Wednesday, March 15, 2006

I'm pretty much done working so can I just leave now?

A little more than 24 hours from now, we'll be embarking on four straight days of college basketball at it's highest of levels. The NCAA Tournament is, without a doubt, my personal favorite sporting event in existence today (Okay, it's actually a close second to the India-Pakistan Cricket Tests, but that's a different column altogether). At this point, I've pretty much given up on trying to accomplish any real work today, as my excitement for the next two days of basketball (and no work) has left me as geeked as John and Joe on their way to dinner at the Golden Corral. Seriously, I almost feel pathetic for being as excited about tommorrow as I am, though I think my last two Marches may have something to do with this year's level of hysteria. I'm not even going to start talking about the confluence of events that is this coming Friday for fear that my head may explode due to the sheer anticipation of it all. If you hadn't guessed, I'm ready for the tournament to start (as well as my weekend). In fact, all of this anticipation got me to thinking about tournament's gone by. More specifically, players who made a name for themselves (or increased their profile) with stellar tournament performances. Last year, as you may remember, I set out to find former Weber State star Harold Arceneaux. This year I'm just going to list a bunch of guys who I haven't heard or seen anything from in years. Feel free to add players in the comments section or to educate me on the whereabouts of these basketball vagabonds.

Where are they now? (I'm sure the answer to this question for most of these guys is "Somewhere in Europe", but you get the point.)


Byron Houston
Lee Mayberry
Adonis Jordan
Brian Oliver
Khalid Reeves
Donald Williams
Toby Bailey
Fennis Dembo
Billy McCaffrey
Scoonie Penn
Mark Randall
Scotty Thurman & Clint McDaniel (actually you could probably put that entire Ark. team on here, sans Corliss Williamson)
Byron Mouton
Otis Hill & Lazarus Sims
Ricky Moore
Kenny Battle
Randy Rutherford
Rumeal Robinson
Edgar Padilla & Carmelo Travieso
Jeff Sheppard
Casey Calvary (Hell, I hope)
Tate George
God Shammgod
Ray Jackson & Jimmy Smith
Arthur Lee
Terrell Taylor (See: Casey Calvary)
Lynn Greer
Ed Cota
Alex Jensen
Dametri Hill
Anderson Hunt
Moses Scurry (just for shits and giggles)
Tyson Wheeler
Henrik Rodl (see: Moses Scurry)



Finally, here's one last thought to take with you this weekend. Is March the "month of the man hug"? I submit that there isn't a single month that even approaches the number of man hugs that we see during the month of March. Hell, Championship Week alone probably seals the deal on that one.

22 comments:

Geoff said...

What I knnow:

Lee Mayberry had a cup of coffee in the NBA last season...cna't remember who with, though.

Donald Williams is definitel in Europe and is playing well.

Henrik Rodl is doing Jaegermeister shots at McFadden's as we speak.

The Drizzle said...

Casey Calvary is most definitely in Europe somewhere. If you're going to inquire about him you definitely need to check into Matt Santangelo too. I assume Richie Frahm is still hanging around the league somewhere.

Jeff Sheppard is from my hometown, he had a stellar 2 weeks with the Hawks about 6 years ago. Last I heard he went to work for Kentucky's Scout site and was still jumping out of buildings.

Mark said...

I wanted to put down Matt Santangelo too but I couldn't remember his first name. I was thinking "Mike" but knew it was wrong. I'm pretty sure that Frahm is in the league somewhere.

You gotta love how Kentucky takes care of their own. With that said, I wonder what Anthony Epps is up to these days.

Mark said...

It's impressive that Donald Williams is still playing despite not being able to dribble more than three times consecutively with his left hand.

Lee Mayberry played in the league last year? Todd Day must be pissed off about that.

When we were in junior high and Greg was sporting an awkward "growing out buzz" cut, he bore a remarkable resemblance to Rodl.

Geoff said...

I'm pretty sure I remember reading a story about Todd Day attempting a comeback via the NBDL last year. Said "comeback" went over like a pregnant high jumper, from what I can gather.

And if Moses Scurry isn't in jail...or dead...he should be.

If we could also get a beat on James Forrest, King Rice, Shea Seals and Cameron Dollar, it'd be much appreciated.

Geoff said...

Oh, and I spotted Mark Macon at the Chaney presser, so he's alive and still sporting a box haircut.

Mark said...

Cameron Dollar is an assistant coach at Washington. from the looks of it, he's not particiapting in practive very often these days.

I was thinking about the same for Moses Scurry.

James Forrest is on a Pontiac commercial somewhere right now. As for his actual whereabouts, I hope that he and Malcom Mackey are hanging out together.

Mark said...

Remember when Shea Seals lit up the World Championship team ('96 I believe) during their exhibition against college stars (including Duncan)? After that he was pegged as a sure 1st rounder, only to fall flat on his face during his senior season.

King Rice is easily my favorite player who missed a game b/c his girlfriend assaulted him and left him with a black eye.

Geoff said...

I think Rumeal (not even remotely a name) was drafted by the Nets...but yes, way too early...and yes, I might be wrong.

Mark said...

Greg- You've made officially made more Acie Earl references than any man in recorded human history. I feel like I've been witness to at least 2/3 of them.

It was the Nets who drafted Robinson, but somewhere around 8 or 9 if I remember correctly.

CFunk28 said...

The last time I heard of Scoonie Penn he was tearing up one of the Euro leagues. I remember his name coming up after the debacle that was team USA at the Athens Olympics in that team USA should look at some US players in Europe b/c of their knowledge of the international game.

I'm sure that Ray Jackson is still driving to the lane in his mom's backyard trying to make the fab 5's dream of getting everyone to the league come true.

Mark said...

I remember that article about Scoonie too. I always thought he should've found an NBA home somewhere as a backup or third PG. Can you really tell me he's not better than Mateen Cleaves?

Bo Kimble works at the Home Depot in Palm Bay. He checked me out left handed yesterday in memoriam of Hank Gathers...Thanks, try the veal.

CFunk28 said...

ESPN Classic had the Top 20 NCAA Tournament Buzzer Beaters on last night. #20 was our boy Rolando Blackmon knocking down a 15 foot baseline jumper against #2 Oregon State in 1981. I would have to think that Rolando is by far and away the greatest player ever to come out of Kansas State. Not exactly a basketball hot bed.

T.J. said...

Mitch Richmond my man...

Mark said...

Mitch Richmond might have something to say about that Calvin.

This much I know is true, Rolando Blackman = Coolest name ever.

Mark said...

Get out of my head TJ!

CFunk28 said...

Not even close. Come on. This is Rolando Blackman. Mitch could shoot the lights out, but Ro had the all around game. And we saw him in the Dallas airport a couple years ago and he still looks exactly the same as when he played.

T.J. said...

Just to go back for a moment, Mitch Richmond was a better statistical player than Rolando Blackman is almost every major category. I will concede however that Ro Blackman is probably 1,000,000 times cooler than Mitch.

CFunk28 said...

Coolness is one of the more underrated intangible qualities that a player can possess.

T.J. said...

Richie Frahm sighting:

The Rockets claimed G Richie Frahm off waivers from Minnesota on Monday. Frahm appeared in 25 games and averaged 2.6 points and 0.6 assists this season with the Timberwolves.

Mark said...

Frahm once came to Gainesville with one of those "All-Star" teams of guys who didn't make the NBA. HE led the team to a victory over the Gators with something like 39 points. Embarrassing...Yes. Impressive...Yes.

CFunk28 said...

I just wanted to make sure that the W&M crowd saw that Lang Campbell was named NFL Euro player of the week. I'd really like to see him get a shot at the 2 or 3 job w/ the Browns.