Of course, it's also part of the legend that he left IU after 24 days.
Meanwhile, it’s cemented in MY head even if nobody else cares, University of Virginia legend - and my first sports hero! - Jeff Lamp was leaning into going to Indiana in the Fall of 1977, but grumblings from the IU players about Bobby Knight had him reconsider, which led to him and high school teammate and fellow UVa legend(ish) Lee Raker going to UVa instead.
So Lamp's my favorite college basketball player of all time, Bird's my favorite pro basketball player of all time, I consider myself to be a bit of a student on Indiana basketball, and yet it’s only NOW that it’s occurred to me that Bird and Lamp could've actually played together, in 1977-78 - Lamp's freshman year & what would've been Bird’s senior year!!!! 😲🤯
Between playing with an already great Indiana team with Bird and then a few years with Isiah Thomas, could Lamp have easily won 3-4 national titles? Would this have cemented him nationally as an all-time great college player?
Would Ralph Sampson have gone to Virginia if Lamp wasn't already there? (Probably not, he probably goes to Kentucky).
Does the whole Bird/Magic thing even happen? Maybe, but certainly not as dramatically as it really did play out.
Sampson going to Kentucky changes the whole Bowie/Turpin thing at Kentucky, which would have affected the 1984 Bowie Draft, meaning Jordan may have not gone to the Bulls, which means goodbye the 90s basically.
ANYway…mostly, I can’t believe it took me until July 2025 to piece together he whole Bird/Lamp at IU together thing. 🤷♂️
Meanwhile, it’s cemented in MY head even if nobody else cares, University of Virginia legend - and my first sports hero! - Jeff Lamp was leaning into going to Indiana in the Fall of 1977, but grumblings from the IU players about Bobby Knight had him reconsider, which led to him and high school teammate and fellow UVa legend(ish) Lee Raker going to UVa instead.
So Lamp's my favorite college basketball player of all time, Bird's my favorite pro basketball player of all time, I consider myself to be a bit of a student on Indiana basketball, and yet it’s only NOW that it’s occurred to me that Bird and Lamp could've actually played together, in 1977-78 - Lamp's freshman year & what would've been Bird’s senior year!!!! 😲🤯
Between playing with an already great Indiana team with Bird and then a few years with Isiah Thomas, could Lamp have easily won 3-4 national titles? Would this have cemented him nationally as an all-time great college player?
Would Ralph Sampson have gone to Virginia if Lamp wasn't already there? (Probably not, he probably goes to Kentucky).
Does the whole Bird/Magic thing even happen? Maybe, but certainly not as dramatically as it really did play out.
Sampson going to Kentucky changes the whole Bowie/Turpin thing at Kentucky, which would have affected the 1984 Bowie Draft, meaning Jordan may have not gone to the Bulls, which means goodbye the 90s basically.
ANYway…mostly, I can’t believe it took me until July 2025 to piece together he whole Bird/Lamp at IU together thing. 🤷♂️
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