David L. Hudson Jr. - Basketballs Most Wanted™ II: The Top 10 Book of More Hotshot Hoopsters, Double Dribbles, and Roundball Oddities

Basketballs Most Wanted II

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The Top 10 Book of More Hotshot Hoopsters, Double Dribbles, and Roundball Oddities

David L. Hudson, Jr.

Copyright 2005 by Potomac Books, Inc.

Published in the United States by Potomac Books, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hudson, David L., 1969
Basketballs most wanted II : the top 10 book of more hotshot hoopsters, double dribbles, and roundball oddities / David L. Hudson, Jr.1st ed.
p. cm.(Most wanted)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-57488-950-8 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. BasketballMiscellanea. I. Title: Basketballs most wanted 2. II. Title: Basketballs most wanted two. III. Title. IV. Series.
GV885.H79 2005
796.357dc22 2005007482

Printed in Canada on acid-free paper that meets
the American National Standards Institute
Z3948 Standard.

Potomac Books, Inc.
22841 Quicksilver Drive
Dulles, Virginia 20166

First Edition

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To Bill Clarka former basketball star,
the best free throw shooter Ive ever encountered,
a mentor and a great friend.

The author wishes to thank the following people: John Heacock, Bill Clark, Jay Jackson, Mike Williamson, Marshall Terrill, Chris Collins, Sean Stormes, Sean Foley, Brad Emerson, Greg Korn, and, most of all, my sportswriting mentor Mike Fitzgerald.

The crown jewel of college basketball remains the Final Four, where four teams battle it out for National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) supremacy in the season-ending tournament. Several players have starred on March Madnesss biggest stage. These players saved their best for the NCAA championship game.

Bill Walton, the Big Redhead, dominated college basketball during his days at UCLA, proving to be a worthy successor to Lew Alcindor (later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar). In 1973, Walton led the Bruins to a win over Indiana in the semifinals and a convincing 8766 thumping of Memphis State in the finals. In the championship game, Walton scored 44 points, hitting 21 out of 22 shots. Walton grabbed 13 rebounds in the title game en route to earning Most Outstanding Player (MOP) honors. Many consider Waltons titlegame performance as the greatest single game effort by a college basketball player.

The 1986 title game featured the high-flying Louisville Cardinals against the best team in college basketball that year, the Duke Blue Devils. Dukeled by senior stars Johnny Dawkins, Mark Alarie, David Henderson, and Jay Bilaslost only one game the entire regular season. However, in the title game Duke had no answer for Louisville freshman center Pervis Never Nervous Ellison. Ellison scored 24 points on 10 for 14 shooting, and also grabbed 11 rebounds. Ellison became only the second freshman to earn the tournaments MOP award.

In 1978, Kentucky battled Duke for the national championship. Kentucky had an outstanding guard in Kyle Macy, their floor leader, and a bruising big man in Rick Robey. But the star of the show was their smooth-shooting forward Jack Goose Givens, who never played better than in the 1978 title game. He scored 41 points, shooting 18 for 27 from the field.

In the 1965 title game, UCLA captured its second straight national championship with a 9180 victory over the University of Michigan. In the battle of shooters, UCLAs Gail Goodrich outgunned Michigan star Cazzie Russell 4228. Goodrich shot 12 for 22 from the field and an amazing 18 out of 20 from the free throw line for his impressive final game performance. Amazingly, Goodrichs final game performance failed to earn him the tournaments MOP award. Thats because Princetons Bill Bradley scored 87 points during the Final Four, including 58 points in a single game.

No one could have predicted that Michigan would win the 1989 NCAA tournament. Just prior to the tournament their coach, Bill Frieder, was replaced after he revealed he was taking the head job at Arizona State. Assistant coach Steve Fisher was installed as interim coach and the Wolverines rolled to the title, including a thrilling 8079 overtime win over Seton Hall. The Wolverines won largely because of sharp-shooting star forward Glen Rice. In the final game Rice connected for 31 points, including five three-pointers. During the six games he scored a record 184 points. The record still stands as the most points by an individual in a single NCAA tournament.

Lew Alcindor may have been the most dominant force in the history of college basketball. He was college basketballs Most Valuable Player (MVP) all three years of his college career (freshman were not eligible in Alcindors day), and UCLA captured national titles in all three of those years. In 1969, Alcindor led the Bruins to a 9272 destruction of Purdue. The hapless Boilermakers could only watch as Alcindor scored 37 points and grabbed 20 rebounds in the title game. The year before, Alcindor scorched North Carolina for 34 points and 18 rebounds.

Oklahoma State University won consecutive NCAA championships in 1945 and 1946 due to their towering 6 10 center, Bob Foothills Kurland. He was the MVP in both tournaments. In the final game of the 1945 title game, Kurland scored 22 of his teams 49 points. The next year, Kurland scored 23 of his teams 43 points to lead them to a 4340 win over North Carolina.

In 1949 Alex Groza, Kentuckys All-American, led the Wildcats to a 4636 win over Oklahoma State. Other players have scored more total points in a title game, but no player ever scored a higher percentage of his teams total points. Groza, a 6 7 center, scored 25 points in the championship game, more than half his teams total points. Grozas dominance can be seen in that Kentuckys next highest scorers during the game scored only 5 points each.

In 1952 the University of Kansas defeated St. Johns University 8063 to capture the NCAA title. The Jay-hawks rode the back of their 6 9 center Clyde Lovel-lette. Lovellette, the nations leading scorer during the regular season, did not disappoint in the final game. He scored 33 points and grabbed 17 rebounds. Lovellette went on to play in three National Basketball Association (NBA) All-Star games during an eleven-year professional career.

In 1944 the University of Utahs so-called Blitz Kids defeated Dartmouth 4240 in the first overtime title game in the tournaments history. Utah was led by their star freshman forward, Arnie Ferrin. He scored 22 of this teams 42 points to capture the tournaments top player award. Ironically, Utah was entered into the NCAA tournament only after the University of Arkansas had to pull out when several of its starters were injured in an automobile accident. Utah, which had lost in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), accepted the substitute bid and made the most out of their second chance. Ferrin did not fare as well in the professional ranks, playing only three years for the Minneapolis Lakers.