"It's long overdue and welldeserved," Simmons said of his coach's honor.
The L-Train was the National Player of the Year in 1990 as he finished his fabulous career with 3,217 points.
"It's so long ago," Simmons said. "I remember the team and I remember some of the good things. But the things that stand out are the losses. I really don't remember much about the wins. That's kind of the way I am with that. I remember that major loss to Clemson."
That was the second-round NCAA game when La Salle had a big lead in the second half, but could not contain the inside power of Elden Campbell and Dale Davis. Clemson lost in the next round to Connecticut by one point on a Tate George buzzer-beater. UConn then lost in the regional final to Duke by one point on the first of Christian Laettner's buzzer-beaters.
So, La Salle really was not that far away from the Final Four.
"That was a potential Final Four team," Morris said. "I know we would have beaten Connecticut. They pressed. They were rooting against us up in Hartford."
In addition to Simmons, that La Salle team had two other NBA players, Doug Overton and Randy Woods, the terrific shooter Jack Hurd, sixth-man supreme Bobby Johnson and three young centers (Milko Lieverst, Donnie Shelton and Bron Holland) who would have their moments at La Salle, but were not quite ready for the Clemson giants on that day.
"You got to win that last game and, if you don't win it, you remember that loss more than anything else," Simmons said.
But 30-2 is still 30-2. That team so dominated its league that most of the second halves on the road were spent signing autographs for awed crowds in packed arenas that came to see the show. And who can forget the balloon drop at the Civic Center on the night Simmons scored his 3,000th point?
Simmons, Johnson, Hurd, Shelton, Holland, Mike Stock, Mike Bergin and Keith Morris are among the players from that team expected to be at Gola on Saturday to be honored.
