All Time Starting Five

QChawkness

QChawkness

Well-Known Member
I was thinking about this today and thought I'd ask the question to you all. If you were building your own personal starting five of current or past Iowa players what would your lineup look like? My hawk watching started in the late 90s early 2000s so I'm basing my lineup off players I've seen so no disrespect to guys like Marble Sr., BJ, Earl, etc.

PG: Dean Oliver (My earliest memories of Hawkeye basketball begin with this guy. He was so fun to watch. I remember getting Golden State Warrior gear when he went undrafted to them. Easy choice to lead my squad.)
SG: Adam Haluska (Sorry Ricky Davis, Haluska personified everything I wanted to be in a basketball player. Easily the best shooter I've seen come through Iowa, although Jok is starting to make a case.)
SF: Aaron White (Almost went Luke Recker here but White's smooth game is too much to pass up. I still firmly believe an NBA career is ahead for this guy.)
PF: Reggie Evans (Probably the toughest guy to come out of Iowa in the last two decades. What team couldn't use a Reggie Evans?)
C: Gabe Olaseni (Sooo raw but sooo fun to watch. Easy choice to round out this scary frontcourt.)
 
For the all 21st century team I have;

Reggie Evans
Grag Brunner
Jarrod Uthoff
Matt Gatens
Jeff Horner

2nd team;

Jacob Jaacks
Aaron White
Roy Devyn Marble
Adam Haluska
Dean Oliver
 
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The list only includes people I saw actually play. I think with the versatility many of the positions could be swapped and we could go big or small. I still firmly believe that Chris Street would have been the best Hawkeye player of all-time had he not had the accident. Just my 2 cents

1st Team

PG Ronnie Lester
SG Roy Marble
SF Jared Uthoff
PF Ed Horton
C Acie Earle

2nd Team and Bench

PG BJ Armstrong
SG Kevin Gamble/Chris Kingsbury
SF Ryan Bowen
PF Chris Street/Reggie Evans
C Greg Stokes/ Matt Bullard
 
My all-time Hawk team would include the four best Hawkeye players I have seen play: Freddie Brown, John Johnson, Ronnie Lester & Sam Williams. Williams, Johnson & Brown are Iowa's three highest points per game scorers, respectively. My center would be Kevin Kunnert. Kunnert leads the Hawks in career double-doubles. Kevin also has the record with 12.7 rebounds per game. The sixth man would be my favorite Hawk of all-time: Glenn "The Stick" Vidnovic.
 
It surprises me that I haven't seen Andre Woolridge on anyone's list. Maybe because I was at an impressionable age when he played, but he was pretty darn good. He led the Big Ten in scoring and assist one year. That's not easy to do.
 
I would have included those players but the OP mentioned late 1990s or early 2000s. I am not sure exactly where he cut it off I assumed that Andre Woolridge was before his cut off. I made it simple and put it at 2000 to present for the purpose of this discussion. Jaacks and Oliver were on the 1999-2000 team.
 
I wanted to put Woolridge on there but I couldn't put him above BJ or Lester and if he isn't playing the point I didn't see the advantage of putting him anywhere else as I don't believe his shooting puts him above any of the guys at the point or the shooting guard
 
PG BJ Armstrong - never have had previously, nor neve will have a better PG than BJ
SG Chris Kingsbury - Dude could launch from 1/2 court and make it look easy
SF Roy Marble - Sr was a swingman not a 2
PF Reggie Evans - best rebounder
C Acie Earl - as awkward as he was to watch, the guy could patrol the paint and get boards.

2nd Team (all old guy team)

PG Steve Carfino
SG Bobby Hansen
SF Kevin Gamble
PF Michael Payne
C Greg Stockes
 
Lester
Armstrong
Gamble
Evans
Earl

Woolridge, Street and Stokes fill out my 8 man rotation. McCausland is my role player. He's not one of the 9 best to ever play at Iowa but I like having a guy that can make over half of his 3s.
 
How about Bruce King. He was before my time but I've read some posts that said he was a terrific player on some pretty bad teams in the seventies.
 
83Hawk said:
Wrong, wrong, and wrong again. Ronnie Lester was the best PG Iowa has ever had.....PERIOD.
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Agree! What an uninformed comment. Lester was the best player Magic played against in college & that includes Larry Bird.

Plus, Armstrong never was a 2nd team All-American player, never won a B1G championship & never made the Final Four.
 
83Hawk said:
Wrong, wrong, and wrong again. Ronnie Lester was the best PG Iowa has ever had.....PERIOD.
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I third this motion but in a more humble way. It's awesome to see so many great names that have warmed the hearts of so many hawkeye faithful. I can see why everyone chose the names they did. Would have been fun to see what Ricky would have done if he hadn't been a one and done player. I have to give the guard position to Lester though.

I will add one more thing here. If Lester hadn't got hurt I think we would be talking about Iowa's last National Championship. The irony of that statement is that Lester was really the only true super star on that team. How important is the point guard position? I think that says it all. PLEASE Fran find another Ronnie Lester out there some where??? I hope he is already on board and/or committed to Iowa.

No offense Bobby if your are reading this. You were great too but Ronnie had that extra specialness about him.
 
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BigD said:
I third this motion but in a more humble way. It's awesome to see so many great names that have warmed the hearts of so many hawkeye faithful. I can see why everyone chose the names they did. Would have been fun to see what Ricky would have done if he hadn't been a one and done player. I have to give the guard position to Lester though.

I will add one more thing here. If Lester hadn't got hurt I think we would be talking about Iowa's last National Championship. The irony of that statement is that Lester was really the only true super star on that team. How important is the point guard position? I think that says it all. PLEASE Fran find another Ronnie Lester out there some where??? I hope he is already on board and/or committed to Iowa.

No offense Bobby if your are reading this. You were great too but Ronnie had that extra specialness about him.
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After the '70 team, the '80 team before Lester got hurt was the second best Hawk team I've ever seen.
 
ColumbusHawk said:
After the '70 team, the '80 team before Lester got hurt was the second best Hawk team I've ever seen.
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I would have loved to see that 70 team. It was about 1976 when I started to follow the Hawkeyes basketball team. Bruce sky King, Tommy Norman, Dick Pathe(?) were the names I remember off the top of my head. I remember the prelude music just before Jim would come on the air was "Do the Hustle".
 
83Hawk said:
Wrong, wrong, and wrong again. Ronnie Lester was the best PG Iowa has ever had.....PERIOD.
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BJ is an all-timer...but I've never seen a guy in an IOWA uniform as smooth and quick who could also finish at the hole, as Ronnie Lester. Special athlete.
 
BigD said:
I would have loved to see that 70 team. It was about 1976 when I started to follow the Hawkeyes basketball team. Bruce sky King, Tommy Norman, Dick Pathe(?) were the names I remember off the top of my head. I remember the prelude music just before Jim would come on the air was "Do the Hustle".
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The '70 team was the first I saw. They were a sight to behold. Best passing team I've ever seen, and a true "team". They were a well-oiled machine and a joy to watch.
 
83Hawk said:
The '70 team was the first I saw. They were a sight to behold. Best passing team I've ever seen, and a true "team". They were a well-oiled machine and a joy to watch.
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What made that team great is that Brown, Calabria, Johnson & Vidnovic were interchangeable on offense.
 
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