Top 5 Favorite Players from your Program

[The Derski]

What up gents? Hope you guys are doing well. And this is a great thread Eric. Tough one. As for my favorite players, and not the ones I think are the best, in my time following AZ:

1) Salim Stoudamire--I remember watching him launch 3s from the cactus logo on the old court. Him competing against JJ Redick was a thing of beauty for me. He also clearly didn't give a fuck and was able to get away with it under Lute.

2) A Tie between Sean Elliott and Steve Kerr--with Kerr's dad being assassinated and him, Elliott, and the team pulling together to get AZ's first FF was what set the AZ standard for the next 3 decades. Also, the fact that Elliott came from Cholla really tied the team and program to Tucson.

3) Miles Simon--I think he was a great glue guy to Bibby's leadership. He's what taught me that it's not about the best players, it's about the best team.

4) Tie between Hassan and Iggy--these two for me were the funnest duo to watch. So athletic, loose, and made McKale absolutely scream with their highlights.

5) Derrick Williams--He really brought the program back from Lute to Miller. How he grew while in Tucson, the way he excelled above the rim, and what he did to Duke in 2011 was the only solace I'll probably ever get from 2001.

Honorable Mention: Jason Terry, Damon Stoudamire, Jason Gardner, Richard Jefferson, Kevin Parrom, Solomon Hill, Nic Wise, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, TJ McConnell, Eugene Edgerson, and Josh Pastner.

Also, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Chase Budinger. I dressed up in his jersey and shorts for Halloween one year while he played, and although I'm 7-8 inches shorter than he is, A LOT of drunk girls on 4th Ave mistook me for him and it definitely made my night. You're my boy, Chase!

Dude! I didn’t know if I would ever see you again. Welcome back!!

 

[Nosferatu]

Willie Burton
Voshon Lenard
Trent Tucker
Sam Jacobson
Quincy Lewis

 

[YourFriendGannon]

Wesley Matthews
Lazar Hayward
Markus Howard
Jae Crowder
Travis Diener

To heck with Jimmy Buckets. He's gotten too insane in the membrane even for me.

 

[Yo Tee]

I don't think there is a combined 5 players from UCF and NCA&T combined that I could list here haha

But I can't wait for Tacko to get in the NBA. Last mock I saw had him going to the Grizzlies in the 2nd round. Also, from NCA&T Femi Olujobi transferred to DePaul, would like to see him do well over there.

 

[CatsTopPac]

Dude! I didn’t know if I would ever see you again. Welcome back!!

Thanks man. I'm still in Guatemala and about to finish researching. Then on to writing. I'm dipping out to the jungle in northern Guatemala for a month, then home for Thanksgiving, back to Guatemala before Christmas until March, and then I'm going to make my way for a year through Central and South America to Southern Argentina until I finish writing. Just popped in because it's been a minute.

 

[Cowboyinexile]

1. Bryant Reeves: 25 years ago, but he was dominant as a center
2. John Lucas III: That shot. That shot got us in the final four. I screamed until my ears bled in GIA, but I screamed louder in my apartment watching that one on TV when he sent St. Joes home
3. Desmond Mason: Dude was electric. His hops brought down the house
4. Doug Gottlieb: Dished the ball to Mason (and Atkins, Dove, Sanders, etc). He was the complete floor general
5. Marcus Smart: What might have been. Probably the most talented player to come through Stillwater and the coaches wasted him. Dude had Nash and Brown on the wings-you give a starting 5 of those three, my fat ass and my 5 year old playing post and we have legit final four talent. Dude could have been a transcendent talent in college but nah he gets to spend 2 years playing hero ball because Ford luckboxed the kid. Not bitter at all btw

Honorable mention: Ivan McFarlin: Had a couple of classes with the guy in college. Decent dude-really bright and fun to be around. Some of the basketball players in my time were assholes (looking at you Doug and Brian Montonati) but this dude was cool. Fast forward a couple of years and he was the everyman undersized center in our last final four run. Anyone under 35 will have him on this list because he was a fan favorite 15 years ago. I don't because my era straddles the 00 team and the 04 team but think he deserves mention.

 

[Galway Eagle]

Wesley Matthews
Lazar Hayward
Markus Howard
Jae Crowder
Travis Diener

To heck with Jimmy Buckets. He's gotten too insane in the membrane even for me.

DJO is going to be mad when he sees this.

Lazar Hayward
DJO
Jae Crowder
Jerel Mcneal
Rob Frozena... just kidding it's Jimmy Buckets though Sam or Markus will probably take over that spot after this year.

 

[douggie]

I don't think there is a combined 5 players from UCF and NCA&T combined that I could list here haha

But I can't wait for Tacko to get in the NBA. Last mock I saw had him going to the Grizzlies in the 2nd round. Also, from NCA&T Femi Olujobi transferred to DePaul, would like to see him do well over there.

I remember NC A&T had Al Attles, and James "the bird" Sparrow who was probably the best ever to play for the Aggies, he broke all of Charlie Scott's high school records when he was at Laurinburg Institute. Even Dean Smith invited him to try out for the Olympic team.

 

[YourFriendGannon]

DJO is going to be mad when he sees this.

The way he would dribble so high used to drive me crazy. Overall I'm close to neutral on him and I don't think that's uncommon.

 

[jontaejones]

4. Doug Gottlieb: Dished the ball to Mason (and Atkins, Dove, Sanders, etc). He was the complete floor general

Gottleib was a serious baller. People might not know it because he's such a suit these days, but he could have played for any school. Loved his game.

 

[mr.hockey4242]

Holy shit. This thread has brought out multiple Marquette fans?!?!

I’ve been fighting the good fight solo for years

 

[ericd7633]

Holy shit. This thread has brought out multiple Marquette fans?!?!

I’ve been fighting the good fight solo for years

I noticed that too. Here's to hoping they stick around for the season.

 

[mr.hockey4242]

Due to popular demand...I will finally reveal my rankings. These will be all fairly recent from when we got good again. The 90s aren’t worth noting. And I wasn’t around for the McQuire dynasty.

1. Jae Crowder. Really simple. The most important cog to getting us on a run. MU was the most consistent Big East team during their tenure in the old Big East but struggled to make tourney runs until Jae. That 2012 team was elite. If not for a tough draw with an underseeded Florida and key injuries to Otule and Gardner this team was Final 4 caliber team. The game at WVU when Jae willed us to victory and told Kevin Jones “Daddy wants that POY award” cemented it. Buzz suspended all our other key guys for 1 half each and Jae took over

2.Dwyane Wade. Cmon. The dude had a elite 8 TRIPLE DOUBLE vs UK among everything else he’s done for the program.

3. Jimmy Buckets. He’s turning into a prima dona but you can’t fault his impact at MU. His Junior year emergence was a key to that out of nowhere run they made to a 6 seed after a 2-5 BE start. Dude had 2 buzzer beaters. Then he was the leader on that sweet 16 team and complete shut down other teams top guards in big games.

4. Jerel McNeal. All time leading scorer(until Markus most likely). Guy got buckets. Was part of a historic class. If not for Dom James broken foot, Jerel gets talked about a lot more as the leading scorer of a top 5ish team rather than a second round flame out.

5. Steve Novak. Huge piece of the FF team as a freshman. Put MU on the BE map with one of the programs best performance ever With 41/16 vs Uconn to kick off our BE legacy. One of the best pure shooters basketball has ever seen. Made 96/100 3s once.

Main honorable mentions go to Vander Blue frustrating for 2 years turned BE star with buzzer beaters and an Elite 8 run followed by a maddening decision to leave early and ruin what coulda been a final 4 encore. DJO was a huge piece for 3 years and one of the BE best players. Diener...he’s just done so much at MU/post MU/coaching MU. Lazar Hayward just another leader/stud/model of consistency. Davante Gardner. Couldn’t crack top 300 rankings. Absolute gem to watch. Dominating post player who Coach K said Duke had no answer for as a freshman.

Sam and Markus on their way to cementing themselves in the upper echelon. If they can fully get MU back on the map they will rise. But right now hard to put them ahead of guys who stared on perennially top 15 teams

 

[ericd7633]

Due to popular demand...I will finally reveal my rankings. These will be all fairly recent from when we got good again. The 90s aren’t worth noting. And I wasn’t around for the McQuire dynasty.

1. Jae Crowder. Really simple. The most important cog to getting us on a run. MU was the most consistent Big East team during their tenure in the old Big East but struggled to make tourney runs until Jae. That 2012 team was elite. If not for a tough draw with an underseeded Florida and key injuries to Otule and Gardner this team was Final 4 caliber team. The game at WVU when Jae willed us to victory and told Kevin Jones “Daddy wants that POY award” cemented it. Buzz suspended all our other key guys for 1 half each and Jae took over

2.Dwyane Wade. Cmon. The dude had a elite 8 TRIPLE DOUBLE vs UK among everything else he’s done for the program.

3. Jimmy Buckets. He’s turning into a prima dona but you can’t fault his impact at MU. His Junior year emergence was a key to that out of nowhere run they made to a 6 seed after a 2-5 BE start. Dude had 2 buzzer beaters. Then he was the leader on that sweet 16 team and complete shut down other teams top guards in big games.

4. Jerel McNeal. All time leading scorer(until Markus most likely). Guy got buckets. Was part of a historic class. If not for Dom James broken foot, Jerel gets talked about a lot more as the leading scorer of a top 5ish team rather than a second round flame out.

5. Steve Novak. Huge piece of the FF team as a freshman. Put MU on the BE map with one of the programs best performance ever With 41/16 vs Uconn to kick off our BE legacy. One of the best pure shooters basketball has ever seen. Made 96/100 3s once.

Main honorable mentions go to Vander Blue frustrating for 2 years turned BE star with buzzer beaters and an Elite 8 run followed by a maddening decision to leave early and ruin what coulda been a final 4 encore. DJO was a huge piece for 3 years and one of the BE best players. Diener...he’s just done so much at MU/post MU/coaching MU. Lazar Hayward just another leader/stud/model of consistency. Davante Gardner. Couldn’t crack top 300 rankings. Absolute gem to watch. Dominating post player who Coach K said Duke had no answer for as a freshman.

Sam and Markus on their way to cementing themselves in the upper echelon. If they can fully get MU back on the map they will rise. But right now hard to put them ahead of guys who stared on perennially top 15 teams

Who was the little PG from about a decade ago or so? He ended up getting hurt and missed the tournament the one year. I thought that was a FF caliber team with him. It was when Crean was still there.

 

[Galway Eagle]

Who was the little PG from about a decade ago or so? He ended up getting hurt and missed the tournament the one year. I thought that was a FF caliber team with him. It was when Crean was still there.

I believe you're referring to Dominic James in 2008-2009 we were 23-4 ranked 8 and ended up closing the season losing 4 straight then being ousted in the round of 32.

 

[ericd7633]

I believe you're referring to Dominic James in 2008-2009 we were 23-4 ranked 8 and ended up closing the season losing 4 straight then being ousted in the round of 32.

Yep. That was the guy. That was such a bummer of an injury.

 

[mr.hockey4242]

Who was the little PG from about a decade ago or so? He ended up getting hurt and missed the tournament the one year. I thought that was a FF caliber team with him. It was when Crean was still there.

Yup as stated that was James. But Buzz was actually coach it was his first year.

Team was one of the two best teams in the BE(BE got 3 1 seeds that year) but once James as the floor general broke his foot they collapsed. Almost beat 3 seed Mizzou but Lazar stepped over the line on the in bounds.

Stacked team. McNeal, Matthews, James as Seniors. Hayward as Junior and even Butler was an unknown Sophmore.

The senior trio had lots of poor luck for being such a legendary class. Lost a 2nd round thriller to 3 seed Stanford the year prior simply cuz the Lopez Twins were too big for our small lineups. Crean then bailed.

 

[Galway Eagle]

Due to popular demand...I will finally reveal my rankings. These will be all fairly recent from when we got good again. The 90s aren’t worth noting. And I wasn’t around for the McQuire dynasty.

Surprised you dont have any love for those 90s guys even for special mentions. Tony smith, Amal Mccaskil, Chris Crawford, Jim Mccilvaine?

 

[YourFriendGannon]

I was born in the mid '80s and didn't pay attention to college sports until I was college age. I have a bit of familiarity with who you mentioned but no significant affinity ever.

 

[YourFriendGannon]

Incidentally I attended 2 high schools and both produced a player for Marquette within a year of my class, one far more prominent than the other. One of them was a walk on as a college senior who barely played and I didn't find this out until several years after the fact.