Time Out!
You know you're getting old when your childhood icons are retiring. The last one that hit me was Barry Larkin. And now? Happy trails, C-Webb.
For those of us who watched college hoops in the early 90's, that Fab Five team was so polarizing - you either revered them or your despised them. Regardless of how you felt about them, you knew that they changed the face of college basketball. As for me? I was a fan. Never liked Duke or North Carolina, and rooted for the Fab Five to win in both championship games (though I did root against them in the Final Four, against the Herb Jones-led 4-seed Cincy Bearcats who also shocked a lot of people in making a deep run for Huggie).
C-Webb couldn't make it back from a gimpy knee, and rides off into the sunset. As recently as 2006, he averaged 20 and 10 for the season (playing in 75 games), though how he did it was very different from when he first came into the league. More interestingly, he improved his free throw shooting over the course of his career from 50% when he came into the league (shockingly bad for a decent shooter) to a respectable 79% in 2005. Perhaps Shaun Pruitt has some hope at the line down the road.
Even though he wasn't the best talker in that group (a distinction that goes to Jalen Rose), C-Webb was probably the most cerebral. Of the NBA athletes in the public eye, Charles Barkley would make the most interesting and entertaining politician, MJ would probably be the most electable, but C-Webb may be the one who would have the most societal impact.
I suppose that this makes Shaq's resurgence since the his trade to the Suns all the more remarkable. For someone his size to still be running around at the age of 36, scoring 15 points and grabbing 12 boards a game, and still blocking over a shot a game, after16th years as a pro is pretty impressive. But his time will come too. And I'm sure that I'll think back fondly when it does.
-Chairman
For those of us who watched college hoops in the early 90's, that Fab Five team was so polarizing - you either revered them or your despised them. Regardless of how you felt about them, you knew that they changed the face of college basketball. As for me? I was a fan. Never liked Duke or North Carolina, and rooted for the Fab Five to win in both championship games (though I did root against them in the Final Four, against the Herb Jones-led 4-seed Cincy Bearcats who also shocked a lot of people in making a deep run for Huggie).
C-Webb couldn't make it back from a gimpy knee, and rides off into the sunset. As recently as 2006, he averaged 20 and 10 for the season (playing in 75 games), though how he did it was very different from when he first came into the league. More interestingly, he improved his free throw shooting over the course of his career from 50% when he came into the league (shockingly bad for a decent shooter) to a respectable 79% in 2005. Perhaps Shaun Pruitt has some hope at the line down the road.
Even though he wasn't the best talker in that group (a distinction that goes to Jalen Rose), C-Webb was probably the most cerebral. Of the NBA athletes in the public eye, Charles Barkley would make the most interesting and entertaining politician, MJ would probably be the most electable, but C-Webb may be the one who would have the most societal impact.
I suppose that this makes Shaq's resurgence since the his trade to the Suns all the more remarkable. For someone his size to still be running around at the age of 36, scoring 15 points and grabbing 12 boards a game, and still blocking over a shot a game, after16th years as a pro is pretty impressive. But his time will come too. And I'm sure that I'll think back fondly when it does.
-Chairman
2 comments:
Yeah, it is weird seeing athletes you remember as college freshmen begin retiring after full pro careers.
Speaking of the Fab Five, I was a hater. At the time I was living in Ohio and was of course pulling for the Buckeyes. If I remember correctly, that year Cincy made the Final Four they also had Nick Van Exel. Also, Ohio State had beaten Michigan twice during the regular season, but lost to them in the Elite Eight. That loss was especially tough on me when I saw that Michigan got a cupcake game with Cincy in the Final Four and essentially a free pass to the championship game. It could have been Ohio State in that championship game... coulda would shoulda...
I'm just shooting from the hip here, but let's see how well I can remember that Buckeye team. Their star was Jimmy "JJ" Jackson, and Laurence Funderburke was the big man. They also had Jamal Brown and Chris Jent. At point guard they had a guy named Mark Baker, whose nickname was "Shake 'n Bake." And who was their head coach? Randy Ayers.
At least that's how I remember it. Didn't both to Google it. Although, while I'm rambling about that time period of the early 90's, I also remember going up the street in the summertime to play 1-on-1 basketball at a friend's driveway (his driveway was flat with a hoop, but my driveway was a hill). In any case, we had a lot of epic battles, always playing to 100 (2s and 3s, no make it take it rule). It seemed like all of those games came down to the final few possessions. I can still recall the feeling of playing defense while trailing 99-98. There was no margin for error... every dribble, every fake, every pivot mattered. You needed the steal or the rebound... and then you'd have your chance to finish.
Of course, those games weren't usually neck and neck throughout. We'd both go on runs. Whenever my buddy started to get on a roll, he'd bark about himself being, "The Shaq Attack." As for me, I'm almost ashamed to say, my catch phrase was, "It's JJ time!"
As far as Cincy goes, that team had a juco transfer Van Exel at the 2. He didn't really blossom until the following season, when he just tore up the Great Midwest (which later became Conference USA). The other NBA player on that team was Corie Blount who actually played w/ the Bulls for a while. But Herb Jones was the senior leader, who scored a ton and rebounded like crazy, despite being outsized (like 6'3" or something).
I also recall that Ohio St. team fondly. Got to see them on TV a lot. Was a huge Jimmy Jackson fan. I liked Ohio St. more than Michigan, but definitely got caught up in the Fab Five. The best player was C-Webb, for sure. But to be honest, my favorite player on that team was Jalen Rose. Loved the tall, tough, inner-city point guard whose mouth never stopped moving.
I think that Indiana also made the Final Four that year, behind Calbert Cheaney. Those were some good times for the Big Ten in hoops. Not so much for the Illini, but that was 4 years before I even had an inkling that I'd be off to the cornfields of Illinois.
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