The university years of Shaquille O’Neal at LSU were just as mind-blowing as one would have imagined them to be. Although the Big Man faced his fair share of troubles. The four-time NBA champion joined Louisana State University in 1989. His displays as a high school senior year put several universities on notice. It enabled him to earn the plaudits from multiple colleges throughout the nation.
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As a sublime prospect, O’Neal was the subject of recruitment tactics from different universities. As per his book Shaq Uncut, one such strategy was derived by future LSU head coach Dale Brown. Brown instilled the responsibility of bringing Diesel to the university’s campus in one of his players named Vernel Singleton. The events that unfolded that night led to O’Neal choosing LSU.
It consisted of having the floodlights shine on him and being the recipient of admiration from over 20000+ fans who chanted for him to join the university. However, the pivotal factor to O’Neal was the women he came across that evening. Ultimately, it prompted him to join Lousiana State University in 1989.
Shaquille O’Neal was once found out for having a fake ‘car phone’
The hype surrounding the former NBA MVP resonated with him to behave in a similar manner. In ‘Shaq Uncut’, O’Neal detailed how he felt the impulse to exhibit the persona of a star. So much so that he pretended to be much more financially stable than he really was.
One such instance involved him feigning to be in possession of a ‘car phone’. In fact, he continued doing so until he was found out by someone, who informed his LSU supervisor, Bo. He was then forced to reveal that it was fake, and implored Bo to ‘not tell the ladies’.
In his book, Shaquille O’Neal said:
“Even though I didn’t have any money, I wanted people on campus to think I did. I was The Man and I had to act the part, so I took a phone from my dorm room and I put a phony wire underneath my Bronco and pretended I had a car phone. I used to drive around pretending to talk to everybody on it. Of course, someone saw me with it and called Bo, and he came down and I had to show him it was phony. “Don’t tell the ladies,” I told Bo, giving him a wink. He promised he wouldn’t.”
O’Neal outlined how he wanted to display that he was a successful basketball star, despite not being comfortable from a financial standpoint. As the biggest high school prospect since perhaps Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Even for the Los Angeles Lakers great, this was a bit too much!
O’Neal’s high school tenure
Shaquille O’Neal was a high school phenom, to put it mildly. At 16, he was a staggering 6’10. It paved the way for his school where he dominated the basketball scene, guiding his team to an impeccable ’68-1′ record in two years.
Thereby helping them clinch the state championship. in his senior year. Shaq in fact tallied 791 rebounds during his senior year in 1989, which remains a state record to this day. Given the state of sports in American schools right now, and the platform to develop quite bleak, it’s unlikely we see a talent as dominant as Shaq again.
