LSU's basketball team may be pretty mediocre this season (2-4 in the SEC), but there was a time when they were one of the most exciting college basketball teams in the entire country.

During the Dale Brown era LSU appeared in two Final Fours in the early 80s, but it may have been Brown's 1989-1990 team that was the most exciting squad, albeit underachieving.

Replete with NBA players Chris Jackson, Stanley Roberts and, oh yeah, Shaquille O'Neal, the Tigers entered the season ranked #2 in the nation, but faied to play through to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament as a #5 seed. You could argue they are one of the most talented teams nobody really remembers.

Passed along by SB Nation's "And the Valley Shook," this unearthed 1990 video of the Tigers taking on the UNLV Runnin' Rebels - yes that incredible Runnin' Rebels squad - takes us back to a time when coaches coached less and players scored more. This was also the year that Loyola Marymount scored 124 points a game, a record that may stand forever.

The Tigers prevailed in this wild 107-105 game, for the record, and were led by Jackson who dropped 35.

It seems like eons ago, but there was a time when Boston College had a pretty good basketball team. Better yet, they had an electric scorer who left his mark on the college game as one of the best offensive players of his time.

Troy Bell, the Eagles all time leading scorer, was a joy to watch. Playing at a time when BC was finalizing arrangements to move to the ACC, Bell left an indelible mark on Big East basketball. He was a two-time conference player of the year, beating that guy Carmelo Anthony for the honor during his senior season. Additionally, he was a twice named to the All-American team.

Bell scored with alacrity and ease, totaling 2632 points in his career. He wasn't the most efficient player on offense, but his time was well before pace adjusted statistics were in vogue; there were no stat geeks to tell fans he wasn't as spectacular as many thought, no contrarian to second-guess his offensive output.

Regardless, Bell was selected as a late lottery pick in 2003 by the Boston Celtics, then immediately shipped to Memphis. For an undersized guard with a limited skill set the NBA, let alone a Hubie Brown coached Grizzlies team ("He never plays rookies," Bell said) was not the place for Bell. He logged a total of 34 minutes in The League, and quickly headed overseas to try and rectify his career despite nagging knee injuries that would be prevent him from ever playing at full strength.

For the past nine years, Bell has bounced around European professional leagues and US minor leagues. He's done OK for himself, but his real focus is currently on developing a music career.

Apparently, Bell thinks his smooth basketball game can lend itself nicely to a smooth R&B game. Keith Sweat, Ne-Yo, I don't know, name your favorite sensual singer you turn on when alone with a lady, Bell wants to make his way into your bedroom and he also wants you to know that he's adept at rolling around plush king beds with women.

Bell reached out to me after seeing the first version of this article. I asked him a bunch of questions from hoops to his harmony:

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There are a lot of stories about crestfallen athletes who lose their way to drugs. It's been told many times with various endings.

But former Boston College and Fresno State guard Chris Herren's is a little different. Both in that he survived, and also because he's not afraid to divulge all the gory details if it means preventing the next precocious young talent from making the same mistakes.

As part of ESPN Films ongoing series, "Unguarded' is a can't miss documentary that airs Tuesday at 8pm EST. I've never played the role of movie critic, but being able to screen the film nearly a week before it airs to the public - amongst those closest to Chris and his family - was a real treat.

Of the few recent films from the Worldwide Leader set against the backdrop of college basketball (Len Bias, The Fab Five, Loyola Marymount), this one resonates the strongest because it's incredibly raw and honest.

A local legend from Fall River, Massachusetts, Herren was arguably the greatest basketball talent from the Bay State since Patrick Ewing. He was a gritty hard-nosed 1994 McDonalds All-American guard who drank a lot in high school, did a lot of drugs in college, and did a lot more drugs for most of his short NBA career, all which set into a motion years of painful substance abuse.

Now he's more than three years sober, and some would consider it a miracle.

You're hooked on "Unguarded" from start to finish primarily because it isn't narrated. Instead, it's told by Herren himself, through a series of speaking engagements from the past year and those who stood by him through his ups and downs. It also features a number of family interviews from a local 1999 documentary on Chris that was never published - "collaborators from another dimension," as director Jonathan Hock describes.

Even if you have an in-depth knowledge of Herren's story, there's still plenty to be gleaned from the film. From his close relationship with former Fresno State head coach Jerry Tarkanian, to the mind numbing anecdotes about the times Herren was high the day of and sometimes during some of his biggest and best games. There's so many layers to unfold, and that's why Hock decided to pursue the project.

Currently, Herren tours the country telling his story, and teaches basketball to kids throughout Massachusetts and Rhode Island. His recovery has many parallels with Billy Edelin's. That alone drew me to the film, but it will absolutely engage anyone who remembers Herren's arc as it happened or just find fascination in tragedy-to-triumph theater.

Additional Information

ESPN Films "Unguarded" Preview | Hoop Dreams with Chris Herren 

Basketball Junkie by Bill Reynolds | Fall River Dreams by Bill Reynolds

He had a memorable college career - highlighted by the above 1990 NCAA Tournament game winning jumper - followed up by a forgettable NBA career. Now 21 years since he was relevant, former UConn Husky guard Tate George has resurfaced.

On Friday it was announced that George was arrested as the head of an alleged Ponzi scheme, one that forced the hand of naive investors to risk approximately $2 million in real estate projects in a handful of states. Instead of seeking to provide clients with a nice ROI, George "personally guaranteed" the return of invested money plus interest while instead pocketing the money to cover personal expenses and pay off existing investors.

Kind of like the movie "Glengarry Glen Ross," only without the superb sales force cast.

Because of my age, George has somehow become one of my most revered college basketball players ever. That's weird, right? But at the age of 5, my undeveloped brain had just started to build an understanding of how frieken cool March Madness was, and George delivered my first true memory and thrilling feeling of watching a buzzer beater live on television.

Despite this arrest, even if George is rotting away in a federal penitentiary five years from now I'll still remember him almost solely for his college career and not his botched attempt at cheating investors out of their hard earned money.