How many favorite players have you had?

Michigan Basketball
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Yes @Keygo70, another kindred spirit. Some on here knows I started paying attention to Michigan Basketball when Bill Buntin arrived and I fell in love with the program when Cazzie arrived!

Gotta go, my wife is at the Cottonseed Apparel store so I was able to “steal” a few minutes to respond to this thread!

I appreciate the kind responses. I missed the reparte’ and witty retorts! I’ll have my list later Sunday or early Monday. I’m on a deadline! Now, to keep my wife from getting physical, I’ve got to go! I’ve got THAT deadline, too! :rofl:. Headed up to Fishtown now!

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122

This might be my favorite thread ever. Brings back a lot of memories. A few that stand out for me:

Jamal Crawford: Soon after I moved to Atlanta, went to see Michigan play Georgia Tech at Philips Arena. He wasn’t leading scorer but controlled the game. Was clear where his career was headed.

Lavell Blanchard: Also on that team. Remember his recruitment. His staying home was a big deal.

Cazzie Russell: I’m an old head. What can I say.

Eric Turner: When I hit campus, he was that dude. Surprised I almost never hear his name mentioned with great Michigan point guards.

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123

While we are on this theme, a couple guys who weren’t actually very good players that I liked more than their performance suggests …

Kelvin Grady
Josh Asselin
Spike Albrecht

To this day I can’t figure out how Spike was an effective B10 rotational player and also how we coukd use that knowledge to find more players like him for the end of the bench.

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124

My guy like that was Dugan Fife.

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125

I asked my dad to name his Fab 5 Michigan players.

  • Cazzie.
  • Rice
  • Jalen
  • Duncan!
  • X.

The last was really funny. He couldn’t remember X’s name so he said something like I liked that little guard with the hook shot. And my freshman daughter whoops exuberantly (she does everything exuberantly) I love Xavier Simpson… he’s my favorite player too!

So thanks @telekinetic for a fun family moment.

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126

Now I have to ask my dad for his list too. I know it would include Rice and MAAR.

127

great idea! I’d do the same except I think graham brown would appear multiple times

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128

And Loy Vaught delayed the end of the game with a punctuation dunk that left the rim bent.

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129

I like the Robbie Reid shout out. Those were the good old days of the portal!

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130

I felt like Oliver St. Jean was going to do big things at Michigan.

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131

Didn’t we all. The merging of Michigan and France was on the precipice!

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132

OK, here’s my list, though I could certainly list more than ten players. Being limited to ten was the hardest part of this for me. This will be just quick because…well, everyone knows I’m a man of few words who writes in a very concise manner! :rofl: and then I got up and :rofl:

Pretty much chronological:

  1. Bill Buntin
  2. CAZZIE RUSSELL
  3. Phil Hubbard
  4. The General, Gary Grant
  5. Rumeal Robinson
  6. Terry Mills (for a lot of reasons)
  7. Glenn Rice
  8. Jalen Rose (not so much then, but absolutely now, love the guy!)
  9. Juwan Howard (Duh, who on here doesn’t know my feelings for Juwan!
    :wink: :blue_heart:)
  10. Zach Novak

OK, obviously only one Beilein player. That’s why this was so hard. There are so many who played under Beilein that are among favorite players of mine. Guys like, Trey Burke, Jordan Morgan, Duncan Robinson, Derrick Walton, X, Eli, Isaiah Livers, and…are you ready for this, Austin Davis (my kinda “program” player).

And I’ve still left some out. From the original ten, Lou Bullock, Bernard Robinson, Rudy T, though I was mostly in the army when he played. And from the Beilein era, so many, like Stauskas and the Wagners. And while Kobe’s evaluation is still incomplete, you all know that Kobe has a special place in my heart.

So, actually, not so few words, in fact kinda wordy. And a total violation of the rules. But, I am a rule breaker! :grin: :innocent:

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133

Thats a good list but you missed Ricky Greene and Campy Russell.:wink:

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134

OH, my gosh, you’re right! I did not mean to miss Rickey Greene! And Campy? Oh wow, just one of the very best of all time! This was REALLY hard. Thanks, Bob! I NEED your wisdom, your expertise, your experience! :blue_heart:

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135

If I had to stick to a Top-10 and just how I felt about them when they were at Michigan, Rumeal would make my list.

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136

Firstly: sorry for the misspelling LaVell, should’ve checked that one more closely.

So, from 2000 to now some of my favorite (or memorable) players tend to be the grinders and overachievers that put in the developmental work for the 4-5 years they were here.

Still, I have to admit my fandom of Josh Asselin, Chris Young, Graham Brown, Max Bielfeldt and Austin Davis wasn’t always pretty.

I’d say Spike’s time here (injuries, transfer to Purdue aside) also matches the criteria I’m talking about. I thought that first half in the NC game against Louisville (and his flirty messaging on socials to Kate Upton) was the start of a brilliant, folk-heroish career. Sadly, it came nowhere near.

I can’t deny my love of good local talent either, represented by homies from Detroit: Dion and Manny (Redford), Peedi (Pershing), J-Mo (UD-Jesuit) and Derrick (Chandler Park Academy - literally across the city limits in Harper Woods).

To cross reference a bit, I’d put Morgan on my post-2000 overachievers list along with MAAR (loved watching him improve every year), Brooks (similar trajectory to Abdur-Rahkman’s with more 3-point range; but MAAR had better put your head down and go to the rim and score ability), Merritt and Lee, Douglass and Novak, Austin Davis’ senior leap (credit Juwan for the latter).

Shooters: Nik, Duncan, Isaiah and Poole were my faves.

Scorers: Moritz, Iggy, Caris, Kobe, Daniel Horton, Tim Jr.

Defenders: Charles, Franz.

Leaders: Zavier, Mike Smith, Trey, Walton (again).

Projected better than they produced: Gavin Groninger, Chris Hunter (sorry, coach), Brent Petway (athleticism at a ‘wow’ level), Lester Abram (another local connection: his coach at Pontiac Northern, Robert Rogers, played with Rudy T in high school and still lives in Hamtramck last I checked), JC Mathis, Ron Coleman and Jerret Smith (both Romulus), Matt Vogrich (thought he was the answer for a minute; then again felt much the same about Jason Bossard in the ’90s. Shooters who couldn’t get their shot at the B1G level.

Characters (for better and worse): Spike, Moe, Mitch, Horford, Dakich, Poole, Hunter.

Best all around of the post-2000 teams? I’m going with Franz. Bit of a leap here, but I’ll go with Bufkin as my number two guy.

That’s all I got for now. Appreciate all the likes and the nice comments @silverblue and @telekinetic. Loved participating in the thread, a well-needed respite from the agony and angst of portal madness the past few months.

Peace, my friends.

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137

Your post was a great trip down memory lane. Thanks for helping me remember some of the guys I hadn’t thought about in a long time. :blush:

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138

I was a kid when Zack and Stu played, I remember being inspired by them to go shoot in the driveway after games. I lived in Illinois so this required shoveling and I had to poke the ball back up out of the frozen net when I made a shot.

I just barely remember Manny Harris, probably the player that got me hooked on basketball.

More recently MAAR is probably my favorite.I was always confident he’d make the right play or have a good game and I didn’t think got enough credit for how good those teams were. I have pink cleats for my rec soccer league because of him.

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139

pink cleats is an awesome tribute

140

But you were right about the General. GG got neglected in this thread. He was my fave, but of course I was 13 when he was Superman and that’s when heroes are created.

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