MU best transfer ever

[77ncaachamps]

I like how Boylan and Jackson proponents use the NCAA Title and Final Four, respectively, to bolster their arguments.

The fact that Brell and Boone gets love makes me want to see some old tape!

So where are the older games for viewing?!

[PJDunn]

Boone was a stud and a great guy to boot.  If he does not have a nagging groin injury towards the end of the '85/'86 campaign we go to the tourney. 

RJax was a nice role player.  His success was partly a function of his supporting cast. 

Just my biased opinion.  Fun discussion.

[MU82]

  Boylan.  Instrumental in MU lining up for first place in the entire nation.

Big fan of Boylan. And Boone, for that matter.

As for Robert Jackson, I guess one could call him a role player ... in that everyone not named D-Wade was a role player on that team. At 15.4 points and 7.5 rebs per game, shooting 56 percent from the floor and giving MU its first true center in years (or even decades), that's the kind of role player I wish we'd get lots and lots and lots more of.

[Dawson Rental]

Eford prepped at Maine Central Institue in Pittsfield, Maine.

Nope, he went to prep school at New Hampton (N.H.) Prep, as per the bio on his website.

http://www.roneyefordbasketball.com/bio.html

[Dawson Rental]

 Let's not forget " Don" Gary Grzeszk and the all time Kojis from ND.  In fact, the Catholic Conference schools produced quite a few MU players.  St. Kate's Rocke Calvelli and Chones immediately come to mind. And how about Allie McGuire, and Rosenberger from MUHS!  More?  There are.

Uh, Bill Neary.

And that other Marquette U High walkon, Rick Majerus.

[Hoopaloop]

Really? Cat fell asleep on the pines.

Keith Stewart should have been in teal. 

[warthog-driver]

Jim was from tiny Assumption College and wanted to transfer to N Carolina. Dean Smith didn't take transfers (unless your name was Bob McAdoo) so he recommended Jim to Al. All Boylan does is beat Dean in the national championship game.

I'm with Lenny - Boylan took us to the promised land. Best transfer? Not sure. Most strategic? Absolutely.

Best JUCo would be Jerome Whitehead. Prototypical Aircraft Carrier - Al coined the term when referring to J. Pretty strong endorsement.

Whitehead was the coolest cat. Shortly after returning from Atlanta in '77 all the team members were sporting sealskin jackets. Rosenberger had a waist length, most had regular coat length, but Whitehead had ankle length seal skin. With that coat, his gradated shades, afro and imperturbable expression he was the nuts on the boulevard.

[Goose]

Warthog
They were all decked out in awfully cool jackets. Are you sure seal or sheepskin?

[warthog-driver]

Warthog
They were all decked out in awfully cool jackets. Are you sure seal or sheepskin?

Sealskin! 100% certain. This was in the very early days of seal clubbing outrage so they had no qualms about donning such exquisite finery. Personally, given the number of hooked salmon I have lost to seals over the years, I have no issue with seal skin clothing.

One has to wonder how the guys all got together and decided to walk down to Boston Store to pick out their seal skin jackets?

[DomJamesToTheBasket]

Not saying best ever BUT.......I think DJO belongs in the conversation.

NCAA bound all 3 years including back-to-back Sweet 16's.  As a senior was First Team All Big East and was a fraction of a point from being the Big East scoring champ (only to lose the title to the best Big East Player of ALL TIME!)

As a Junior was Second Team All Big East.

Put up damn good stats all 3 years and was a BIG part in all of the success.

[Dr. Blackheart]

The 1976 & 1977 teams and the 2011 & 12 teams are the only two groups of teams who have won at least their two NCAA games to advance--back to back.  Both teams were fueled by JUCO's and transfer-ins. 

[tower912]

Careful with the squirmy sacrilege, Doc. 

[ATWizJr]

The 1976 & 1977 teams and the 2011 & 12 teams are the only two groups of teams who have won at least their two NCAA games to advance--back to back.  Both teams were fueled by JUCO's and transfer-ins. 

As were many of John Wooden's UCLA National champion teams.

[Dawson Rental]

The 1976 & 1977 teams and the 2011 & 12 teams are the only two groups of teams who have won at least their two NCAA games to advance--back to back.  Both teams were fueled by JUCO's and transfer-ins. 

This puts my thinking on recruiting in a new light.  JUCOs and transfer are not the way to begin building a team, but they are the best way of finishing.  Once you see the weaknesses from the base you recruited, you fill in with mature players.

[Lennys Tap]

This puts my thinking on recruiting in a new light.  JUCOs and transfer are not the way to begin building a team, but they are the best way of finishing.  Once you see the weaknesses from the base you recruited, you fill in with mature players.

Bob Knight's last championship team (87?) was led by two jucos - may have been the only ones he ever had at I4.

[warthog-driver]

Bob Knight's last championship team (87?) was led by two jucos - may have been the only ones he ever had at I4.

You're right - Keith Smart and Dean Garrett were both JuCOs. Knight had no problem with JUCOs and said so on TV as an analyst. He commented that without Smart and Garrett there is no ring in 87.

[Hoopaloop]

Bob Knight's last championship team (87?) was led by two jucos - may have been the only ones he ever had at I4.

Led by two jucos?  Are you sure some guy named Steve Alford, 22 points per game (the two you mention avg'd 11) didn't lead Indiana?  Those two juco players were good and key players, but some traditional guy led them to the title.

Been reading this board for quite some time, several years.  Do not recall anyone ever saying no JUCO players should be recruited or allowed at Marquette.  Maybe someone can point to where that was the case made here as my memory is foggy.  Some posters, fans and alumni had trepidations over the quantity of JUCOs and the types of JUCOs these kids were coming from.  Weren't there concerns of diploma factories for Yous and other players?   

[Hoopaloop]

As were many of John Wooden's UCLA National champion teams.

Who?

Sidney Wickes, Swen Nater (played less than 3 minutes per game) and John Vallely are the ones that come to mind.  Maybe there are more, but that wouldn't constitute many over 10 national championship teams. 

[ATWizJr]

I'm with Lenny - Boylan took us to the promised land. Best transfer? Not sure. Most strategic? Absolutely.

Best JUCo would be Jerome Whitehead. Prototypical Aircraft Carrier - Al coined the term when referring to J. Pretty strong endorsement.

Whitehead was the coolest cat. Shortly after returning from Atlanta in '77 all the team members were sporting sealskin jackets. Rosenberger had a waist length, most had regular coat length, but Whitehead had ankle length seal skin. With that coat, his gradated shades, afro and imperturbable expression he was the nuts on the boulevard.
[/quote  Who remembers the unlicensed tee shirt that surfaced after the national championship showing Al holding a Marquette Banner over his head and the team with the caption 1977 N.C.A.A. Champs?  Still got mine!

[ATWizJr]

Who?

Sidney Wickes, Swen Nater (played less than 3 minutes per game) and John Vallely are the ones that come to mind.  Maybe there are more, but that wouldn't constitute many over 10 national championship teams. 

Without doing an exhaustive search, since Wicks and Vallely constituted 40% of the starting 5 for the 69 and 70 teams, I think that is pretty significant.

[Hoopaloop]

  Without doing an exhaustive search, since Wicks and Vallely constituted 40% of the starting 5 for the 69 and 70 teams, I think that is pretty significant.

Yes, important players on those two teams, but he had 10 championship teams and 80% of them had no JUCO players. That is where your many comment threw me off.

[Avenue Commons]

As for Robert Jackson, I guess one could call him a role player ... in that everyone not named D-Wade was a role player on that team. At 15.4 points and 7.5 rebs per game, shooting 56 percent from the floor and giving MU its first true center in years (or even decades), that's the kind of role player I wish we'd get lots and lots and lots more of.

+1Million. RJax was a beast. Great player for MU.

Seems obvious in retrospect, but that Final 4 team was loaded with talent. D Wade, Diener and Novak all went onto the NBA with Dwyane a lock for the Hall of Fame. Scott Merritt and RJax were also both really good college players who would start on just about any other Marquette team since.

[jsglow]

This puts my thinking on recruiting in a new light.  JUCOs and transfer are not the way to begin building a team, but they are the best way of finishing.  Once you see the weaknesses from the base you recruited, you fill in with mature players.

Great point Murs.  Kind of difficult to know exactly what a 16 y/o will bring to the table 3-4 years down the road but I think Buzz had a pretty good sense that Jae could start for him for two years 6 months before he got to campus.

[real chili 83]

Greatest non MU transfer of all time........

Larry Bird

[warthog-driver]

Have we established "The Best Ever?" It would be interesting to see where people are at after this dialogue.