Why LSU and not the obvious blue-blood programs

Shaq was born in Newark, NJ, but his family moved to San Antonio, Texas when his stepfather Phillip Harrison was stationed at Fort Sam Houston (US Army). Shaq attended Robert G. Cole High School in San Antonio for his junior and senior years, won a state championship as a senior, and was the most-recruited big man in the country in 1989.

He visited North Carolina, North Carolina State, Illinois, and LSU. He chose LSU largely because of head coach Dale Brown — who Shaq had first met when he was 13 years old at a basketball clinic in Wildflecken, Germany (where Phillip Harrison was previously stationed). Brown told Shaq’s mother in 1989 that he’d never recruited a player before they were even in 8th grade and wouldn’t pretend the LSU letter wasn’t unusual. Shaq committed in November 1988 — the day after the famous SI cover photo of him on the cover.

Three years of dominance, no Final Four

Shaq played three seasons at LSU and finished with 1,941 career points and 1,217 career rebounds — the LSU all-time record for both. He was the SEC Player of the Year as a sophomore (1990-91) and junior (1991-92), the John Wooden Award winner in 1991, and the AP National Player of the Year in 1991. He also won the 1991 Adolph Rupp Trophy.

But LSU couldn’t get past the second round of the NCAA Tournament in any of Shaq’s three seasons. In 1990 LSU lost to Georgia Tech in the second round; in 1991 they lost to Connecticut in the second round; in 1992 they lost to Indiana in the second round. The reasons were varied — Shaq’s supporting cast was thin, he played out of position frequently, and the SEC’s competitive pressure on big men made the postseason matchups difficult.

LSU after Shaq

LSU retired Shaq’s #33 jersey in February 2000. The Pete Maravich Assembly Center (LSU’s basketball arena) is widely called ‘The PMAC’ — Shaq has campaigned periodically for the school to rename one of the arena’s plazas after him, joking that ‘Pistol Pete had his time.’ The school did name the LSU basketball practice facility the Shaquille O’Neal Practice Facility in 2009.

Shaq earned his college degree from LSU in December 2000 — eight years after leaving for the NBA — and then earned his MBA from the University of Phoenix in 2005. He earned his doctorate of education in human resources from Barry University in 2012. He has occasionally taught classes at LSU’s business school as a guest lecturer and was inducted into the LSU Hall of Fame in 2013.

Background facts cross-referenced with the Wikipedia article on Shaquille O'Neal and Pro-Football-Reference / Basketball-Reference public records.