Who were some of the best players PC has ever played against? Who are the best broadcasters in Friar history? How about the 'what could have beens'? Craig Leighton takes a look back.
Yes he was and when he was Being recruited Bill Blair's Mom told Mullaney rather if you think my son is good you should see my nephew Jimmy Walker. That was PC's first contact in recruiting Walker
Thank you Craig, that is exactly how I remember it and it was at that point I became aware of recruiting. Each season I would check out the magazine racks waiting for Street and Smiths annual recruiting issue. Nervously I would open the magazine and quickly scour it for a paragraph or two about the incoming Friars.. If the was something good I would shell out the money to buy the magazine and read the “ article” over and over.
You can not imagine how “ the little boy” in me now appreciates FRIAR BASKETBALL today. Keep up thr great work you all do, I look forward to each newsletter with the same anticipation I looked forward to the Street and Smith recruitment issue.
Thanks so much for sharing this. When we first started (I can't remember if I wrote about this or not) I thought back to how excited I got as a kid whenever Sports Illustrated came out every week and hoped to replicate that feeling, to some extent, for Friar fans.
So happy to see Vincent Council on the passing list - he had more of those “did you see that” kind of passes than anyone else in my 40yrs of watching PC…just an instinctual passer. The other guy was Abdul Abdullah…threw some of the best alley-oop passes I’ve ever seen.
Another sneaky underrated player player is Erron Maxey who did a little bit of everything. Gillen trusted him as a freshman to play Center and bang against guys like Jahidi White and Etan Thomas…as a freshman. Leading scorer and #2 rebounder on a very balanced ‘01 tournament team.
Two "ones that got away" just from Bridgeport CT - Frank Oleynick (ended up at Seattle U.) and John Garris (went to Michigan then BC)
We lost John Garri when Dwight Williams was kicked out of school
Not many of us around that got to see and appreciate or under appreciate the sweet shooting Jim Benedict.
Benedict and Blair were great complementary play÷s on Jimmy Walker's two NCAA teams
Not sure but was not Billy Blair Jimmy Walkers cousin. He was a tremendous leader too.
Yes he was and when he was Being recruited Bill Blair's Mom told Mullaney rather if you think my son is good you should see my nephew Jimmy Walker. That was PC's first contact in recruiting Walker
Thank you Craig, that is exactly how I remember it and it was at that point I became aware of recruiting. Each season I would check out the magazine racks waiting for Street and Smiths annual recruiting issue. Nervously I would open the magazine and quickly scour it for a paragraph or two about the incoming Friars.. If the was something good I would shell out the money to buy the magazine and read the “ article” over and over.
You can not imagine how “ the little boy” in me now appreciates FRIAR BASKETBALL today. Keep up thr great work you all do, I look forward to each newsletter with the same anticipation I looked forward to the Street and Smith recruitment issue.
Thanks so much for sharing this. When we first started (I can't remember if I wrote about this or not) I thought back to how excited I got as a kid whenever Sports Illustrated came out every week and hoped to replicate that feeling, to some extent, for Friar fans.
Thank you so much. I remember waiting every year for Street and Smith to come out. It was the source for recruiting back then
So happy to see Vincent Council on the passing list - he had more of those “did you see that” kind of passes than anyone else in my 40yrs of watching PC…just an instinctual passer. The other guy was Abdul Abdullah…threw some of the best alley-oop passes I’ve ever seen.
Another sneaky underrated player player is Erron Maxey who did a little bit of everything. Gillen trusted him as a freshman to play Center and bang against guys like Jahidi White and Etan Thomas…as a freshman. Leading scorer and #2 rebounder on a very balanced ‘01 tournament team.
Great read here, as always.
You must include Bill Bradley to the best opposing team
He personally sectioned PC's tournament's hopes during Walker's sophomore year
John Thompson over Jim Boeheim? Seriously? Must be because JT is a PC grad😊