La Salle Explorers men's basketball

La Salle Explorers Basketball

2015–16 La Salle Explorers men's basketball team

University

La Salle University

Conference

A-10

Location

Philadelphia, PA

Head coach

John Giannini (12th year)

Arena

Tom Gola Arena
(Capacity: 3,400)

Nickname

Explorers

Colors

Blue and Gold

Uniforms

Home

Away

Alternate

NCAA Tournament champions

1954

NCAA Tournament runner-up

1955

NCAA Tournament Final Four

1954, 1955

NCAA Tournament Elite Eight

1954, 1955

NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen

1954, 1955, 2013

NCAA Tournament Round of 32

1954, 1955, 1983, 1990, 2013

NCAA Tournament appearances

1954, 1955, 1968, 1975, 1978, 1980, 1983, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 2013

Conference tournament champions

1988, 1989, 1990, 1992 (MAAC)

Conference regular season champions

1984, 1988, 1989 (MAAC)

The La Salle Explorers men's basketball program represents La Salle University in college basketball.

History

The program has been rated the 53rd "Greatest College Basketball Program of All-Time" by Street & Smith's magazine and 71st by the ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia.

La Salle has won one National Championship, one National Invitation Tournament Championship, and advanced to two Final Fours. The Explorers have also made 12 NCAA Tournament appearances, won eight Philadelphia Big 5 city championships, and four Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championships. The program is one of only two schools (with Houston) to have two players in the top 25 in all-time NCAA scoring - Lionel Simmons and Michael Brooks. It's also had three National Players of the Year - only Duke University and Ohio State have had more.^[1]

Postseason

NCAA tournament results

The Explorers have appeared in the NCAA Tournament 12 times. Their combined record is 14–11. They were National Champions in 1954.

Year	Seed	Round	Opponent	Result
1954		First Round Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight Final Four National Championship	Fordham NC State Navy Penn State Bradley	W 76–74^OT W 88–81 W 64–48 W 69–54 W 92–76
1955		First Round Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight Final Four National Championship	West Virginia Princeton Canisius Iowa San Francisco	W 95–61 W 73–46 W 99–64 W 73–76 L 63–77
1968		First Round	Columbia	L 69–83
1975		First Round	Syracuse	L 83–87^OT
1978		First Round	Villanova	L 97–103
1980	#11	First Round	#6 Purdue	L 82–90
1983	#12	Preliminary Round First Round	#12 Boston University #5 VCU	W 70–58 L 67–76
1988	#13	First Round	#4 Kansas State	L 53–66
1989	#9	First Round	#8 Louisiana Tech	L 74–83
1990	#4	First Round Second Round	#13 Southern Miss #5 Clemson	W 79–63 L 75–79
1992	#13	First Round	#4 Seton Hall	L 76–78
2013	#13	First Four Second Round Third Round Sweet Sixteen	#13 Boise State #4 Kansas State #12 Ole Miss #9 Wichita State	W 80–71 W 63–61 W 76–74 L 58–72

NIT results

The Explorers have appeared in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) 12 times. Their combined record is 9–11. They were NIT champions in 1952.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
1948	Quarterfinals	WKU	L 61–68
1950	First Round Quarterfinals	Arizona Duquesne	W 72–66 L 47–49
1951	First Round	Saint Louis	L 61–73
1952	First Round Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals	Seton Hall St. John's Duquesne Dayton	W 80–76 W 51–45 W 59–46 W 75–64
1953	Quarterfinals	St. John's	L 74–75
1963	First Round	Saint Louis	L 61–63
1965	First Round	Detroit	L 86–93
1971	First Round	Georgia Tech	L 67–70
1984	First Round	Pittsburgh	L 91–95
1987	First Round Second Round Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals	Villanova Niagara Illinois State Arkansas–Little Rock Southern Miss	W 86–84 W 89–81 W 70–50 W 92–73 L 80–84
1991	First Round	Massachusetts	L 90–93
2012	First Round	Minnesota	L 61–70

Explorers in the NBA

La Salle has an extensive history of players who played professional basketball, including:

Michael Brooks, 1980 College Player of the Year
Joe Bryant, father of current pro Kobe Bryant
Rasual Butler, currently playing with the Washington Wizards
Larry Cannon
Ken Durrett
Bobby Fields
Tom Gola, NBA Hall of Famer, 1955 College Player of the Year
Tim Legler, current basketball analyst for ESPN, 4th all-time in NBA three-point shooting percentage
Gary Neal, currently playing with the San Antonio Spurs
Doug Overton
Jim Phelan
Lionel Simmons, 1990 College Player of the Year
Steven Smith
Fatty Taylor
Randy Woods
Bernie Williams

Retired numbers

No.	Player	Pos.	Career
La Salle Explorers men's basketball retired jerseys
15	Tom Gola	SF/G	1951–55
22	Lionel Simmons	SF	1986-90
32	Michael Brooks	PF	1976–1980
33	Ken Durrett	PF	1968–71

Coaches

Current head coach Dr. John Giannini previously coached at Rowan College, where he won the NCAA Division III national championship in 1996, and the University of Maine, where he left with the Black Bears' best winning percentage in school history.

Coaching Staff:

Walt Fuller
Horace Owens
Harris Adler

La Salle Explorers vs. Penn Quakers at Tom Gola Arena.

National Championship 50th Anniversary Logo.

Past Head Coaches

Name	Years	Won-Lost	Pct.
James J. Henry	1931	15-4	.789
Thomas Conley	1932-33	28-11	.718
Leonard Tanseer	1934-41	90-59	.604
Obie O'Brien	1942-43	25-21	.543
Joe Meehan	1944-46	28-30	.483
Charles McGlone	1947-49	61-17	.782
Ken Loeffler	1950-55	145-30	.829
Jim Pollard	1956-58	48-28	.632
Dudey Moore	1959-63	79-37	.681
Bob Walters	1964-65	31-17	.646
Joe Heyer	1966-67	24-27	.471
Jim Harding	1968	20-8	.714
Tom Gola	1969-70	37-13	.740
Paul Westhead	1971-79	142-105	.575
Lefty Ervin	1980-86	119-87	.578
Speedy Morris	1987-01	238-203	.540
Billy Hahn	2002-04	38-53	.418
John Giannini	2005-	118-125	.486

Year-by-Year Records

Season	Overall Record	Conference Record	Postseason
1931-32	15-8
1932-33	13-3
1933-34	14-3
1934-35	15-6
1935-36	4-13
1936-37	12-7
1937-38	13-6
1938-39	13-6
1939-40	12-8
1940-41	11-8
1941-42	12-11
1942-43	13-10
1943-44	8-8
1944-45	11-8
1945-46	9-14
1946-47	20-6
1947-48	20-4		NIT
1948-49	11-8		Cincinnati Invitational Tournament
1949-50	21-4		NIT
1950-51	22-7		NIT
1951-52	25-7		NIT Champions
1952-53	25-3		NIT
1954-55	26-5		NCAA Champion
1955-56	15-10		NCAA Finalist
1956-57	17-9
1957-58	16-9
1958-59	16-7
1959-60	16-6
1950-51	22-7
1960-61	15-7
1961-62	16-9
1962-63	16-8		NIT
1963-64	16-9
1964-65	15-8		NIT
1965-66	10-15
1966-67	14-12		MAC Tournament
1967-68	20-8		NCAA Tournament
1968-69	23-1		*Suspended from Postseason
1969-70	14-12
1970-71	20-7		NIT
1971-72	6-19
1972-73	15-10
1973-74	18-10		MAC Tournament
1974-75	22-7		NCAA Tournament
1975-76	11-15
1976-77	17-12		ECC Tournament
1977-78	18-12		NCAA Tournament
1978-79	15-13		ECC Tournament
1979-80	22-9		NCAA Tournament
1980-81	14-13		ECC Tournament
1981-82	16-13		ECC Tournament
1982-83	18-14		NCAA Tournament
1983-84	20-11	11-3	NIT
1984-85	15-13	8-6	MAAC Tournament
1985-86	14-14	8-6	ECC Tournament
1986-87	20-13	10-4	NIT Finalist
1987-88	24-10	14-0	NCAA Tournament
1988-89	26-6	13-1	NCAA Tournament
1989-90	30-2	16-0	NCAA Tournament
1990-91	19-10	12-4	NIT
1991-92	20-11	12-4	NCAA Tournament
1992-93	14-13	9-5	MCC Tournament
1993-94	11-16	4-6	MCC Tournament
1994-95	13-14	7-7	MCC Tournament
1995-96	6-24	3-13	A10 Tournament
1996-97	10-17	5-11	A10 Tournament
1997-98	9-18	5-11	A10 Tournament
1998-99	13-15	8-8	A10 Tournament
1999-00	11-17	5-11	A10 Tournament
2000-01	12-17	5-11	A10 Tournament
2001-02	15-17	6-10	A10 Tournament
2002-03	13-16	6-10	A10 Tournament
2003-04	10-20	5-11	A10 Tournament
2004-05	10-19	5-11	A10 Tournament
2005-06	18-10	10-6	A10 Tournament
2006-07	10-20	3-13
2007-08	15-17	8-8	A10 Tournament
2008-09	18-13	9-7	A10 Tournament
2009-10	12-18	4-12
2010-11	14-16	6-10	A10 Tournament
2011-12	21-12	9-7	NIT
2012-13	23-9	11-5	NCAA Round of 16
2013-14	15-16	7-9	A10 Tournament
2014-15	17-16	8-10	A10 Tournament

References

↑ Did You Know?! :: A Few Things You Should Know About Explorer Athletics

External links

Official Website

La Salle Explorers men's basketball

Venues	Wister Hall (19??–1955) Palestra (1955–1989) Civic Center (1989–1996) First Union Spectrum (1996–1998) Tom Gola Arena (1998–present) Hayman Center (facilities)

Culture & lore	"Fight On, Explorers" City 6 Philadelphia Big 5 (Robert V. Geasey Trophy) Scandal

People	Head coaches

Seasons	1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16

NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics

Atlantic 10 Conference men's basketball

Teams	Davidson Wildcats Dayton Flyers Duquesne Dukes Fordham Rams George Mason Patriots George Washington Colonials La Salle Explorers UMass Minutemen Rhode Island Rams Richmond Spiders St. Bonaventure Bonnies Saint Joseph's Hawks Saint Louis Billikens VCU Rams

Championships & awards	Atlantic 10 Men's Basketball Tournament Player of the Year

Seasons	1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16

Philadelphia Big 5

Schools	La Salle University University of Pennsylvania Saint Joseph's University Temple University Villanova University

Teams	La Salle Explorers Penn Quakers St. Joe's Hawks Temple Owls Villanova Wildcats

Arenas	Hagan Arena Liacouras Center Palestra The Pavilion Tom Gola Arena

Related	City 6 Holy War Robert V. Geasey Trophy St. Joe's–Temple Rivalry Battle of 33rd Street

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