La Salle Explorers men's basketball

La Salle Explorers Basketball
University	La Salle University
Conference	Atlantic Ten
Location	Philadelphia, PA
Head coach	John Giannini (7th year)
Arena	Tom Gola Arena (Capacity: 4,000)
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
NCAA Tournament Round of 32
1954, 1955, 1983, 1990
NCAA Tournament appearances
1954, 1955, 1968, 1975, 1978, 1980, 1983, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992
Conference tournament champions
1988, 1989, 1990, 1992 (MAAC)
Conference regular season champions
1984, 1988, 1989 (MAAC)

The La Salle Explorers Men's Basketball Team is the college basketball program representing La Salle University.

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 11 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 (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.

Explorers in the NBA

La Salle has a minimal history of players who played professional basketball, including:

• Michael Brooks, 1980 College Player of the Year
• "Jellybean" Joe Bryant, father of current pro Kobe Bryant
• Rasual Butler, currently playing with the Chicago Bulls
• 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, currently playing in Greece's A1 Ethniki
• Fatty Taylor
• Randy Woods
• Bernie Williams

Retired numbers

#15 Tom Gola, Class of 1955

#22 Lionel Simmons, Class of 1990

#32 Michael Brooks, Class of 1980

#33 Ken Durrett, Class of 1971

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-	61-71	.462

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 Finalist
1955-56	15-10
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	1-0	0-0

See also

• 2004 La Salle University men's basketball scandal
• Former La Salle Head Coach Ken Loeffler
• NCAA Men's Division I Final Four appearances by coaches
• NCAA Men's Division I Final Four appearances by school

External links

• Official Website