11. Lancaster Gordon
A 6’3 guard from Jackson, Mississippi, Gordon made his way to Louisville in 1980 to play for Crum, arriving right after the Cardinals had just cut down the nets for the program’s first national championship. While he would not feature on a championship-winning team, Gordon would play a major role in the team’s success in the coming years.
Denny Crum was truly a Hall of Famer. He was kind, had a great sense of humor but make no mistake about it, he was a competitor who wanted to win every game. My heart goes out to Susan and his family and friends. We lost another legend in our state today. Rest in peace, my friend pic.twitter.com/Ncmib5EZQa
— John Calipari (@UKCoachCalipari) May 9, 2023
Gordon was already an important figure as a freshman and was a full-time starter for the final three seasons at Louisville. An impressive ball handler and distributor, Gordon also averaged double figures in each of those last three seasons, including 14.7 points in his senior season. Most importantly, he played in a dozen NCAA Tournament games and helped lead the Cardinals to the Final Four in both 1982 and 1983, including multiple 20+ point performances on the sport’s biggest stage.
The 8th overall pick of the 1984 NBA Draft, Gordon played sparingly the next four seasons with the Los Angeles Clippers and spent time with a few other teams in his professional career. He was an All-Regional player during those Tournament runs and remains among the program’s all-time leaders in field goals and minutes played. It’s a shame that Gordon never got his shot to cut down the nets, but he was a major contributor for some successful Louisville teams.