All-Time Starting 5 on a budget

wundergrape said:
I suppose it should be, but the fact that 50s/60s/70s Iowa basketball is so thoroughly forgotten is amazing to me. Now, I'm 34, and I'll admit it took some research to bring myself up to speed, but the fact that the athletic department doesn't do more to glamorize 68-70 in particular is odd. Having Johnson/Williams/Brown/King so thoroughly underrated is telling. You'd think we'd have started playing ball in 1980...whereas in reality the past 25 years have been the decline of Iowa hoops.
Click to expand...

People are also forgetting Kevin Gamble, Brad Lohaus and Matt Bullard who had long nba careers.
 
vgshwk said:
People are also forgetting Kevin Gamble, Brad Lohaus and Matt Bullard who had long nba careers.
Click to expand...

Right, but at least those guys are on the radar. I'll bet that if you polled Iowa basketball fans, most of them would not know who Carl Cain, Bill Logan, Sam Williams, John Johnson, Chris Pervall, Glen Vidnovic, Chad Calabria, Kevin Kunnert and Bruce King are. That's insane. You're about seven post-1980 guys away from the Mount Rushmore, right there.
 
Right On. That 1970 team was a incredible team. We had a heck of a coach. I heard Kareem do a interview and said Red Aurbach had told him to play for Rupp, Wooden or Ralph Miller a Iowa
wundergrape said:
Right, but at least those guys are on the radar. I'll bet that if you polled Iowa basketball fans, most of them would not know who Carl Cain, Bill Logan, Sam Williams, John Johnson, Chris Pervall, Glen Vidnovic, Chad Calabria, Kevin Kunnert and Bruce King are. That's insane. You're about seven post-1980 guys away from the Mount Rushmore, right there.
Click to expand...
 
I'll be honest and say that I looked at the list and thought the 5 guys that were valued at $3 were the guys I wanted. I certainly would have liked Lester, Marble Sr, and Stokes, but I think the 5 guys (BJ, Williams, Johnson, Street, Kunnert) were as good as any at their positions. John Johnson for $3? He may be the best of any of the 25 guys listed here...and Glenn Vidnovic agrees with me, as he has said on many occasions and Williams may be a close second.
 
wundergrape said:
I suppose it shouldn't be, but the fact that 50s/60s/70s Iowa basketball is so thoroughly forgotten is amazing to me. Now, I'm 34, and I'll admit it took some research to bring myself up to speed, but the fact that the athletic department doesn't do more to glamorize 68-70 in particular is odd. Having Johnson/Williams/Brown/King so thoroughly underrated is telling. You'd think we'd have started playing ball in 1980...whereas in reality the past 25 years have been the decline of Iowa hoops.
Click to expand...

Wunder, didn't read your posts before I posted, but I totally agree. I wasn't alive when they played, but I've heard a lot from my Dad about them and have read/researched them and they sound like they were amazing. Johnson and Williams, both played 2 years, and scored over 1,100 points. Fred Brown just missed the 1,100 point mark in 2 years. Kunnert averaged 16 and 13 in his 3 years (they only got 3 back then). I also think Don Nelson was missing from this list, scoring over 1500 points in his 3 years.
 
I don't have an issue with guys not being on the the list: I don't think these are supposed to be the 25 best Hawkeyes. My issue is within the context of the list older players (Williams, Johnson, King) are undervalued, most likely because whoever put this together (BHGP) doesn't really know much about them.
 
wundergrape said:
I don't have an issue with guys not being on the the list: I don't think these are supposed to be the 25 best Hawkeyes. My issue is within the context of the list older players (Williams, Johnson, King) are undervalued, most likely because whoever put this together (BHGP) doesn't really know much about them.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I'm honestly surprised that they even included some guys from the '70's since not a lot of people remember them. Was talking about this with a guy at work that's about my age and he said he doesn't remember Stokes or know much about him. He would have been about 10 when Stokes graduated, which surprised me that he didn't know much about him.
 
I remember the older stars as I'm older than most on here but I think I could put out a heck of a team on the cheap. I didn't pick Downtown or J.J. but they would be stars in any era, maybe more so today when individual stars are emphasized more than teams. I'd go with, Oliver, Haluska, Settles, King and Kunnert at a cost of $10.00. Bruce King was a superb talent who would be a star in today's game. Haluska is often overlooked because of who he played with but he was great on both ends of the floor and he could fly in the fast break. Maybe showing my age but this team would have offense and Defense. With the $5.00 left from picking players I'd get Mr. Davis for my coach.
 
LASBUR said:
Right On. That 1970 team was a incredible team. We had a heck of a coach. I heard Kareem do a interview and said Red Aurbach had told him to play for Rupp, Wooden or Ralph Miller a Iowa
Click to expand...

****, we could have had Kareem? Can you imagine how that might have changed the program in the long run?
 
wundergrape said:
Right, but at least those guys are on the radar. I'll bet that if you polled Iowa basketball fans, most of them would not know who Carl Cain, Bill Logan, Sam Williams, John Johnson, Chris Pervall, Glen Vidnovic, Chad Calabria, Kevin Kunnert and Bruce King are. That's insane. You're about seven post-1980 guys away from the Mount Rushmore, right there.
Click to expand...

Of that group, I'd never heard of Logan, Pervall or Calabria. Heard of, but nothing more than that, for Cain, Kunnert and King. Williams, Johnson and Vidnovic are all guys I've heard a lot about at one time or another.
 
tm3308 said:
Of that group, I'd never heard of Logan, Pervall or Calabria. Heard of, but nothing more than that, for Cain, Kunnert and King. Williams, Johnson and Vidnovic are all guys I've heard a lot about at one time or another.
Click to expand...

Do you remember Chad Calabria's son Dante Calabria that played for North Carolina about 20 years ago? If I remember right, we almost Lazarded him to Iowa.
 
LASBUR said:
For Real ??
Click to expand...

That's how I remember it. I was thinking it was down to Iowa and UNC, but someone with a better memory may be able to fill in the blanks. Here's an article talking about Dante and his friend Chris Street and how he honored him.

http://www.nydailynews.com/archives...eel-honor-memory-dead-friend-article-1.677000

Also found this:

Calabria said he signed early at UNC last November - breaking the hearts of, among others, Villanova coach Rollie Massimino and Mr. Davis Davis at Iowa.
Click to expand...
 
99topdawg said:
Johnson and Williams, both played 2 years, and scored over 1,100 points. Fred Brown just missed the 1,100 point mark in 2 years. Kunnert averaged 16 and 13 in his 3 years (they only got 3 back then). I also think Don Nelson was missing from this list, scoring over 1500 points in his 3 years.
Click to expand...
All without the benefit of the 3pt shot, by the way.
 
FCAS said:
All without the benefit of the 3pt shot, by the way.
Click to expand...

+1. I would have loved to have seen the '69-70 team that averaged 98.7 ppg. My dad talks about it a lot, just like how my kids will hear about the BJ, Roy, and Eddie teams.
 
LASBUR said:
Right On. That 1970 team was a incredible team. We had a heck of a coach. I heard Kareem do a interview and said Red Aurbach had told him to play for Rupp, Wooden or Ralph Miller a Iowa
Click to expand...


Wow! Kareem in Iowa City! Anybody have a link to this interview?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Share this page

Top