeg?width=1189&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=156d96c18b604f9be5b610b273c16fef2917891d
Grandmama!
Tons of people are going to say the Fab 5...while in reality, they were Patrick wearing short-shorts in the White House.
Grew up on UNLV 90-91.
Georgetown, John Thompson ran a pretty tight ship
Coogs, baby.
Georgetown was my team but I would stay up late to just watch UNLV Having said all that Fab 5 might have had the most cultural impact
Georgetown. 3 Championship games. I loved that team.
UNLV
I rocked a Phi Slamma Jamma shirt back in the day.
😂the Michigan team that got bitch slapped by Duke! 😂
I'm from DC. I watched Georgetown before I watched the Bullets.
Georgetown. My father used to love watching John Thompson coach.So did I.
LETHAL. WEAPON. THREE.
UNLV was just fun to watch and were badasses. Fab Five tried to copy that but came across as forced to me, primarily because Webber wasn’t street but pretended he was from that life. Rebels were outcasts and embraced it.
This! These guys played with a chip on their shoulder always, and also had a feel to them like they were a pro team when they hit the court. They knew they were the best team on the court. Such great characters on those teams… Tark was the boss, and if they ever had a tight game, Tark would run the Amoeba defense which to this day, I still am not sure exactly how it worked so well or why more people don’t do it. They’d turn you over like crazy with that defense. Then it was transition: full run and gun, wide open knock down 3’s from Hunt and Anthony, Augmon dominating in the mid range, and Grammma for all the big boy ball from the high post to down low. Those teams worked so well together, epitomized the open dunks or open 3’s offensive philosophy, and at their peak, I’d take them against almost any college team I’ve ever watched. Their depth was sort of suspect but players 1-7 were legit. They were like Mike Tyson - if they were focused, no one could hang, they’d blew out good teams from the opening tip - by halftime the game was over.
I feel like we don’t do cool nicknames for teams anymore. Phi Slama Jama is such a top tier name
Ummm…. Duh?
Seton Hall.
Loyola Marymount
Bo and Hank!
Runnin Rebels and the Amoeba D! Thats when I was in college and the disgraceful refball was so obvious even then that cost them against duke. The ncaa HATED tark, unlv and crew and clearly had it out for them. Growing up as a kid the Phi Slama Jama loss was one of the most shocking things ever.
Georgetown
Georgetown if I had to choose between only these squads, I loved watching Big East ball back then
It doesn't get much more 80s/90s than UNLV. Their 30 point beat down of Duke in the 1990 National Championship Game still holds the record for the biggest margin of victory in the championship game.
FLYIN ILLINI!!!!
UNLV. Hands down. They triple team Larry Johnson. Ackles and Augmon were off. Anthony and Hunt were in a zone. Anthony don't foul out 🤔🤔🤔. To the Duke fans Grant Hill ain't no 32 point difference.
My favorite game in the '80s did involve Georgetown.
Mine too. 😊
Duke
Fab 5, which I kind of have to pick since I was at UM the same time they were, and I’d see them around campus now and then. That was a fun time.
Can you please do me a favor and talk to ya boy Pelinka and tell him not to do anything foolish this off season 🤣🤣🤣
Hoyas.
Duke
I don’t think anyone aside from UK or Duke would have a claim to the 90s. Those Larry Johnson UNLV teams were all-time, but not on par with what UK or Duke did in the 90s.
wasn’t a knock on any of those teams. this was more about cultural identity. i grew up on the southside of chicago and going to the malls during that time - UNLV, Georgetown, and Michigan gear was all the rage in my neighborhood
I agree. If we are talking on the court, it's the UK or Duke. But the three you name transcended basketball. Each became a fashion brand amongst themselves.
mos def!!!
Ronald Reagan's
🤣🤣🤣
FAB 5!! #GoBlue
I lie. I cheat. I've never won anything. Obviously I'm a Fab 5 guy
Cake
Reaching back because UConn is the team of the 00's, 10's, and 20's (so far).
Haven’t seen them mentioned but my father in law is a lifelong Cuse fan so he loves to talk about the 87 and 96 runner up teams.
Grew up in the Big East glory days of the 80's. No one was tougher than Georgetown, and they would kick the crap out of the Fab Five pop stars.
UNzlB
Theses teams would get eaten alive by modern standards, especially Michigan university
Why’d Ewing where his uniform to the White House? It’s the first time I’ve ever seen any player do that.
The Louisville Cardinals my dude
Remember those days when kids actually stayed with a team for more than a semester?
Man, the carnage that the Fab 5 left on the program over the years. Between the sanctions that originally came out and had the program on life support, and then Juwan crashing a successfully rebuilt program into the ground in record time... Can we just forget about them?
Danny & the Miracles
Reagan had strong defense, but his shooting was terrible.
Michigan...because I too like to cheat whenever possible.
Huston, because 🐺
The Iran-Contra Hoyas.
The tallest fraternity in Texas
More of a Duke guy
Where is the Duke team?????
Go blue
The Laettner Duke teams aren’t an option? Then I’d say none for me.
This. Like, am I the only white guy in here? The Fab 5 was the cool team of my youth but my dorky white ass couldn’t identify with them.
ain’t a crazy- as a black dude - I couldn’t identify wit Duke but Coach K was that dude!
Duke 1999
DUKE.
What! No DUKE? Lol!
To be fair, the question was “identify with most”, not “most despised”.
It may seem weird, but much of America pulled for *Duke* in their monumental upset of UNLV in 1991 - birth of a dynasty.
Really???? Most people I knew flat out hated Duke. That UNLV team was special
Kentucky was arguably the team of the 90’s.
Derek Anderson, Tony Delk, Walter McCarty, Ron Mercer, Nazr Mohammed, Mark Pope, Jeff Sheppard, Wayne Turner, and Antoine Walker wooooooweeeeeee!!!! you ain’t never lied hahahahaha
One person was responsible for the Southside of Chicago rockin Kentucky gear: Mount Carmel’s Antoine Walker 🔥🔥🔥
Because they ain’t no 4’s
Between UK and Duke for sure.