Today is all about the college game. Selection Sunday (no Pat Mills and St Mary's) is huge in the USA as people sit around their television waiting to see if their team is one of 65 to make it to the "Big Dance".
So in honour of this day, I will run a two part series on how each school is connected to Aussie hoops history, somehow. (Maybe some will become a stretch, but work with me people.)
PART 1
MID WEST
Louisville - Gold Coast Blaze Luke Whitehead honed his rebounding skills here.
Ohio St - One time West Sydney Razorback Jason Singleton went to a Final Four with the Buckeyes. Chris Jent attended school here as well.
Siena - I once got free NBA tickets from former Washington Bullets player Jeff Ruland. He went to Iona that is in the same conference (MAAC) as Siena. (1st stretch story)
Utah - Conference player of the year Luke Nevill is an Aussie. I think this is where Andrew Bogut went.
Arizona - NBL champion Daniel Dillon was a Wildcat for four years. Mike Dunlap is an assistant coach there.
Wake Forest - Randolph Childress of the Sydney Kings variety teamed up with Tim Duncan.
Cleveland St - Valparasio is in the Horizon Conference with the Vikings. Aussie gunner Ryan Broekhoff will be at Valpo next season.
West Virginia - The Mountaineers are coached by Bob Huggins. Huggins coached Bobby "Baywatch" Brannen at Cincinnati.
Dayton - Prolific scoring forward Dave Colbert is a Flyer and in their Hall of Fame.
Kansas - Scooter Barry and Adonis Jordan pulled on a Magic jersey, while Steve Woodberry played for Gold Coast, Brisbane and Sydney.
North Dakota St - The Bison beat Oakland to advance to the tourney. Oakland could have used Mike Helms' scoring punch.
Boston College - Townsville Croc and Razorback import Dave Hinton call this place home for a while.
Alabama St - A name on this roster breaks all rules. Chief Kickingstallionsims
Morehead St - Aussie Ben Congiusta of Tennessee-Martin lost in the championship game to the Eagles to advance.
USC - One time Brisbane Bullet strongman Chris Munk went here.
Michigan St - Adam Ballinger, Mike Chappell and Dave Thomas all won a championship for the Spartans.
Robert Morris - Help please.
WEST
Connecticut - Andre LaFleur is an assistant coach for his college coach, Jim Calhoun.
UT-Chattanooga - They beat out Dontaye Draper's College of Charleston to advance to the dance.
BYU - 7'0 Brisbane boy Corey Reader played for the Mormons for two years.
Texas A&M - The Aggies are coached by Mark Turgeon. Last year he was at Wichita St where Sydney Spirit assistant coach Brett Coxedge was under him.
Purdue - Newcastle Falcons leaper Everett Stephens was a Boilermaker.
Northern Iowa - Dave Gruber (Spirit) is a true mid west boy.
Washington - Mark Sanford was a Husky for two years.
Mississippi St - AJ Ogilvy and Vanderbilt could not mix it with the Bulldogs.
Marquette - My brother-in-law went to school here.
Utah St - Dominique Cooks (Eric's son) redshirted this season for the Aggies.
Missouri - Nate Tomlinson (son of Coach Billy T) and his Colorado team will be hoping that next year they can turn it around like Missouri did this year.
Cornell - The Big Red are an Ivy League school. Paul Maley was and Ivy League boy at Yale.
California - NBL MVP Brian Wethers graced the court for this Pac-10 school.
Maryland - Former King Rodney Elliot defeated my Gonzaga Bulldogs in this very tourney in 1995.
Memphis - I met the Tigers coach, John Calipari, at the Athens Olympics.
Cal St Northridge - Former Gold Coast Roller, Bullet and Giant Mike Mitchell was an assistant coach here before he moved onto the WNBA.
Let me know if you have your own story about a particular school.
Part 2 will be tomorrow.
Posts
16 comments:
Great post JR. BTW, did those Jeff Ruland tickets get given to you when you were at Gonzaga? Did the NCAA investigate? ;)
Well, seeing Paul Maley is as close as you can get to Cornell then throw Arne Duncan in the mix because he was a Harvard man. Saw him play a few times at the old glasshouse.
Don't forget former Magic Man (and now director of player personnel at Washington Wizards) Milt Newton from Kansas, who won a national championship with Danny Manning in '88. I met him at a Wizards breakfast in DC last year and went to a Magic summer camp as a kid.
BYU - Shawn Bradley did his Mormon mission in Australia apparently. Although he didn't come a knocking on my door.
Cal - Sean Marks went here and he is from New Zealand, the 8th state of Australia.
I know a bunch of dudes who went to Michigan state, most of them are alcoholics
Clarification New Zealand is the 7th and 8th states - North and South island bro....
how the hell did au gets in over smu?just to keap the 25years crap goin :(
AU won the patriot league. Automatic entry.
C'mon JR, Lewis Jackson - Alabama State.
http://www.asaspace.com/nbl-stuff/alabama-state-goes-to-the-dance.html
Lewis Friggen Jackson.
GO BAMA!!!
Isn't "Bama" actually the abbreviated moniker for the Crimson Tide (aka The University of Alabama)?
My Bad.
GO 'BAMA STATE!
what a suprise - a story about getting something for free :)
oh by the way - I hope Michigan gets a good mention tomorrow - MY FAVE COLLEGE - only because of the FAB5 who are re-uniting at the final 4 this year in Detroit!!!
You mean the fab 5 that cheated??
c'mon... low blow :) was that ever proven? i think it was - whoops
love them for what they were!
They changed basketball forever... long bagy pants, swagger, black socks - everyone wanted to be like the Fab5
I think the Rebels of UNLV would have kicked their arse though. That's a matchup I would loved to have seen, too bad the Larry Johnson went pro after his second year.
UNLV were the 1st to start the black sox and baggy pants thing.
Larry Johnson, Stacey Augmon, George Ackles, Anderson Hunt and Greg Anthony.
I seen Shawn Bradley when he came to Nsw that year too.
Actually that is a good point, UNLV guys wore the Nike Air Force black sneakers in the tournament.
Who cares what they wore, they were the ones to start that gangsta thug shit we see all over the NBA now. And they were cheaters. You could also say Referee Tim was cool, he cheated but it's not like he scored the ball?
Check out this awesomeness, Canberra Cannons playing against the Spartans from years back. Magic Johnson wearing a Canberra Cannons uni.
http://mikechappellbasketball.blogspot.com/2008/11/mike-chappell-in-magic-johnson-all-star.html
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