The LSU men’s basketball program celebrates its centennial Saturday, as former players and coaches will flock to the PMAC for an alumni game, fan festivities and 100 years worth of LSU history.”I look at it from the standpoint that I’m lucky,” said LSU coach Trent Johnson. “I’m a basketball junkie, and 100 years is a long time … you talk about guys like Bob Pettit and Shaquille O’Neal.”But if it’s history LSU fans want, they need look no further than this year’s Tigers (16-4, 4-1), who will commemorate the occasion with a 4 p.m. tip-off against Arkansas (13-5, 1-4).The Tigers feature four members of the 2006 Final Four team — senior center Chris Johnson, junior guard Alex Farrer, junior forward Tasmin Mitchell and senior guard Garrett Temple. Mitchell averaged 8 points a game in the Tigers’ five-game run through the NCAA tournament, while Temple gained notoriety for holding Duke shooting guard J.J. Redick to 3-of-18 shooting in LSU’s 64-52 Sweet 16 win against the Blue Devils.”It was a great year three years ago. I hadn’t even really thought about that,” Temple said. “It was a great year, going to the Final Four. Hopefully we can take some of that, learn from what we did and make this run right now.”Temple is part of history simply for donning an LSU jersey. His father, Collis Temple Jr., was the first African-American to play basketball for LSU, while his brother, Collis Temple III, was a member of the Tigers’ 1999 Sweet 16 team.But the Baton Rouge native made his own name in five years. Temple sits No. 4 on LSU’s all-time assists and minutes played lists with 433 and 3,957, respectively.  He also ranks No. 7 in all-time steals with 176, his most recent one sealing LSU’s 79-73 win Wednesday against Tennessee.”LSU has such a rich history in basketball — with three players in the top 50 of the NBA — that just to be mentioned in the same sentence as those guys is a great honor,” Garrett Temple said.LSU fans making the trip to the PMAC may also get to see a bit of big-man history from senior center Chris Johnson. Johnson’s four-block performance Wednesday against the Volunteers gave him 128 career blocks, just two behind Stromile Swift for second on the all-time list. Former Tiger and future Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal holds the record with 412 career rejections.”It’s an honor just to be in a category with those guys, with how much they accomplished here,” Johnson said. “To able to say that you came to this great university and were able to accomplish the same goals as those guys, it’s a big deal.”And players aren’t the only ones making history.Just by accepting the LSU job, Trent Johnson stepped into history as LSU’s first African-American permanent coach of a men’s sport. If that’s not enough, the first-year coach has helped LSU to its best conference start since the Tigers opened 7-0 in 2006 — the Final Four season.”It’s not about me,” Johnson said. “I understand that it’s important, but it’s about LSU.”STARS RE-ALIGN FOR ALUMNI GAMELSU fans looking for some old school would do well to find their seats early Saturday. The LSU Alumni Game will bring many of the program’s biggest legends and most popular names together once again for a 12:30 tip-off at the PMAC. Former greats such as Stanley Roberts, Al Green, Rudy Macklin, Howard Carter and Ronnie Henderson, as well as familiar names like Collis Temple III, Geert Hammink and Josh Maravich will square off for superstar supremacy.SWIFT SUFFERS PERSONAL LOSS Former LSU great and former No. 2 NBA Draft pick Stromile Swift suffered a close family loss recently with the death of his mother. Swift will be unable to make the weekend’s festivities because of NBA scheduling conflicts. Trent Johnson offered his sympathy to the former Tiger.”Our condolences go out to him,” he said.——Contact David Helman at [email protected]