The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs basketball program, nicknamed the Dunkin' Dogs, represents intercollegiate men's basketball at

Louisiana Tech University Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research acti ...

. The program competes in Conference USA in Division I of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

(NCAA) and plays home games at the

Thomas Assembly Center The Samuel M. Thomas Assembly Center is an 8,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Ruston, Louisiana. The arena, named for its benefactor and businessman Samuel M. Thomas, is home to the Division I NCAA Louisiana Tech University Bulldogs (men) and La ...

in Ruston, Louisiana. Talvin Hester is in his first season as the Bulldogs' head coach.

History

Conference affiliations

*1925–1939: Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association *1939–1948:

Louisiana Intercollegiate Conference The Louisiana Intercollegiate Conference (LIC) was an intercollegiate athletic conference that existed from 1939 to 1947, and featured institutions located in the state of Louisiana. The conference sponsored the following sports during its existenc ...

*1948–1971:

Gulf States Conference The Gulf States Conference (GSC) was an intercollegiate athletic football conference that existed from 1948 to 1971. The league had members in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Many of the league's members from Louisiana joined after the Louisi ...

*1971–1987:

Southland Conference The Southland Conference, abbreviated as SLC, is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South Central United States (specifically Texas and Louisiana). It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it ...

*1987–1991:

American South Conference The American South Conference was an NCAA Division I athletic conference that existed from 1987–88 to 1990–91. The charter members were Arkansas State University, Lamar University, Louisiana Tech University, the University of New Orleans, the ...

*1991–2001: Sun Belt Conference *2001–2013:

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, and Texas. Due to mos ...

*2013–present: Conference USA

Championships

Conference regular season championships

Conference tournament championships

Postseason

NCAA Division I Tournament results

The Bulldogs have appeared in the NCAA Division I tournament five times. Their combined record is 4–5.

NCAA Division II Tournament results

The Bulldogs have appeared in the NCAA Division II tournament two times. Their combined record is 2–2.

NIT results

Louisiana Tech has appeared in ten National Invitation Tournaments. Their combined record is 15–10.

Vegas 16 results

The Bulldogs have appeared in one

Vegas 16 The Vegas 16 tournament was a postseason men's college basketball tournament. The tournament was managed by Lexington, Kentucky-based sports marketing firm bd Global. The tournament featured eight teams not selected for the NCAA Men's Division I B ...

. Their record is 0–1.

CIT results

Louisiana Tech has appeared in one CollegeInsider.com Tournament. Their combined record is 1–1.

NAIA tournament results

The Bulldogs have appeared in the NAIA tournament four times. Their combined record is 1–4.

Home venues

Memorial Gymnasium (1952–1982)

In 1952, Memorial Gymnasium was constructed on the

campus in Ruston to serve as the home of the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs basketball team. Today Memorial Gym serves as a practice facility for the basketball team.

Thomas Assembly Center (1982–present)

The Thomas Assembly Center is an 8,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Ruston, Louisiana. The arena, named for its benefactor and businessman Samuel M. Thomas, is home to the Division I NCAA Louisiana Tech University Bulldogs men's basketball team.

Traditions

Dunkin' Dogs

The Dunkin' Dogs nickname emerged during the 1982–83 season led by

Karl Malone Karl Anthony Malone (born July 24, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "the Mailman", he is considered one of the greatest power forwards in NBA history. Malone sp ...

and Willie Simmons making highlight reel dunks. The tradition has continued through time as the current Dunkin' Dogs led by Raheem Appleby, Michale Kyser, and Alex Hamilton have made several dunks featured nationally on ESPN's SportsCenter Top Plays and Fox Sports Live's The 1.

Hoop Troop

Hoop Troop is the official basketball

pep band A pep band is an ensemble of instrumentalists who play at events, usually athletic, with the purpose of entertaining and creating enthusiasm in a crowd. Often members of a pep band are a subset of people from a larger ensemble such as a marchi ...

at Louisiana Tech University. The ''Hoop Troop'' performs at most men's basketball home games and travels to select road basketball games. The band also usually travels to all post-season games played by the Bulldogs, and is known nationally as one of the best basketball bands in college basketball. In the 2005 post-season, the ''Hoop Troop'' was featured in a ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twi ...

's College Edition'' article, "65 Things We Want to See During March Madness" in which states, "30) The Louisiana Tech pep band, a.k.a. the Hoop Troop, the funniest band in the land." The ''Hoop Troop'' was the only basketball band to be listed.

Players

Basketball Hall of Fame

Leon Barmore William Leon Barmore (born June 3, 1944) is a college women's basketball coach best known for his 35-year association with the Louisiana Tech University Lady Techsters. After five years as an assistant coach, he served as head coach from 1982 to ...

, 2003 *

, 2010

Retired numbers

All-Americans

* Jackie Moreland – 1958, 1959, 1960 *Ray Germany – 1959, 1960 * Mike Green – 1971, 1972, 1973 * Mike McConathy – 1976 *

– 1983, 1984, 1985 * Randy White – 1989

Conference Player of the Year

* Jackie Moreland – 1960 * Mike Green – 1973 * Mike McConathy – 1976 *

– 1983 * Randy White – 1988, 1989 *

Ron Ellis Ron is a shortening of the name Ronald. Ron or RON may also refer to: Arts and media * Big Ron (''EastEnders''), a TV character * Ron (''King of Fighters''), a video game character *Ron Douglas, the protagonist in '' Lucky Stiff'' played by Joe ...

– 1992 * Gerrod Henderson – 2000 * Speedy Smith – 2015 * Alex Hamilton – 2016 Conference Freshman of the Year *Antonio Meeking - 2000 (Sun Belt) *Paul Millsap - 2004 (WAC) *Raheem Appleby - 2012 (WAC) *DaQuan Bracey - 2017 (C-USA) *Kenneth Lofton, Jr. - 2021 (C-USA)

Leading scorers

NBA draftees

The Bulldogs have had 14 players selected in the NBA draft, including 4 first round picks. Twice the Bulldogs have had multiple players taken in the same draft year (1985 and 1992).

Other Bulldogs in the NBA

* Erik McCree -

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference, Northwest Division (NBA), ...

* Kenneth Lofton Jr. –

Memphis Grizzlies The Memphis Grizzlies (referred to locally as the Grizz) are an American professional basketball team based in Memphis, Tennessee. The Grizzlies compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference ...

Other Bulldogs overseas

Kyle Gibson Kyle Benjamin Gibson (born October 23, 1987) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Minnesota Twins, Texas Rangers and Philadelphia Phillie ...

(born 1987) -

Hapoel Galil Elyon Hapoel Galil Elyon ( he, הפועל גליל עליון), also known as Hapoel Nofar Energy Galil Elion for sponsorship reasons, is an Israeli basketball club. The team competes in the Israeli Basketball Premier League, the top tier of Israeli b ...

of the Israeli Basketball Premier League * Alex Hamilton (born 1993) - Hapoel Eilat in the Israeli Basketball Premier League

Coaches

Head coaches

Bulldogs in coaching

* Kyle Keller –

Stephen F. Austin Stephen Fuller Austin (November 3, 1793 – December 27, 1836) was an American-born empresario. Known as the "Father of Texas" and the founder of Anglo Texas,Hatch (1999), p. 43. he led the second and, ultimately, the successful colonization ...

References

External links

* {{Conference USA men's basketball navbox