Celebrating 30 years of Hokie domination by Louisville basketball.
It has quietly become one of the nation’s most one-sided series in all of college basketball. The Louisville basketball program has not fallen to Virginia Tech since February 13, 1991.
With this year’s second installment of the overall series being postponed due to COVID-19, the Cards have notched the almighty 3-decade mark with no losses to the Hokies (the game was scheduled for 2/13/21, the 30-year anni).
Now for many of us, when we say “30-year stretch”, it’s certainly eyebrow-raising. However, I’m not convinced that most of us can’t grasp the longevity of that length of time. Furthermore, I’m here to help.
Join me as a travel back in time to February, 1991. No DeLorean necessary in this case.
Read now: Dana Evans goes out in style for Louisville women’s basketball
The outcomes since February 13, 1991
- 1/28/1992 – W, 78-68
- 3/7/1992 -W, 79-59
- 1/28/1993 – W, 76-65
- 1/13/1994 – W, 95-76
- 1/27/1994 – W, 74-63
- 3/12/1994 – W, 76-67
- 1/12/1995 – W, 62-61
- 1/26/1995 – W, 78-74
- 1/13/2015 – W, 78-63
- 1/27/2016 – W, 91-83
- 2/18/2017 – W, 94-90
- 1/13/2018 – W, 94-86
- 2/24/2018 – W, 75-68
- 2/4/2019 – W, 72-64
- 3/1/2020 – W, 68-52
- 1/6/2021 – W, 73-71
A perspective on Louisville basketball’s domination
Coach Denny Crum was amidst his 20th year, less than stellar as it may have been. Louisville was led by senior point guard and all-time assists leader LaBradford Smith (16.6 ppg, 4.9 apg). The Cards were still 19 years away from leaving Freedom Hall. Jerry Abramson was mayor of the 502. Howard Schnellenberger had just led Louisville to a 34-7 Fiesta Bowl thrashing of Alabama. But let’s look at the bigger picture to really capture this magnificent run.
Mike Krzyzewski was 44 years old and Duke had not yet cut down the nets. Randy Moss was a freshman in high school. Our President was George Bush Sr. The Pope was John Paul II.
Bobby Knight, Larry O’Brien, Dave Cowens, and Tiny Archibald were inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame. Charles Barkley was named All-Star Game MVP. Roger Clemens signed with the Boston Red Sox. The Big East Football Conference formed.
The New York Giants had just handed the Buffalo Bills their first of four Super Bowl losses. Pete Rose was just banished from baseball. Pablo Escobar was a fugitive at-large. Dr. Jack Kevorkian was helping people kill themselves.
What was was happening 30 years ago?
Haiti’s first President Jean-Baptiste Aristide was sworn in. Terry Norris defeated Sugar Ray Leonard. Lithuania voted for independence from the USSR.
In pop culture, everyone was jamming “Gonna Make You Sweat” by C & C Music Factory. Master P released his debut album “Get Away Clean”. Gamers were playing the arcade game “F1: Exhaust Note”. The most popular tv show was “Eggshells”.
Louisville guard David Johnson was still 10 years and 13 days away from being born. Paulette O’Neal was 7 months pregnant with her son Russ Smith. The first-ever “Thunder Over Louisville” was in the works.
February 13, 1991 was a Wednesday. The biggest headline that day was the US bombing Iraq shelters, killing hundreds. The nation was on pins and needles for the Valentine’s Day release of “Silence of the Lambs”. And somewhere submerged in the news clips was Virginia Tech’s victory over Louisville. Probably because nobody cared, and rightfully so – until now.
