If we're talking "history," Jesse Dark and Bernard Harris .... Dark averaged 18.0 for his four-year career; Harris 17.0.
RIP Chris Cheeks
- Thread starter N Mollen
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If we're talking "history," Jesse Dark and Bernard Harris .... Dark averaged 18.0 for his four-year career; Harris 17.0.
BaNgMyPrOgRaM
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RIP Chris! Thanks for your service!! God bless his family and friends.
Believe it or not this was a coming out party for UConn. Also, a coming out party for Cliff Robinson. With this win it started it all for that program.
Funny that at that time UConn was really not that much better than us. Polio was the worst coach we have ever had. This this '89 team was uber talented and we had talented size the likes of which we rarely had since. JT, Big Stud, Phil, Martin, Big Lou all big guys who could play ball.
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Yes I'd go with Bodine and Super Nard as the best 1-2. Also did Jabo have a batman as well?
Jabo would have had a Batman in Don Ross, but "Cisco" developed a bad lower back that limited his talents .... remember, Cisco scored 55 points in an RPI Rams loss at ODU in 1967 while averaging 30. Cisco never played his fourth year of eligibility due to the back .... one more thing: it was Cisco who alerted coach Benny Dees to Jabo, who at the time was in a rec league at John Marshall after leaving Fayetteville.
duncanlamb
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I remember warching that game on a black and white. Cliff was a helluva rim runner for portland.
My personal favorite was Bruce Pettway. He was a genetic unicorn in the vein of Mo alie cox. He was just born of brick without ever having to lift weights!. We would run full court in frankllin and he would throw down highlight reel dunks.
Mistachill
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Wow DL, how did you find that game? That video is "unlisted!"
Not really Bruce was a guy that Polio didnt know how to use effectively. In fact, if you talk to most big guys from that era they all have that compliant.
If you ever watched Bruce play in the Summer Leagues he was a different guy. Dominant, explosive, and of course high flying.
Looking back at VCU basketball especially in the early days it was very guard/wing centric. During Pettway's time Phil, Chris and Vince took about 75% of the shots. Leaving HS All American John Thompson, Alabama POY and top 100 recruit and HS All American Pettway both transfers from P5 schools with 3-5 shots per game.
You are not going to dominate with 3-5 shots and two former HS top 100 AA's from the same era arent likely to both be duds. Coaching, fit, and system played a huge part.
Polio was what he was a very good DII Coach who's style didnt fit DI.
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Mistachill
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This game is also a classic example of how the old NIT operated back in the today. UConn finished the season 15-14 and last in the Big East with a 4-12 in conference record. But they are a northeastern school and played in the Big East so of course they were not only invited to the NIT but got two home games on their way to MSG (but give them credit for winning the NIT championship that season).
duncanlamb
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I found the link in the vcu history 101 forum. @district baller placed it there in 2014.
I drove the school minibus full of our cheerleaders to that game. We left on a Thursday afternoon. The game was Friday night. The previous Friday i also drove the cheerleaders to Marshall for our first NIT game. This is when Marshall basketball was pretty good. About 9.000 seats and maybe 50 VCU fans. Very close game. We were ahead by one and they had the ball in the final seconds. One of their guys went up for a jump shot and Stinnie blocked it. The ball went into the backcourt. Lionel Bacon got to it and went down and laid it in and we won by 3. Nobody thought we had a chance to win that game. Drove back to Richmond on Saturday. We played Southern Miss, defending NIT champs at home on Tuesday night. I think they had Clarance Weatherspoon. Helluva game. We pulled it out in OT and won by 4 i think. Something like 93-89. There were no set brackets for the NIT back then. So we didnt even know who we would be playing after beating USM. Found out we were going to UConn on Friday. The NIT committee knew that UConn would sell a lot of tickets to MSG. The arena we played in was like a dungeon. It was their Storrs on campus arena before they built the current one. It was so dark at the top of the building that you could not see the people up there. I sat on the floor behind our bench. We stopped in New Jersey around 10 pm on Thursday and spent the night. Got up and ate breakfast and were making good time and had a blow out of a rear tire. This is a minibus so not just a regular tire. I pulled off the interstate and found a tire and repair shop. I had no way to pay for the replacement. I didnt have a credit card and only had cash for the cheerleaders for meals. I had to call back to the athletic dept and they issued a purchase order to pay for the new tire. We were stuck at that repair place for like 2 hours. There were no hotels in Storrs. We stayed 45 min away in Hartford. Got there i think around 3:30 and the game was at 7 i believe. I was doubling as our will call person. So i had to get to the arena early. So after i got the cheerleaders situatied i rode with Dr. Sander and our ticket manager to Storrs. I think i grabbed something at the concession stand to eat. We played a really good first half. We were up 3. Pollio said he looked at the guys in the locker room at half and they were all gassed. He said "i knew we were done" or something to that effect. Behind Robinson they pulled away in the second half. It really was like playing in a dungeon. Since the place was so small the noise level from the band and crowd was defeaning. Maybe the place sat 2,000. And the lighting was awful. Valiant effort by our guys. I think Henlan and Pettway may have both fouled out trying to guard Robinson. Henlan was just too slow to guard him. So Pollio switched to Pettway. Finally got back to the hotel and went into the lounge and danced with a few of the cheerleaders till like 2 am. I think we got up at 9 and i drove the minibus back in the pouring rain all the way back to Richmond. It was at least 10 hours. Quick stop for lunch somewhere then back on the road. Pretty amazing week. We had a very small number of fans at UConn. I sat with Stan Nance's family. Stan was one of our assistant coaches. Dianne Long, the basketball secretary, rode with us along with a student that worked in the basketball office with her. Fun times. So close to making it to MSG for the final 4. Honestly after losing the Sun Belt Championship game in such heartbreaking fashion, to get our team ready to play the next week at Marshall was pretty amazing. Then to come home and beat the defending NIT champs was no small feat. One of the best weeks of VCU basketball in Ram Nation history !!
WillWeaverRVA
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