By Jim Kleinpeter
Staff writer/The Times-Picayune
BATON ROUGE -- LSU and Tulane are close to reaching an agreement to meet in men's basketball for the first time in 20 years, LSU and Sugar Bowl officials said.
Sugar Bowl executive director Paul Hoolahan said the teams will meet in next season's Sugar Bowl Classic doubleheader at New Orleans Arena. It would be the first meeting between the programs since 1982, when Tulane beat the Tigers in an NIT game.
"That's accurate," said Hoolahan, when asked if the game was set. "We've literally been discussing it off and on since we revived the classic three years ago."
LSU athletic director Skip Bertman said the details have yet to be ironed out.
"We haven't finalized it yet because Tulane has to return a game, either the same year or the next year," Bertman said. "It's a home game for them, even though they don't play all their games there."
Bertman said an agreement had not been reached on the return game, adding it could be played later in the same season or the following season.
Tulane athletic director Rick Dickson, through Sports Information Director Donna Turner, declined to comment. "We're not ready to say anything about that yet," Turner said.
LSU coach John Brady would not comment, and Tulane coach Shawn Finney could not be reached.
LSU and Tulane have played 202 times since the series began in 1911, with LSU holding a 119-83 edge. The teams played once in the 1975-76 and ‘76-77 seasons, but at least twice in every other season from 1920 to 1980.
The last meeting between the teams was March 12, 1982 when the Green Wave defeated the Tigers 83-72 in a first-round NIT game. LSU had won the 18 previous meetings.
As LSU's baseball coach, Bertman regularly scheduled state schools, and last fall he announced the football team would begin playing one in-state Division I-A school each season for the next eight years. He said Brady approved of the game.
"I think John realizes there's a greater market for LSU-Tulane than LSU-Miami or whoever," Bertman said.
Hoolahan said he is hoping the game will set an attendance record for the Sugar Bowl Classic, which drew about 13,000 two years ago when LSU played Oklahoma State.
He said he knew of no plans beyond the initial agreement.
"We're taking it one step at a time, but I think the doors are open to both parties for continued dialogue," he said
