The year was 1984.
Ronald Reagan was in his third year as President of the United States, Michael Jackson’s hair caught on fire filming a Pepsi commercial and LSU Football Coach Jerry Stovall was fired after the Tigers went 4-7 in his fourth season.
The LSU men’s basketball team started the season 8-1, with their only loss to then-No. 6 Houston. The Tigers were coming off a win over No. 11 Georgia at Stegeman Coliseum, and had just two days after that win before they would return to the Assembly Center (this was prior to its renaming as the Pete Maravich Assembly Center) on Jan. 7 to face No. 2 Kentucky.
Then-LSU coach Dale Brown was in his 12th season leading the Tigers, and was coming off two disappointing seasons in which LSU was bounced from the National Invitational Tournament in the first round.
But the 1983-84 season gave Tiger fans reason to believe it would be much better than the previous two.
LSU was returning All-Southeastern Conference sophomore guard Jerry Reynold and senior forward Leonard Mitchell along with sophomore guard Derrick Taylor.
And the season started about as well as any fan could’ve hoped, as the Tigers were ranked No. 9 heading into the Kentucky game.
While the game itself was not one Tiger fans will remember happily (The Wildcats would win comfortably by 16) or at all, it does have some significance, especially for the 2018-19 season.
That LSU-Kentucky matchup was the last home game in which the Tigers and their opponent were ranked inside the AP top-15.
Until this Saturday, Feb. 23, when No. 13 LSU hosts No. 5 Tennessee.
It certainly has been a long time coming, and while there have been successful seasons between then and now, the Tigers haven’t had much national relevancy on the hardwood since the 2005-06 Final Four season.
Until now. Coming into LSU coach Will Wade’s second season, the Tigers made it into the preseason AP top-25, albeit at No. 25. This was only the second time since the 2006-07 season that LSU was ranked in the preseason, the other being the 2015-16 season when LSU landed future NBA Draft No. 1 pick Ben Simmons.
LSU returned sophomore guard Tremont Waters, junior guard Skylar Mays, and brought in a haul of talented freshman including forward Naz Reid, guard Ja’Vonte Smart and forward Emmitt Williams.
While the Tigers were expected to have a successful season, not many could have predicted what has happened to this point.
LSU started conference play 9-1, including wins over No. 18 Ole Miss, Mississippi State and on the road at Auburn.
But the signature victory of the season so far was the buzzer-beating victory over then No. 5 Kentucky in Rupp Arena.
That win catapulted LSU to No. 13, setting up the top-15 matchup. Tennessee, who have been a top-5 team since mid-December and were No. 1 for four weeks, have a bevy of veteran leadership. The Volunteers are led by senior guard Admiral Schofield, junior forward Grant Williams and junior guard Jordan Bone.
The Tigers are quite the opposite, relying on underclassmen minus Mays and senior forward Kavell Bigby-Williams. And while that can be a detriment to a team, LSU will be at home, in front of a sold-out PMAC crowd that has been louder this season than it’s been in a long time.