57. Indiana Hoosiers John Laskowski

The latest Past Our Prime podcast takes us to the heartland and the beginning of the changing of the guard in college basketball. 1975 would be the last season for John Wooden and his UCLA dominance, and the Indiana Hoosiers were set to claim their spot atop the college basketball world. They would go 31-1 in '75 and follow that up in 1976 with a perfect 32-0 and the first National Championship for Bobby Knight. In 1975, the Hoosiers had 4 All Big-10 players in Kent Benson, Quinn Buckner, Scott May and Steve Green... and yet on the cover of that February 3rd issue 50 years ago was none other than John Laskowski... The Super Sub. The senior guard from South Bend was the first guy off the bench for Coach Knight and a main reason for the teams success. Half a century later, he still can't believe he was the guy on the cover of SI. But Laskowski was emblematic of what his coach was preaching. A team-first attitude where you left your ego at the door and went to work doing whatever was needed to win. And they won a lot... 37 consecutive Big-10 wins in fact, still the most ever in conference play... by a large margin. Laskowski went on to play in the NBA, and then was an analyst for Hoosiers basketball for years and he says much of that is because of the legendary Knight. Much more than just a coach to Laskowski, Bobby Knight was a mentor and an impactful man for the rest of his life until his death in 2023. He negotiated Laskowski's NBA deal with the Bulls, helped him get his TV job for IU and got him into the movie Blue Chips starring Nick Nolte. Laz tells us about a side of The General we rarely saw... He tells us about an assistant on that team that went on to become the all-time winningest coach in college basketball history... and he tells us about how Notre Dame rescinded their scholarship offer to him and how devastating that was to him before it turned into a blessing of a lifetime. It's a great talk with a great guy that was the first one off the bench for Coach Knight and on the cover of SI in 50 years ago today but in the POP starting lineup. The Super Sub---John Laskowski on the Past Our Prime podcast. Give it a listen wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices