Status Note

1981 was a seminal year for college basketball in the northeastern part of the United States. It was the first year that the Big East, a league that had gotten a partial start in 1980, played a full double-round robin conference schedule. It was also a seminal year for Boston College. A program that had […]

The Seattle SuperSonics (today’s Oklahoma City Thunder) didn’t have much of a history coming into 1978. Since their founding a decade earlier, the  Sonics had made the playoffs just twice. They were known more for the fame of their coach—Celtic legend Bill Russell was on the sidelines for those postseason trips of 1975-76 but was […]

The 1978 Denver Nuggets were coming off a year where they had proved they belonged. One of several franchises from the old American Basketball Association (ABA) that merged with the NBA for 1977, the Nuggets had won a division title and produced one of the league’s electric stars in David Thompson. 1978 produced more excitement—winning […]

The 1978 Portland Trail Blazers were on top of the world. They were coming off a surprise championship run in 1977 and validating that run by dominating most of the ’78 regular season. Then, in the blink of an eye, the cruelty of sports showed its hand in a dramatic way. An injury not only […]