Armen Gilliam (UNLV) Dead At Age of 47

[MelroseHawkins]

Former NBA player Armen Gilliam dies of a heart attack at age 47 after pickup basketball game - NBA News | FOX Sports on MSN


I remember that run. I believe they knocked out Iowa in the Elite 8.

 

[jacknicholson]

Yes, they did. I was at that game in the Kingdome. The Hawks looked stunned walking off the floor at halftime with a 16 point lead. The Seattle newspaper sports section had an article entitled, "Did the best team lose?" Yes they did. We might have been the best team in the country that year, Mr. Davis's first.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

Yes, they did. I was at that game in the Kingdome. The Hawks looked stunned walking off the floor at halftime with a 16 point lead. The Seattle newspaper sports section had an article entitled, "Did the best team lose?" Yes they did. We might have been the best team in the country that year, Mr. Davis's first.

I think so as well. I think they could have contended very well for the NC game. I remember vividly where I was watching the meltdown in the 2nd half. What a disappointment. What a special team that was with their style of play. A joy to watch. Pressure, pressure & more pressure. Gawd that team was fun to watch.

Then watching Jerry Tarkanian munching on his white towel on the sideline. The memories that the young uns on here will never know.

 

[homes]

Yes, they did. I was at that game in the Kingdome. The Hawks looked stunned walking off the floor at halftime with a 16 point lead. The Seattle newspaper sports section had an article entitled, "Did the best team lose?" Yes they did. We might have been the best team in the country that year, Mr. Davis's first.

How many free throws did Iowa miss in the first half, including the front end of one and ones? They could have salted the game away in the first half if they had made their free throws. Gerald Paddio and Fred (?) Banks killed Iowa with 3 pointers in the second half. Other than that, I hardly recall anything about that game.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

[+] Enlarge

 

[jacknicholson]

One of the factors contributing to the loss was Kevin Gamble getting his fourth foul very early in the second half, severely limiting his time on the floor. The Seattle sportswriter, Kelly, I believe, who now writes for the Philadelphia Inquirer, thought that it was an invisible foul, as I did.

Another factor was not adjusting for the long rebound from UNLV's missed threes. They kept bouncing over the HawkHeads. The only way they could get back in the game was by making threes, which they did shooting them over and over again, rebounding miss after miss.

Alas....

 

[CAARHawk]

Dude brought a lunch bucket to work. Every team could use a player like that.

 

[HawkeyeShane]

I remember the closing moments as Iowa went for a game winning alley-oop and Gamble's pass sailed what seemed like 5 feet over Lohaus' outstretched, wipe open, ready to bring it down, hands...

 

[trj]

Yes, they did. I was at that game in the Kingdome. The Hawks looked stunned walking off the floor at halftime with a 16 point lead. The Seattle newspaper sports section had an article entitled, "Did the best team lose?" Yes they did. We might have been the best team in the country that year, Mr. Davis's first.

They beat the eventual NC Indiana twice that year completely dominated them. Iowa was just a nightmare match up for Indiana and would have beaten Indiana a third time to get to the title game.

As for Gilliam he put up better numbers than I thought in the NBA he wasn't a bust he had a decent NBA career.

He died of a heart attack not sure if he just let himself go or he had a heart ailment. I watched an old Michigan game on the BTN a couple of weeks ago and they had interviews with Glenn Rice and Ruhmeal Robinson and their faces were swollen and they had guts just reminds you how some of these guys let themselves go once their playing days are over.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

They beat the eventual NC Indiana twice that year completely dominated them. Iowa was just a nightmare match up for Indiana and would have beaten Indiana a third time to get to the title game.
QUOTE]

Actually, Iowa and Indiana split the two regular season games that year. Nevertheless, I really thought our Hawks were going to win it all that year. They certainly had enough talent to do so.

That UNLV game haunts me to this day. I know we beat them soundly in the 1988 tournament, but I would trade that win 10 times over for a win over them in that 1987 game.

 

[trj]

They beat the eventual NC Indiana twice that year completely dominated them. Iowa was just a nightmare match up for Indiana and would have beaten Indiana a third time to get to the title game.
QUOTE]

Actually, Iowa and Indiana split the two regular season games that year. Nevertheless, I really thought our Hawks were going to win it all that year. They certainly had enough talent to do so.

That UNLV game haunts me to this day. I know we beat them soundly in the 1988 tournament, but I would trade that win 10 times over for a win over them in that 1987 game.

Your right I could have sworn they beat Indiana twice that year. Of the 5 losses that year I remember the OSU loss and obviously the UNLV one. I thought maybe there was a fluke loss to NW or something mixed in there. I checked it you are right.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

Your right I could have sworn they beat Indiana twice that year. Of the 5 losses that year I remember the OSU loss and obviously the UNLV one. I thought maybe there was a fluke loss to NW or something mixed in there. I checked it you are right.

If I remember correctly, we lost to OSU, @Michigan, @Indiana, Purdue, and UNLV.

The OSU loss was a crusher, too. #1 in the country, undefeated, everyone feeling good, then we lost at home. I remember watching that game at my grandparent's house and couldn't believe we lost. I was only 9-10 years old at the time and didn't realize there was no such thing as an unbeatable team.

Speaking of UNLV, that 1990-91 team that lost to Duke was the best college team I've ever witnessed in my lifetime. Even though they didn't win it all, they were better than the championship team from the year before.

There were a couple of other Duke teams that came close to that level IMO (the 1992 repeat title team, and the 1999 team that lost to Uconn).

 

[trj]

If I remember correctly, we lost to OSU, @Michigan, @Indiana, Purdue, and UNLV.

The OSU loss was a crusher, too. #1 in the country, undefeated, everyone feeling good, then we lost at home. I remember watching that game at my grandparent's house and couldn't believe we lost. I was only 9-10 years old at the time and didn't realize there was no such thing as an unbeatable team.

Speaking of UNLV, that 1990-91 team that lost to Duke was the best college team I've ever witnessed in my lifetime. Even though they didn't win it all, they were better than the championship team from the year before.

There were a couple of other Duke teams that came close to that level IMO (the 1992 repeat title team, and the 1999 team that lost to Uconn).

We are in the same age group I just remember how good and how deep the Big Ten was from about 86-94. Check out Iowa's depth that year and it seemed like about half the league had that type of depth on a yearly basis. The quality of play was so much better back then than it is now.

Armstrong/Gamble went on to have decent NBA careers.
Marble was 1st Rd. pick.
Horton/Lohaus/Jepsen were either 2nd or 3rd round picks...Lohaus might have been a 1st rounder I can't remember.
Moe/Jones traded off being the first guy off the bench either guy could have been a starter on most teams.

Best teams I ever seen '83 Houston Cougars, '85 Hoyas along with that 90-91 UNLV squad. Funny that none of them won a title the year they were super dominant.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

We are in the same age group I just remember how good and how deep the Big Ten was from about 86-94. Check out Iowa's depth that year and it seemed like about half the league had that type of depth on a yearly basis. The quality of play was so much better back then than it is now.

Armstrong/Gamble went on to have decent NBA careers.
Marble was 1st Rd. pick.
Horton/Lohaus/Jepsen were either 2nd or 3rd round picks...Lohaus might have been a 1st rounder I can't remember.
Moe/Jones traded off being the first guy off the bench either guy could have been a starter on most teams.

Best teams I ever seen '83 Houston Cougars, '85 Hoyas along with that 90-91 UNLV squad. Funny that none of them won a title the year they were super dominant.

Agreed. I think the best teams from the 80's would manhandle most of the best teams of today. Just the fact that even the best players stayed in school for 3-4 years back then I think was key. Great college teams had lots of depth and experience.. I remember it being a big deal when Kenny Anderson left Georgia Tech after his sophomore season. Now with so many players leaving for the NBA so early, I suspect that may impact the depth and quality of play you mentioned.

Regarding best teams - I had forgotten about '85 Georgetown. They are pretty early in my memory, but they seemed pretty dominant. Just goes to show that the best teams don't always win, which IMO is the beauty of sports.

 

[PalmettoHawkFan]

Agreed. I think the best teams from the 80's would manhandle most of the best teams of today. Just the fact that even the best players stayed in school for 3-4 years back then I think was key. Great college teams had lots of depth and experience.. I remember it being a big deal when Kenny Anderson left Georgia Tech after his sophomore season. Now with so many players leaving for the NBA so early, I suspect that may impact the depth and quality of play you mentioned.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT3gmM9whys]YouTube - ‪1987 Iowa basketball - Indiana 1/22 Part 1‬‏[/ame]

watch all 22 -- and I wish the guy who posted this had more 80s game footage to post.

Hair gel gets his butt handed to him, and you see how good both these teams were.

My VHS from Davis and Lute teams are decrepit, but yeah, the teams were better, and I'd argue that the kids were better, too. Unless a kid gets an AAU coach who actually runs a real practice, they just don't develop court sense and an understanding of the team game. I'm grousing, but the lack of HS development is the root cause for why the NBA sucks now....

Anyway...check out my man Big Al. McDs AA coming off the bench and playing very well...the pre-back injury Big Al would put up 18 a night in today's Big Ten.

 

[RocknRollface]

If I remember correctly, we lost to OSU, @Michigan, @Indiana, Purdue, and UNLV.

The OSU loss was a crusher, too. #1 in the country, undefeated, everyone feeling good, then we lost at home. I remember watching that game at my grandparent's house and couldn't believe we lost. I was only 9-10 years old at the time and didn't realize there was no such thing as an unbeatable team.

Speaking of UNLV, that 1990-91 team that lost to Duke was the best college team I've ever witnessed in my lifetime. Even though they didn't win it all, they were better than the championship team from the year before.

There were a couple of other Duke teams that came close to that level IMO (the 1992 repeat title team, and the 1999 team that lost to Uconn).

Starting five I agree its 90 UNLV, that whole team and Larry Johnson in particular, were just a men among boys. I remember thinking how are these guys still in college.

Kentucky had some ridiculously deep talented teams in the mid 90s as well that went close to 10 deep with pros. Id put that squad up against anyone.

I would also put Iowas 87 team up against anyone.

Fab 5 would have been the best had they stayed together a year or two more.