As a new feature on RFS, we’re doing Top 5 Plus 1 (T5P1)on any and everything imaginable. Send in your thoughts on future lists, although I may have to run them by Shooter or Chitwood first.
The first T5P1 covers something I alluded to in my NBA Notebook #1 - my “All Warrior Team”.
I originally thought I was going to do college only, but then I decided to do NBA only. THEN I decided to do a mixture. To summarize… this topic is open for comment. I looked at lists of All-Americans from past years (which is ridiculously difficult to find - if you have a good link for historical NCAA basketball reference, send it to me), and then I thought about guys that may not have made the list but that I would have loved to play on the same team with.
Here’s what I came up with (in no particular order, after Sir Charles):
Charles Barkley (aka The Round Mound of Rebound) - Undisputed, and Captain of the All-Warrior Team. Some guys have been tougher players, some guys have been better players. But nobody was this far out on the “efficient frontier” of those two criteria.
Sir Charles played at Auburn and was quite possibly the most overachieving (given his 6′5″ height versus his 3/4 position and his body composition) NBA player in the history of the league.
I posted the NBA Superstars video of him in NBA Notebook #1. Awesome. But this one is better.
Holy crap. I think I started sweating while watching those 76ers highlights. Two thoughts on the video:
(1) The block at 0:54 was awesome
(2) His step-back 3-pointer on David Robinson at 2:52 was something to behold (I witnessed it in person). I happen to think that David Robinson is one of the classiest individuals I’ve ever seen, but… I couldn’t help but chuckle a little bit when:
(a) He and Barkley came into that playoff game as the #1 and #2 MVP contenders
(b) Barkley outplayed him, including that game-winning dagger, and
(c) During a timeout just before Barkley hit that shot, the “David Robinson #50 MVP” banner that was hanging from the bottom of the scoreboard… unraveled onto midcourt. It seemed like the basketball gods were casting their vote.
Kenyon Martin (aka K-Mart) - This guy always gets after it. I was never a huge Cincy fan, but I always tuned in to watch K-Mart play. I was genuinely disappointed when he broke his leg.
And if you’re a loyalty type of guy, you probably respect the fact that - after Bob Huggins was fired by Cincy - K-Mart told his PR guys to delete from the program the fact that he graduated from Cincinnati. Some good dunks in the video, but they don’t get across the “warrior” part.
(NOTE - lots of language in the music playing with the video)
The guy plays with emotion. I like that.
Brian Cardinal - This is my obscure reference, but for anybody who watched a lot of college ball in the 90s… you know what I’m talking about. This guy was a 6′8″ or so forward that was on the floor after loose balls more than anybody I’ve ever seen in my life. Couldn’t jump, couldn’t run, couldn’t… anything. But he threw ‘bows and got on the floor and got it done.
A classic, prototypical Gene Keady-type of player. I have absolutely no connection to Purdue whatsoever (except for an encounter with Gene Keady when I was 12, but that’s another story), but I always watched Cardinal when I had the chance.
Just trust me on this one. Plus, he gets bonus points for looking like a 35 year old man when he was a senior in college.
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Calvin Murphy - I don’t have any video, I don’t have any firsthand knowledge, and I don’t have anything else to prove this.
Except that I’ve read from multiple sources that just about everybody in the ABA and NBA was afraid of 5′9″ Calvin Murphy.
When Kermit Washington knocked out Rudy T, bystanders worried that Calvin Murphy - one of Rudy’s best friends - would actually KILL Kermit. Who knows if that was true (Kermit was 6′9″), but the very fact that people were worried about it says something.
There are other stories I’ve heard as well, so Calvin gets the only Guard spot on my All-Warrior team.
Xavier McDaniel (aka X-Man) - Last, but certainly not least, is the X-Man. The first collegiate player to lead the nation in scoring and rebounding in the same season, he is RFS his ownself’s favorite college basketball player of all-time (I watched him play in person).
Believe me, there was nobody like X. I wish I could find some video, but I honestly haven’t seen a player since him attack the other team like he did. Literally.
Check out this picture of him choking the ever-loving crap out of Wes Matthews in the middle of a game. Can you imagine the s#!tstorm that would occur if something like that happened today? Think Spree/Carleisimo times 100.
I said… GIMME YOUR LUNCH MONEY!
On top of that, he was an All-Star and a 20 point scorer.
And on top of THAT, he was a movie star (probably the greatest sports cameo in history in the movie Singles; Kareem in Airplane doesn’t count as a cameo, if you’re wondering).
Additional stories about the X-Man:
-Legend has it that when he arrived on campus during his freshman year at Wichita State, he walked up to All-Americans and bookend junior forwards Antoine Carr and Cliff Levingston and said
“So which one of you guys is going to sit down?”
-In a heated rivalry game against Tulsa, he had to be restrained from going after forward Brian Rahilly. Wide-eyed, yelling, and pointing his finger from across the court… and that was just heading into the tunnel at halftime. I’ll ask again - when’s the last time you saw something like that happen in college basketball?
-During his 1984-1985 quest to become the first player to lead the nation in scoring and rebounding, Bradley Braves coach Stan Albeck mentioned to a sportswriter that he thought X’s stats were padded at home games.
Bad move, Stan.
According to legend, after X heard about it he paced up and down the aisle of the plane for the entire trip to Peoria, fuming. According to fact, he dropped 30 points and pulled down 20 boards against Bradley.
-When asked why he had punched an opposing team’s player, X replied:
——————————————————————– “Well… I saw he was coming at me, so I hit him first in self-defense.”
——————————————————————–
I think my “Plus One” is going to be Allen Iverson. The beating that guy has taken, combined with his stature, combined with his stats, combined with stuff like the fact that a 5′11″ guy led the NBA in FT’s during one season is just absolutely ridiculous.
So, in summary:
THE RFS ALL-WARRIOR TEAM:
Charles Barkley
Xavier McDaniel
Kenyon Martin
Calvin Murphy
Brian Cardinal
and
Allen Iverson
Also considered - Warren Jabali, Wes Unseld, Maurice Lucas
Let me know what you think (especially you, RFS Chief Basketball Commentator Dan “Chitwood” McGillicuddy). I’m sure I left somebody out…
As always, use the comment box or send questions. I have a new email address for the website - rumblin@gmail.com
D, you’re absolutely right. However, in bringing together my All-Warrior team I considered accomplishments just SLIGHTLY ahead of intimidation/warrior factors.
In other words, Brian Cardinal was the leading scorer and rebounder on that Purdue team, but he was also a Warrior.
Same thing with Murphy and X and K-Mart. While I have no quarrel with Oak or Mase or Mahorn or Lucas… they were enforcers first and producers second.
I’ll stand with my picks, but as always give major deference to his Chitwoodiness.
January 9th, 2007 at 9:28 pm
This is a tough one but others to be considered:
Bad Mo Fos
Charles Oakley
Anthony Mason
Maurice Lucas
Rick Mahorn
from the college ranks:
Larry Michaux (UofH 80-83)
Michael Graham (Georgetown 84)
Guards/Fwds:
Sidney Moncreif (knee injury eventually wore him down)
Bobby Jones (defensive stopper for the sixers in late 70’s early 80’s)
January 11th, 2007 at 9:20 pm
D, you’re absolutely right. However, in bringing together my All-Warrior team I considered accomplishments just SLIGHTLY ahead of intimidation/warrior factors.
In other words, Brian Cardinal was the leading scorer and rebounder on that Purdue team, but he was also a Warrior.
Same thing with Murphy and X and K-Mart. While I have no quarrel with Oak or Mase or Mahorn or Lucas… they were enforcers first and producers second.
I’ll stand with my picks, but as always give major deference to his Chitwoodiness.