MUScoop
MUScoop => Hangin' at the Al => Topic started by: sailwi on April 25, 2012, 08:56:03 PM
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For those of us old enough to remember Dana O'Neil has a piece on the legacy of Benji Wilson. Wilson was the #1 recruit in the country in 82 from Simeon in Chicago and supposedly was down to DePaul or Illinois before he was murdered early in his senior year of HS and his death was supposedly one of the pieces that started DePaul's downfall. FWIW I think O' Neil is one of the better online sports writers working today. I can still remember when this happened and Majerus was quoted prominently in a number of stories about Benji's talent and his positive personality.
http://espn.go.com/blog/high-school/boys-basketball/post/_/id/4774/with-an-assist-from-parker-benji-debuts
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I think it was actually 1984. Simeon was supposed to play in the Thanksgiving tournament at my high school (Rockford Boylan). Wilson was murdered the day becore the start of the tournament. I was a freshman, but if I remember right, Simeon made it to the championship game against Boylan. Someone from Boylan made a last second shot that would have won the game, but the refs ruled it was after the buzzer so Simeon won.
I remember being crushed that we didn't beat the defending state champs, but under the circumstances, it wouldn't have been totally legit anyway.
Of course I am not absolutely certain about this storyline, so if anyone remembers the full story, feel free to correct me.