Who were your childhood bball heroes?

[Kenny11]

I forgot I really liked watching nick van exel and nash together

 

[swami7774]

Clyde Frazier, John Havlicek and Gar Heard—strictly for his turnaround that tied the Celts/Suns 6th game.

 

[tzznandrew]

Jordan

 

[CTBasketball]

Kirk King was the first. Him and Doron Sheffer.

 

[Hunt for 7]

Doug Melody

Joey Whelton

Tony Hansen

As a UConn fan my top three as a kid would have been Tony Hansen, Joey Whelton and John Thomas. Was already a fan but fell in love during that comeback against Hofstra. Then had my heart broken when we lost to Rutgers. If we would have beaten them only VMI would have stood between us and our first final four.

 

[MexicoHusky]

JC was my guy

 

[king conn]

As a UConn fan my top three as a kid would have been Tony Hansen, Joey Whelton and John Thomas. Was already a fan but fell in love during that comeback against Hofstra. Then had my heart broken when we lost to Rutgers. If we would have beaten them only VMI would have stood between us and our first final four.

Jeff Carr with the winning follow up if I remember correctly!

Yes big John Thomas what a rebounder averaged double digits.

Also Al Weston would have been tremendous with a 3 pt line

Didn't look ahead of Rutgers myself because they were undefeated and I knew we weren't getting by them. We also already lost to them in the regular season. They brought that game on cptv.

 

[UConnDad]

Clyde for NBA.
Chris Mullin for colleg.
Loved watching the Knicks.

 

[SamIamCassell]

Not a lot of millennials I guess...thought there'd be a lot more love for Penny

As a millennial I was all about MJ after his 1st retirement and then AI. Still a Sixer fan to this day because of him.

 

[uconndennis]

Dominique Wilkins

 

[Slick]

Who did you idolize growing up? NBA or college? Bench player or superstar? Did you have posters, or starting lineup figures?

This is particularly fun when you realize that as a kid, you probably couldn't discern real greatness. Our favorites often weren't the stars. Randomly seeing a great play by a role player was sometimes enough to turn you into a fan. Probably the reason why I had a huge Derrick Mckey poster above my bed.

Bill Bradley Rhodes Scholar, fantastic basketball player

 

[AZHuskiePop]

John Havlicek. Still play is number 17 when playing the lottery or roulette. Loved Hondo.

Off topic, but here is a trivia question. His Ohio State basketball team, had 3 future Hall of Famers on it. Who were they?

Jerry Lucas
himself
Bobby Knight

 

[Tenspro2002]

Patrick Ewing and John Starks. Later, Rip Hamilton.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Jerry Lucas
himself
Bobby Knight

They won the NC as sophomores but lost in the finals the next two years .
They were upset by Cincinnati both years and people still make the mistake of crediting Oscar Robertson but he never won a NC he was gone by then .
Cincinnati’s star was Paul Hogue
If you like beautiful execution the Russell rebound and quick pass to a running Havilcek was a sure two unless you got back on defense
No team ever did that better
.

 

[metsfan2323]

Bernard King is the reason I became a Knicks fan.

 

[UCTitleTown]

Dr. J., Moses Malone and then Charles Barkley. Met all three. Grew up a Sixers fan, but when the Sixers traded Barkley my Sixers fandom and overall NBA fandom died.

 

[61cygni]

Rip and Ray

 

[bugs]

Bob McAdoo for the Buffalo Braves scoring 44 points against the Celtics in the playoffs in 1974. In 1975 dropping 50 against the Washington Bullets in the playoffs. An amazing scorer!

 

[MilliniumPrince]

Dr. J.

 

[Shamon30]

Oscar Robertson

 

[nadav]

Shelby Jones and Jimmy Hodge. Late 80s Cromwell Panthers!

 

[olehead]

NBA: Dr. J, Bernard King & Marques Johnson
College: Adrian Branch (Md.) & Len Bias

 

[salvagedsam]

Calvin Murphy
Tony Hansen
Al Weston
Sly Williams

 

[Travelman6]

Michael Jordan

(I didn't know any better).

Shawn Kemp, John Paxston. John Stockton. Mark Price. Reggie Miller. Payton. Hardaway. Shaq a little.

Malone (I reallllly didn't know better)

 

[VanDunk]

Who did you idolize growing up? NBA or college? Bench player or superstar? Did you have posters, or starting lineup figures?

This is particularly fun when you realize that as a kid, you probably couldn't discern real greatness. Our favorites often weren't the stars. Randomly seeing a great play by a role player was sometimes enough to turn you into a fan. Probably the reason why I had a huge Derrick Mckey poster above my bed.

Dr J & Tony Hanson

 

[Mazhude]

Bird, McHale, Parish in the pros.
Earl Kelley in college and high school (I went to Wilbur Cross when Earl was there... back when high school teams were good. Three state championships, Cross's upset of Patrick Ewing's team at Cambridge Rindge and Latin. High school gym full of fans and scouts. Big East Rookie of the Year. Good times)

 

[mauconnfan]

NBA Hondo and JoJo White

College Bob Staak and Bobby Boyd

 

[husky8273]

Bernard King is the reason I became a Knicks fan.

Bernie and Ernie!

 

[Hunt for 7]

Jeff Carr with the winning follow up if I remember correctly!

Yes big John Thomas what a rebounder averaged double digits.

Also Al Weston would have been tremendous with a 3 pt line

Didn't look ahead of Rutgers myself because they were undefeated and I knew we weren't getting by them. We also already lost to them in the regular season. They brought that game on cptv.

Yeah Sellers was too much but after that comeback I thought another miracle was possible.

 

[UconnFanDC]

Larry Bird (Celtics fan) and Isiah Thomas (style.of play - point guard) my favorite position