Best Wisconsin high school Big Man ever

[brandx]

Not sure why Gary Cole is not listed.They may have missed him.Played at least 1 season with Portland.

He was mentioned in the 1st post on this thread - although he wasn't born in Wisconsin. He also was a starter for Dallas in their 1st game in the league.

[willie warrior]

Here's the list of players born in Wisconsin that played in the NBA/ABA.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/friv/birthplaces.cgi?country=US&state=WI

And put me in the Chones camp.

Man, that is quite the list of former NBA players. Who could ever forget Downtown Freddy Brown?
Another good list would be legends that never made it to the NBA. Guys like: Mickey Crowe; Anthony Pieper; Blanton Simmons; and Sewell come to mind.

[Archies Bat]

Man, that is quite the list of former NBA players. Who could ever forget Downtown Freddy Brown?
Another good list would be legends that never made it to the NBA. Guys like: Mickey Crowe; Anthony Pieper; Blanton Simmons; and Sewell come to mind.

Semi-interesting tidbit...Mickey Crowe was in the crowd when Reagan got shot.  They interviewed him on TV about the shooting.

[brandx]

Man, that is quite the list of former NBA players. Who could ever forget Downtown Freddy Brown?
Another good list would be legends that never made it to the NBA. Guys like: Mickey Crowe; Anthony Pieper; Blanton Simmons; and Sewell come to mind.

Forgot about Downtown Freddy - who I watched a lot as a little kid. And Clarence Sherrod and John Rushing who were also outstanding players on the same team. Sherrod had a great career at UW. Milwaukee Lincoln averaged in the upper 90's for a couple years with these guys and are always in the conversation for best HS team ever in Wisconsin.

[TedBaxter]

Kevin Rankin from DePere Pennings was a better overall player than Jim McIlvaine and wanted to come to MU.  I always wonder what would have happened if Rankin would have teamed with Damon Key in 1990-94.  Had a very good career at Northwestern starting 111 out of 112 games.

[sailwi]

Ted B, I respect your opinion but at the end of the day Jimmy Mac had a better career than Rankin although coming out of HS they were evenly rated.  Perhaps it was development at the college level but Mac played in the NBA and Rankin in Europe. My ex brother in  law was Rankin's uncle so I kept up with him for awhile, he played in Turkey for a number of years and being a NW grad knew enough to save his money. I don't know what he is doing today but assume he is like Mac and doing ok for himself.

Do you know what happened at the end of Rankin's recruiting and why he ended up at NW vs. MU.

[Earl Tatum]

JIM CHONES HANDS DOWN ---  JIMMY Mc NOT BAD

[TedBaxter]

Ted B, I respect your opinion but at the end of the day Jimmy Mac had a better career than Rankin although coming out of HS they were evenly rated.  Perhaps it was development at the college level but Mac played in the NBA and Rankin in Europe. My ex brother in  law was Rankin's uncle so I kept up with him for awhile, he played in Turkey for a number of years and being a NW grad knew enough to save his money. I don't know what he is doing today but assume he is like Mac and doing ok for himself.

Do you know what happened at the end of Rankin's recruiting and why he ended up at NW vs. MU.

Don't know why he ended up at NW.  Had heard he wanted to go to MU at one point.

I always felt Rankin was a better offensive player, better passer and better rebounder than McIlvaine with Jim the better defender.  McIlvaine was obviously a difference maker on the defensive end and the reason he played in the NBA. 

Rankin had over 1,500 points and is one of the best rebounders in Northwestern history.  I always wonder what kind of damage Key and Rankin could have done on the offensive end and Rankin was a decent defender as well.

[BlindboyPatSmith]

Feb 8 1967 I attended my first Warrior game....MU v Loyola - yeah it was a big deal back then.  I sat in one of those seats Al always looked for to see if the house was full...it was.

I sat in awe as I watched an undersized guy by the name of Pat Smith haul down 28 rebounds - still a team record.

So with Props to Pat....my vote goes to Jim Chones....

Then again Pat was from New York.....

[Eye]

Kojis more of a small forward than a big man, correct?

[willie warrior]

Kojis more of a small forward than a big man, correct?

Kojis was listed at 6'5", but was probably closer to 6'4"

[Dawson Rental]

Kojis was listed at 6'5", but was probably closer to 6'4"

Prototypical MU big man.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

Chris Farley.

[willie warrior]

Prototypical MU big man.

He did average about 16 rebounds per game one year and about 13 for his career. Those are big man numbers. He was a stud in the day.

[SuddenSam]

Chris Farley.

Like it.  Maybe the dominating twin towers, Dean Marquardt and Bryan Nyanhuis.  Double stud.

[Goose]

Jim Chones still sets the standard to be judged against.

[real chili 83]

Here's the list of players born in Wisconsin that played in the NBA/ABA.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/friv/birthplaces.cgi?country=US&state=WI

And put me in the Chones camp.

Didn't Dean Marquardt stop for a cup of coffee in the association?

[4everwarriors]

Maybe the American Automobile Association. Otherwise, just Europe. Tom Copa picked ass splinters in San Antonio.

[real chili 83]

His BIL was a room mate.  Thought he got a brief shot at the end of his career.  Could be wrong.

[willie warrior]

Maybe the American Automobile Association. Otherwise, just Europe. Tom Copa picked ass splinters in San Antonio.

Tom Copa, another Blast from the Past. The Coon Rapids Killer.

[77ncaachamps]

I'm curious what Wisconsin fans would say as Chones - though he'd get my vote - would appear a Homer pick since this is an MU board.

[4everwarriors]

Who they gonna pick, Enos Henrickson? Dale Koehler and Joe Chrnelich were good, but can't carry Jimmy's Bike.

[Eye]

I would hope one of the non-homer picks would be Joe Wolf.

[Aircraftcarrier]

Sure would not be Al Rudd.Kim and Kerry Hughes were not bad though.

[77ncaachamps]

Who they gonna pick, Enos Henrickson? Dale Koehler and Joe Chrnelich were good, but can't carry Jimmy's Bike.

Evan "Bigger Country" Anderson