why was Bialosuknia so deadly?

[chapwilvaug72]

any of his elemental skills translate to current roster?

 

[Hoophound]

He could shoot like very few others have been able to. Now days, he'd probably get locked down by an athlete though. Defense is far more intense than it was back then.

 

[mcs333]

I still think he was the best pure shooter ever at UCONN with tremendous range.. Just too bad he didn't play with the 3 point line.

 

[mauconnfan]

Hard to guard someone who can shoot it from 28…….he'd still score!

Kids don't care as much about shooting anymore……..it's all about dunking and highlights……..look what they watch - ESPN and the NBA! What chance do they have any more?

 

[UConnNick]

Bialosuknia had the luxury of playing with a great point guard, little Tommy Penders. Tom once tried to convince me he averaged 16 assists per game for his college career. He was dead serious, which was kind of funny. They didn't used to keep tract of assists back in those days, so it's impossible to refute his claim. I like Tom, but averaging 16 assists per game is quite a stretch, even with Bialosuknia as your backcourt mate.

 

[Woof 101]

Bialosuknia had the luxury of playing with a great point guard, little Tommy Penders. Tom once tried to convince me he averaged 16 assists per game for his college career. He was dead serious, which was kind of funny. They didn't used to keep tract of assists back in those days, so it's impossible to refute his claim. I like Tom, but averaging 16 assists per game is quite a stretch, even with Bialosuknia as your backcourt mate.

Then again with what Wes averaged and a handful to the others, he just may have. Here is a link from an interview with Tommy last year for those not familiar. A great UCONN family the Penders name runs deep.
http://www.burntorangenation.com/20...rs-coach-interview-texas-longhorns-basketball

 

[geordi]

Wes wasn't just a shooter. He was a scorer. He could take you off the dibble too. His teams were also not one dimensional. Penders was a very good point guard who could score and dish, but he also had Toby Kimball inside which forced the defense to collapse. That left the outside open quite a bit. Toby was putting up 15 - 18 points a game too. The defense had to decide whether it wanted Toby to score from 5 feet or allow a 20 - 25 footer from Wes. Plus Bill Holowaty was also a significant threat. In fact, coming out of the freshman team, Bill was the real star of the team until he was injured.

 

[GlastonTim]

I wish there was video of him.

 

[David 76]

I thought Toby & Wes only played together for 1 year. But I agree. I wish we had film.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

I found my Toby Kimball autograph last week. Maybe film will turn up elsewhere.

 

[Danzz]

Bialosuknia had the luxury of playing with a great point guard, little Tommy Penders. Tom once tried to convince me he averaged 16 assists per game for his college career. He was dead serious, which was kind of funny. They didn't used to keep tract of assists back in those days, so it's impossible to refute his claim. I like Tom, but averaging 16 assists per game is quite a stretch, even with Bialosuknia as your backcourt mate.

Played baseball against Penders in college. He was outstanding: we beat UConn in a DH, Penders played 3B in one game and CF in the other. He may have been a better baseball player.
Can't think of a better Uconn outside shooter than Wes. A good one from the past who may be forgotten was Leotis Wilson.

 

[PhilG]

I still think he was the best pure shooter ever at UCONN with tremendous range.. Just too bad he didn't play with the 3 point line.

Better than Ray? Don't think so. But Wes was great!!

 

[cohenzone]

Penders and Bialosuknia were both my year. I knew Penders well enough because my roomie had been an athlete in Stratford and knew the Penders family very well. Wes, I knew slightly because we dated girls from the same dorm our frosh year.

First of all, Wes and Kimball were teammates for only one year. Kimball was a senior when Wes was a soph. Freshmen couldn't play varsity in those days so that's why they had only one year together. It took a while for Penders to become the starting point guard. On the frosh team, the starter was PJ Curran who was older, having been in the military for 4 years, and he started off the next year as the starter until it was clear that Tom was more versatile. Tom, who was one cocky sob, was not quite as flashy with the ball as Curran, but steadier and a much better shooter. 16 assists per game seems a bit overstated, but feeding the ball to Wes was a no brainer, and the team had other kids who could score. By their junior year, Bill Corley was on the team, (think, say, Deandre in build, height, talent but a better leaper). Tom was in the 5'1o-5'11 range in height, Wes was about 6-2. Guards bigger than Wes were really rare back then. When Wes was shut done pretty well by St. Joe's in the NCAA's his soph year, he was guarded by a kid who became a pro and was unusually tall for a pg back then, 6-6 Matt Goukas.

Wes had perfect shooting form. He was always a great foul shooter, on the frosh team having some stupid stat like 99/101. It's hard to know what his stats would have been with a 3 point line. He was really good out to say, 25 feet. Player's tended not to be guarded very closely that far out. I would guess he would have been guarded differently with a 3 point line, so who knows how that would have affected his totals.

Wes opted to play in the ABA, which had a 3 point line, so there is some info to base a guess on. His rookie year he led the league in 3 point %, but I don't know how many he had. His pro days were heavily impacted when, maybe as early as his 2nd year, Rick Barry jumped to his team from the NBA. With Barry on the team, Wes went from option 2 or so, to option 5, along with every one else since Barry was pretty much options 1-4. I can't say Ray is a better shooter, but his athleticism is superior and he's 2-3 inches taller, although the relative height of his defenders is in the same ball park. I think Wes was a better pure shooter, but that's sort of like saying Rembrandt was a better artist than Monet. Not much to choose from.

 

[mauconnfan]

Penders and Bialosuknia were both my year. I knew Penders well enough because my roomie had been an athlete in Stratford and knew the Penders family very well. Wes, I knew slightly because we dated girls from the same dorm our frosh year.

First of all, Wes and Kimball were teammates for only one year. Kimball was a senior when Wes was a soph. Freshmen couldn't play varsity in those days so that's why they had only one year together. It took a while for Penders to become the starting point guard. On the frosh team, the starter was PJ Curran who was older, having been in the military for 4 years, and he started off the next year as the starter until it was clear that Tom was more versatile. Tom, who was one cocky sob, was not quite as flashy with the ball as Curran, but steadier and a much better shooter. 16 assists per game seems a bit overstated, but feeding the ball to Wes was a no brainer, and the team had other kids who could score. By their junior year, Bill Corley was on the team, (think, say Deandre in build and talent but a better jumper). Tom was in the 5'1o-5'11 range in height, Wes was about 6-2. Guards bigger than Wes were really rare back then, When Wes was shut done prett well by St. Joe's in the NCAA's his soph year, he was guarded by a kid who became a pro and was unusually tall for a pg back then, 6-6 Matt Goukas.Wes had perfect shooting form. He was always a great foul shooter, on the frosh team having some stupid stat like 99/101. It's hard to know what his stats would have been with a 3 point line. He was really good out to say, 25 feet. Player's tended not to be guarded very closely that far out. I would guess he would have been guarded differently with a 3 point line, so who knows how that would have affected his totals.

Wes opted to play in the ABA, which had a 3 point line, so there is some info to base a guess on. His rookie year he led the league in 3 point %, but I don't know how many he had. His pro days were heavily impacted when Rick Barry jumped to his team from the NBA. With Barry on the team, Wes went from option 2 or so, to option 5, along with every one else since Barry was pretty much options 1-4.

No slight in being frustrated by Matty Goukas that's for sure!!

 

[cohenzone]

No slight in being frustrated by Matty Goukas that's for sure!!

Hey, that was quick, I just did a one line change a few seconds later.

 

[Danzz]

Better than Ray? Don't think so. But Wes was great!!

Hard to believe but yes he was a better shooter than Ray. I saw them both and Ray was/is an incredible shooter but Wes's range and accuracy was at another level.

 

[Catsailor]

I only saw Wes one year, his senior my frosh. If memory serves me correctly he had an extremely high arcing shot, rainbow, that was usually all net. I had spent the previous 8 or so years watching Calvin Murphy, as a reference, and was instantly impressed with Wes. Obviously very different players, as was Ray, nevertheless all great great shooters.

 

[60'sfan]

Those were some great days at the old field house. The noise was deafening. When Uconn brought Fred Shabel in to coach Uconn in 1964 he not only led them to the NCAA regional finals against Duke (we won't talk about that game), but he brought in a great freshman class - Bialosuknia, Penders, Holowaty, Hesford etc. That freshman class was so good that most of us thought they could beat the varsity. Typically, fans did not start arriving for the game until just before the varsity game but not that year. Holowaty was clearly the star of the freshman team and most did not notice Wes until Holowaty was injured. I always wondered how good Uconn would have been if he was not injured.

 

[cohenzone]

A notable thing about Wes and his freshman class. They were so good that they were the reason why the next year students no longer got in free. Students (who actually had the best seats in the old fieldhouse) packed the place, including the aisles to get there to see the frosh team. The school started charging a whopping 50 cents for students my last 3years, and the school made sure nobody sat in the aisles. Believe it or not, Bill Holowaty, not Wes, was the best shooter on that team, but during his soph year (I'm pretty sure it was then) he had a bad leg injury and was never the same on O, although always a very good defender. In addition to those two, the others in that class who became frequent starters over their careers were Penders, Ron Ritter (great guy whom I knew fairly well, and not unusually for those days, a 6'3" forward, and Richard Thompson, who was the one most affected when Corley came along.

The soph year when these kids teamed with Kimball and Spider Hesford (a year ahead of them) was probably UConn's most successful until some of Calhoun's teams. They only lost 2 reg season games, both in a row, when Wes and Toby were both out sick for the first loss and the other (don't recall which) still gone for the next. This was the team that was given the crap NCAA draw of having to play a really good St. Joe's team led by Goukas in the first round at St. Joe's home court, the Palestra. This was a year after UConn went into the 3rd round with not as good a team when they beat Temple and upset Bill Bradley's Princeton team befoer getting obliterated by Duke (yes, even then, those Dookies.).

 

[60'sfan]

A notable thing about Wes and his freshman class. They were so good that they were the reason why the next year students no longer got in free. Students (who actually had the best seats in the old fieldhouse) packed the place, including the aisles to get there to see the frosh team. The school started charging a whopping 50 cents for students my last 3years, and the school made sure nobody sat in the aisles. Believe it or not, Bill Holowaty, not Wes, was the best shooter on that team, but during his soph year (I'm pretty sure it was then) he had a bad leg injury and was never the same on O, although always a very good defender. In addition to those two, the others in that class who became frequent starters over their careers were Penders, Ron Ritter (great guy whom I knew fairly well, and not unusually for those days, a 6'3" forward, and Richard Thompson, who was the one most affected when Corley came along.

The soph year when these kids teamed with Kimball and Spider Hesford (a year ahead of them) was probably UConn's most successful until some of Calhoun's teams. They only lost 2 reg season games, both in a row, when Wes and Toby were both out sick for the first loss and the other (don't recall which) still gone for the next. This was the team that was given the crap NCAA draw of having to play a really good St. Joe's team led by Goukas in the first round at St. Joe's home court, the Palestra. This was a year after UConn went into the 3rd round with not as good a team when they beat Temple and upset Bill Bradley's Princeton team befoer getting obliterated by Duke (yes, even then, those Dookies.).

I seem to recall that Holowaty was hurt in the off-season but I do recall him being the real star of that freshman team.