Skip to content

Skip to navigation

• 
• 
• 
• 

advertisement

Eric Dawson's All-Time 'Hawks Hoops Team

Here are my picks for starting and second 5 "All-Time", with my "Order of Merit List" (OML) number after their names and then a variety of career statistics supporting why I chose them (such as Special K's 53.2% FGA -- an incredible stat in light of his being the ORIGINAL Downtown Bomber).

My OML is basically the order I would pick them in from a pool of all KU players in order to complete a 10 player squad.

Starting 5 OML PPG FG% 3FG% FT% RPG APG SPG
C Chamberlain (1) 29.9 47.0% na 61.8% 18.3 na na
F Manning (2) 20.1 59.3% 34.5% 74.0% 8.1 2.3 1.7
F Lovellette (4) 24.5 45.2% na 65.4% 10.6 na na
PG White (3) 15.3 42.0% na 73.3% 4.9 na na
SG Hinrich (5) 11.2 50.4% 44.9% 79.2% 3.8 5.0 1.4 (stats thru 1st 13 games of this season)

Bench 5 OML PPG FG% 3FG% FT% RPG APG SPG
C LaFrentz (10) 15.8 55.5% 37.1% 71.2% 9.1 0.7 0.9
F Robisch (6) 21.1 45.8% na 68.2% 9.8 na na
F Pierce (7) 16.4 48.1% 35.5% 69.7% 6.3 2.2 1.4
G Kellogg (8) 11.6 53.2% na 82.8% 3.2 2.1 0.6 FG% is incredible - how many of his shots would have been 3PTers today!?!
G Vaughn (9) 9.6 45.9% 38.3% 70.8% 3.0 6.4 1.3
na = not available

I cannot believe that Woodling did not agree with Mayer and Bedore on Wilt, JoJo AND Danny! And then he goes on to literally gush about Danny in his comments! What's wrong with this picture? He picks Dave Robisch over Danny because he wants two lefties around Wilt? That is so [fill in the blank]! I like Dave, too -- he's my 1st big guy off the bench.

But Dave just cannot be put ahead of:
     1. a two-time Consensus All-American
     2. who effectively matched him in career PPG (Robisch 21.1, Manning 20.1) despite playing on teams that had at least 3 other scoring options (3 other starters averaging double figures for the season) for his first 2 years
     3. who was a more selective shooter (Manning 59.3% FGA vs. Robisch 45.6% ) but still made the clutch shot time and time again when it was needed.
     4. AND excelled at *all* aspects of the game (as Woodling specifically mentioned -- and look at his Steals per Game! Ohmigod!)
     5. Not to mention being THE top pick in the NBA draft after he graduated! (Oops, I mentioned it!) What was Woodling thinking?!?

Why JoJo when his stats are not particularly impressive? Because he's JoJo.

Because stats don't tell all the story of how great a player was in his day or would be today.

Especially since he would have been right up there with assists and steals had they kept them then (they didn't, hence all the "na"s), and he was an All-Star at the next level -- he OBVIOUSLY has to be there!

Of course, the final arbiter is my wife, who only has this to say about JoJo: "He was so smoooooooth!" :-)

Lovellete is my 4th starter because he has to be -- he carried the team on his back and to a national championship in his years at KU, and then went on to play for over a 11 years professionally, averaging 17.1 PPG and 9.5 RPG at that level, plus being anywhere from 3rd to 7th in the league in FG% when he was a starter.

Why Kirk? His ball handling skills, his head for the game, his 3PT shooting ability and his heart. I put Kirk in the same category as Booby Layne in football -- neither of them ever lost a game, the clock just ran out on them.

I guess the biggest question on the second 5 would be how could I pick Ronnie, Jacque and Raef in that order?

My answers are simple: I'm picking a total team here. I already have all the big guys I need and three great ball handlers in my first 7, but I want another 3PT shooter par excellance, and that is Special K.

Jacque before Raef? Because I want that extra great ball handler and defender extraordinaire as my backup point guard. So why Raef at all -- if I'm going to pick Ronnie over him and I've got enough big guys, why not Darnell Valentine, an excellent scorer and defender who when he finished his career was 1st in career games, starts, min, assts, and stls (2.9 SPG!); 2nd in pts, 21 in rebs, 9 in blks and was selected 2nd Team All-Time All-Big 8 by the AP? Because Raef is the second leading scorer in KU history, was a great rebounder and could play pretty good defense when he decided to do so.

And because, for whatever reason, I never really took a liking to Darnell, otherwise he would be #10.

Eric P. Dawson, BS 82, MBA 84