Keep your Hoop 🏀 Dreamz alive for the Tournament!!

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March 21, 2019 5 min read

College Basketball’s Greatest teams

It’s that time of the year! Basketball fans across the country have impatiently waited with their completed brackets in-hand for the start of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament. The drama, excitement and energy for the tourney has entertained generations of hoops lovers since 1939.

The event is commonly referred to as March Madness due to its hectic nature and the month it’s held. A different city holds the event annually with Minnesota playing host this year. A pool of 64 teams compete in a ‘win and advance’ scenario with higher seeded programs having an “easier” road to the final rounds than lower ranked fringe teams. Don’t get it twisted, success is guaranteed for no one because lower seeded teams historically upset an elite squad at some point of the tournament every year.

Photo via CNBC

We’re proud to deliver college basketball fans a unique limited edition March Madness inspired sneaker daypack created with the tournament’s greatest players in mind. Our original design time stamps this year’s tourney with an embroidered patch with the host city’s name, MLPS 2019 (aka Minneapolis/ St. Paul, Minnesota).

Available in our Black Camo Rolltop Sneaker Daypack http://bit.ly/BCRolltop

Triple Black Sneaker Daypack http://bit.ly/TBDaypack

Black Camo Sneaker Daypack http://bit.ly/BCDaypack

Available for PREORDER soon

We want to help build your knowledge about March Madness so you feel like a true winner with your new Hoop Dreamz Sneaker Daypack! If you’re a baller with fantasies of greatness then you have Hoop Dreamz. Simply playing D1 basketball is considered a Hoop Dream for many; but others have greater aspirations and dream of being champions. Countless legendary players have battled through the NCAA D1 Men’s Basketball Tournament in hopes of fulfilling their Hoop Dreamz, but achieving those dreamz isn’t guaranteed…

We’ve compiled a brief history lesson on three of the NCAA’s greatest teams lead by super-stars that were chasing their Hoop Dreamz to various degrees of success. Our focus is on the tournament’s rich lineage so we’re kickin’ it with only old school players! Check out our three favorite Hoop Dreamz journeys of all-time below!

Lew Alcindor & the 67’ UCLA Bruins

Photo via Getty images

With 10 championships in 13 years from 1963-75 under their belt, the UCLA Bruins of this era are widely considered the greatest dynasty in basketball history. Coached by the fabled John Wooden the Bruins wrote the textbook of championship success with Wooden’s methods still being used today. On the court three main players lead UCLA to their respective championships: Gail Goodrich lead the charge for the ’64 & ’65 Bruins and Bill Walton for the ’72 & ’73 boys in baby blue. But one man by the name of Lew Alcindor (later Kareem Abdul Jabbar) not only changed UCLA but changed all of basketball.

Photo via Getty images

Alcindor transcended college basketball with enough skill to fill a trillion Grailz Bags. His dominance was so great that the NCAA changed the rules in an effort to nerf Lew (by banning the slam dunk). As a sophomore for UCLA (back in the day freshmen couldn’t play on varsity) Alcindor made his presence felt to the tune of 29 points per-game and 15 rebounds per-game en route to his first of three championships with the Bruins. Alcindor is the anthesis of NCAA Basketball greatness. Lew’s Hoop Dreamz propelled him to be known as the greatest college player of all time. Think of Lew Alcindor’s legacy as the best realization of a hoop dream ever - 10/10.

Larry Johnson & the 89’ UNLV Runnin’ Rebels

Photo via Yard Barker.com

UNLV’s dominance was short lived but epic none the less. After years of irrelevance in college hoops Coach Jerry Tarkanian quickly turned everything around and cultivated a championship caliber team.The Runnin’ Rebels of Las Vegas were lead by mega-star Larry Johnson (a man amongst boys) and his co-stars Stacey Augmond & Greg Anthony. The team was really good but Larry was the engine and made everything go. Johnson’s power and agility allowed him to run the break like a gazelle and dunk with the veracity of a grizzly bear. Over a five year period the Rebels were one of the hottest programs in the nation with two Final Four appearances and one National Championship. Their 1990 victory over Duke in the Championship Game was one of the most lopsided in history with UNLV laying a whippin’ to the tune of 103-73 (the largest margin of victory in D1 history)!

Photo via Las Vegas Review Journal

Many question the purity of Las Vegas’s success as a cloud of corruption lingered around the team during the glory years, but there’s no denying their greatness. Johnson’s Rebels showed that Hoop Dreamz can be short lived if a player takes their foot off the gas pedal. Larry got all the way to the top once, but got distracted from his dreams and ended up missing the opportunity to leave the NCAA as a champion.

The Fab-5 & The 93’ University Of Michigan Wolverines

Photo via Business Insider

The Fab Five changed the course of college hoops forever when they took the court for the first time (much like we changed the game with our sneaker bags). No one believed a successful team could be lead by five freshmen, but the young Wolverines shocked the world by dominating the competition with swagger and unrivaled bravado. Things had come a long way for freshmen since the ’60s era UCLA Bruins, but no school in the country leaned on true freshmen before Michigan. Now, starting 4-5 freshmen is common practice throughout the NCAA.

Photo via Sole Collector

Jalen Rose brought the soundbites while Chris Webber and Juwan Howard taught sermons in the post. Webber was the unquestionably the best player but when combined with Howard, Rose, Jackson and King they became the most talented team in the nation. The legend surrounding the Fab-5 ultimately ended up surpassing the team’s on-court success. The Wolverines reached the Final Four in the ’92 & ’93 season, but both appearances were officially vacated by the NCAA. During their ’93 run Michigan came within minutes of winning their second championship since ’89 against North Carolina, but misfortune struck again as Chris Webber called a timeout with none remaining - the act resulted in a technical foul and loss of possession that doomed the Wolverines! Webber rebounded mightily in the NBA, but his time in Ann Arbor was ultimately bitter sweet. C-Webb’s relationship with boosters started the investigation that vacated the team’s accolades won in the early ‘90s, and his mental lapse at the end of the UNC game costed the university a National Championship. Both were tough breaks in retrospect, yet no one has ever questioned the Fab-5 lead Wolverines’s all-time greatness. They transcended sport and influenced an entire generation with their relatable rawness, attitude, baggy shorts and black socks; but they couldn’t realize their Hoop Dreamz.

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