The Kansas Jayhawks basketball team finished with a record of 25-11 and finished ranked No. 20 in the final poll for the 1986-87 season.
It wasn't so much about the players on the court, but the coaches on the sideline that made this team special. The staff was comprised of Larry Brown, Gregg Popovich, Bill Self, RC Buford and Alvin Gentry.
All five made their mark on the NBA and college level after leaving Lawrence, Kan. Brown and Popovich are both Hall of Famers. Popovich has won five titles with the San Antonio Spurs with Buford as his general manager. Brown won at every stop in the NBA, leading the Philadelphia 76ers to the 2001 NBA Finals. Gentry coached eight years in the league with the Phoenix Suns, Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State Warriors and New Orleans Pelicans.
Self, now at Kansas, has two national titles in three Final Four appearances.
The 1985 Kansas coaching staff was UNREAL:
- Larry Brown (HOFer)
- Gregg Popovich (HOFer)
- Bill Self (HOFer)
- RC Buford (5x NBA Champion Executive)
- Alvin Gentry (18 Seasons as an NBA HC) pic.twitter.com/ZCo2ghYeCL
— BetMGM 🦁 (@BetMGM) March 16, 2025
Two seasons before, the Jayhawks staff also included John Calipari. He coached the New Jersey Nets for three years before returning to become one of the greatest coaches in college basketball history. Calipari won one NCAA title in six appearances with Kentucky.
NBA GREAT GEARING UP FOR NCAA TOURNEY
Last season coach Penny Hardaway and the Memphis Tigers took a step backward.
They missed the NCAA Tournament after making it the previous two seasons. Now, the Tigers are back where they belong. On Sunday, they were announced as a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Memphis plays No. 12 Colorado State Friday in Seattle.
"It's a great feeling," Hardaway said. "We heard so much as bad as 8, 9, for the last month and that's what kind of pushed us through, even though there was nothing we could do about it. It makes you feel good to see the 5. That's respecting us a lot. And we put the work in. We earned it.
It seems Hardaway finally has things trending in the right direction in his seventh season. If his coaching career continues to thrive, it may help offset the disappointment from his NBA career. Hardaway was one of the league's brightest stars when he teamed with Shaquille O'Neal to lead the Orlando Magic to the 1995 NBA Finals.
They lost to the Hakeem Olajuwon-led Houston Rockets but it was supposed to start a decade of dominance for the young Magic. Orlando lost to Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls the following year in the Eastern Conference finals.
The following year O'Neal left for the Los Angeles Lakers, breaking up the pair. A four-time All-Star, Hardaway had a few strong seasons with the Magic before a series of injuries derailed his promising career.
Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Back In The Day Hoops On SI. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com
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