Mark Lavin?
Well, he was probably the most fun anyway. Didn't know him until after we both graduated. I would run into him at Derry's Pub. Great guy.
Lost track of him. Anybody know where he is?
Andy Freund
Dave Singleton.
Mark Harris (RIP). :'(
Jared Sichting
The legendary Rob Frozena!
Bill Neary.
Hands down, not even debatable, #23, ai na?
Bill Neary may have started as a Walk On but I don't think he was for the 77 Championship Team. He started most, if not all the games that great year and loved hard fouling the opponents best guy. This was his specialty, his niche. He backed down to no one. Bernard Toone would come in later for offense.
Neary earned a schollie, hey?
What about that Mueller kid from Marquette HS? 6-10, walk-on?
Jake Thomas walked on and ended up a starter (though also got a scholarship).
As far as best ever, I'd probably lean towards Doug McDermott. Has any other walk-on won NPOY?
Mark "The Shark" Titus.
Quote from: brewcity77 on May 13, 2016, 12:50:46 PM
Jake Thomas walked on and ended up a starter (though also got a scholarship).
As far as best ever, I'd probably lean towards Doug McDermott. Has any other walk-on won NPOY?
Scottie Pippen walked on his first year at Central Arkansas. Didn't win NPOY of course, but IMHO McDermott has a LONG way to go before he convinces me he's better than Pippen.
Ben Wallace also started as a walk-on.
Quote from: GooooMarquette on May 13, 2016, 01:18:12 PM
Scottie Pippen walked on his first year at Central Arkansas. Didn't win NPOY of course, but IMHO McDermott has a LONG way to go before he convinces me he's better than Pippen.
Ben Wallace also started as a walk-on.
At the college level, I'd probably take McDermott, but total career, definitely Pippen.
Didn't know that about Wallace, wonder if anyone else started as a walk-on and went undrafted only to late make a NBA All-Star team.
Dave Delsman. I believe he actually punched Al McGuire.
Quote from: bilsu on May 13, 2016, 02:10:18 PM
Dave Delsman. I believe he actually punched Al McGuire.
At least someone here knows der chit and #23, hey?
Quote from: 4everwarriors on May 13, 2016, 02:11:20 PM
At least someone here knows der chit and #23, hey?
Did not realize Delsman was a walk on.
Anyone know if there was more than one walk on the '77 team?
Entertaining thread. And another reminder that it's going to be a long summer without basketball to watch.
Best - Schabes
Worst- Smolinski
Ben Peavey
I'm sure there have been some very good multisport athletes who were on scholarship for football and walked on for basketball. Julius Peppers was a decent basketball player for UNC, for example.
Don Smolinski. Smo at the end of the bench, elbows on his knees watching every game? End of discussion.
Quote from: PJDunn on May 13, 2016, 02:48:46 PM
Best - Schabes
Worst- Smolinski
Don was a scholarship playa, hey?
Chris Crawford by virtue of baseball contract...?
Quote from: DoggyDaddy on May 13, 2016, 11:59:00 AM
Bill Neary may have started as a Walk On but I don't think he was for the 77 Championship Team. He started most, if not all the games that great year and loved hard fouling the opponents best guy. This was his specialty, his niche. He backed down to no one. Bernard Toone would come in later for offense.
Lets say if you start as a walk on you are a walk on . Can you really help it later that they realize you are good enough and they give you a scholly? heck no its your entry status of joining the team without a scholly that fairly makes you a walk on.
That aside ....Neary is my choice here too....Saw all his play in person (Toone was in my class)........More than anyone on the teams of those years he played like AL did back in the day. Not necessarily the most athletic but high energy, intense, aggressive, and boy they felt his fouls...almost to the point of them being careful of Neary the next time. Every once in while he'd also have some nice offensive streaks...nice offside, garbage rebounder, could help on press breaking, very good at being in the right position always.
Best walk on for Marquette - maybe not the best ever but gotta be in the top 10: Bruce Hayes. What a game he had against Michigan and DePaul in O'Neill's first year as coach.
Quote from: milwaukee ex-pat on May 13, 2016, 04:32:34 PM
Best walk on for Marquette - maybe not the best ever but gotta be in the top 10: Bruce Hayes. What a game he had against Michigan and DePaul in O'Neill's first year as coach.
Bruce was a hard working contributor during a tough, tough era. KO had Bruce, Ben Peavy (who really could play too but blew out his knee in 1/91) Tommy LaChance, and Sean McDonough as walk-ons; good guys & hard workers.
BTW, Ben's son just signed an LOI to play for Trinity in San Antonio.
Quote from: 4everwarriors on May 13, 2016, 04:08:32 PM
Don was a scholarship playa, hey?
agreed. Pretty sure Smo was a scholarship guy.
Quote from: 4everwarriors on May 13, 2016, 04:08:32 PM
Don was a scholarship playa, hey?
The Dark Years, eh Doc?
Quote from: Nukem2 on May 13, 2016, 04:23:58 PM
Chris Crawford by virtue of baseball contract...?
Not quite. Even though his tuition was paid for by the Astros (not every year at MU) he still took up a counter spot.
Quote from: keefe on May 13, 2016, 06:33:33 PM
The Dark Years, eh Doc?
Doesn't get much blacker, ai na?
Quote from: Lighthouse 84 on May 13, 2016, 03:40:02 PM
Don Smolinski. Smo at the end of the bench, elbows on his knees watching every game? End of discussion.
I thought he was a scholarship player.
Rick Majerus
Quote from: NYWarrior on May 13, 2016, 05:13:02 PM
Bruce was a hard working contributor during a tough, tough era. KO had Bruce, Ben Peavy (who really could play too but blew out his knee in 1/91) Tommy LaChance, and Sean McDonough as walk-ons; good guys & hard workers.
BTW, Ben's son just signed an LOI to play for Trinity in San Antonio.
Was Jay Zouloff (sp?) a walk on too?
Quote from: Skitch on May 13, 2016, 10:02:06 PM
Was Jay Zouloff (sp?) a walk on too?
No, a transfer, but on scholarship.
Dels by a very wide margin. Lavin hit a big score and I believe retired quite young. He might be one of the biggest off court success stories in program history.
Chris Crawford....walk on senior year....went on to the NBA
Todd Mayo...thanks a bunch, OJ!
Quote from: Crean to Ann Arbor on May 13, 2016, 10:15:54 PM
No, a transfer, but on scholarship.
Right .. Zulauf landed at MU from Bowling Green, joining Keith Stewart (Purdue) & Ron Curry (Arizona) as transfers in when KO took over.
Quote from: Crean to Ann Arbor on May 13, 2016, 09:38:18 PM
Rick Majerus
Smo was technically a scholarship player, but for the purposes of this thread and MU bball history, we can reclassify him as a walk-on. Best op-ed piece ever in the MU Tribune posed this question to Smo... If you divided the scholarship dollars by the points that you have contributed, what do you get? The answer was null since you can't divide a number by zero.
I loved Jay Z as a player big time. Unfortunately KO did not share the same belief. KO not liking Jay and Shannon Smith frustrated me back in the day.
Jay hung out with the wrong crowd. He didn't last too long at Mu.
Quote from: muwar2003 on May 15, 2016, 10:16:57 PM
Jay hung out with the wrong crowd. He didn't last too long at Mu.
Huh? Jay spent four years on campus & earned his degree.
Quote from: muwar2003 on May 15, 2016, 10:16:57 PM
Jay hung out with the wrong crowd. He didn't last too long at Mu.
I heard Jay Z is a thug and that Henry should not be surrounding himself with such people.
can't forget about waukesha catholic memorial's rob hanley-started and played well after travis punched a wall instead of ...well, i'll just leave it at that
Bernard Toone
So I'm dong a high school alumni recruiting night at a Holiday Inn in Tarrytown NY and who should show up but Mr. Toone and his mother.
He was an unheard of high school senior from an unheard of high school in Yonkers. He said, "I would like to play basketball for Marquette" and all I could see was six foot 6 or 7, turned out to be 9, and his mother.
Dutifully I said, "I'll let the coaches know of your interest" and that was that. He played for the 76'ers and was a sophomore in 1977.
It was my best moment as a H.S. volunteer recruiter, and it goes to show that there are still probably lots of unheralded players who are late bloomers and under the radar.
After reading this board a few times I thought Dave Singleton was gonna turn pro after 2 yrs.
BEAST
Then again, around that time I was telling the board Davante was going to be a fat waste, so we all make mistakes.
Jay Zulaf played for Mu one year and 7 months.
Quote from: vogue65 on May 21, 2016, 12:04:55 PM
Bernard Toone
So I'm dong a high school alumni recruiting night at a Holiday Inn in Tarrytown NY and who should show up but Mr. Toone and his mother.
He was an unheard of high school senior from an unheard of high school in Yonkers. He said, "I would like to play basketball for Marquette" and all I could see was six foot 6 or 7, turned out to be 9, and his mother.
Dutifully I said, "I'll let the coaches know of your interest" and that was that. He played for the 76'ers and was a sophomore in 1977.
It was my best moment as a H.S. volunteer recruiter, and it goes to show that there are still probably lots of unheralded players who are late bloomers and under the radar.
BT was not under da radar. Highly rated and sought after. Sat on da MU bench durin' his visit and was introduced to da crowd durin' a time out, hey?
Quote from: 4everwarriors on May 21, 2016, 02:28:15 PM
BT was not under da radar. Highly rated and sought after. Sat on da MU bench durin' his visit and was introduced to da crowd durin' a time out, hey?
he almost became a walk-off during halftime of the cincinnati game in omaha-1977-HEY'nerhey?
Quote from: vogue65 on May 21, 2016, 12:04:55 PM
Bernard Toone
So I'm dong a high school alumni recruiting night at a Holiday Inn in Tarrytown NY and who should show up but Mr. Toone and his mother.
He was an unheard of high school senior from an unheard of high school in Yonkers. He said, "I would like to play basketball for Marquette" and all I could see was six foot 6 or 7, turned out to be 9, and his mother.
Dutifully I said, "I'll let the coaches know of your interest" and that was that. He played for the 76'ers and was a sophomore in 1977.
It was my best moment as a H.S. volunteer recruiter, and it goes to show that there are still probably lots of unheralded players who are late bloomers and under the radar.
Thanks for your efforts on behalf of Marquette.
Bernard was the most highly sought after recruit in the country that year and you made a vital contribution to our cause .
Quote from: Marquette Fan In NY on May 21, 2016, 05:17:00 PM
Thanks for your efforts on behalf of Marquette.
Bernard was the most highly sought after recruit in the country that year and you made a vital contribution to our cause .
Thanks, interesting to know that he was highly sought after because when I met him and his mother they did not seem to know how the system worked.
All credit goes to Al and the coaches and the fact that Bernard wanted to play for Al and Marquette. I think in their heart of hearts all the recruits know where they want to play throughout the recruiting process. They enjoy the trips but play where their heart is.
Quote from: TheTulsaWarrior on May 13, 2016, 12:26:14 PM
What about that Mueller kid from Marquette HS? 6-10, walk-on?
John Kyle Mueller was a scholarship player.
Jim Boeheim
Quote from: vogue65 on May 21, 2016, 12:04:55 PM
It was my best moment as a H.S. volunteer recruiter, and it goes to show that there are still probably lots of unheralded players who are late bloomers and under the radar.
I don't know if you have heard there's this new-fangled thing called the internet. It has these places called "recruiting websites" where there are detailed stats on essentially every starter on every high school basketball team in the country.
Quote from: warriorchick on June 17, 2016, 02:48:44 PM
I don't know if you have heard there's this new-fangled thing called the internet. It has these places called "recruiting websites" where there are detailed stats on essentially every starter on every high school basketball team in the country.
Does it come with crisp, white tablecloths? Otherwise, he's not interested.
Quote from: The Sultan of Sunshine on June 17, 2016, 02:51:20 PM
Does it come with crisp, white tablecloths? Otherwise, he's not interested.
Oh, I am sure there was one on his card table at the recruitment fair.