By Paul Casey Gotham
****Remember, try this without research. Release your inner James Joyce and show us your stream of consciousness as you try to decipher the answer.
I guess it’s time to shift from the gridiron to hardwood. I’ll take the baton. I saw you pine riders dwelling on plenty of guys mentioned on Heisman ballots. You’ll find me in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference. Not exactly what you might consider sexy. Huh? We went 2-2 in the NCAA tournament while I was there. My school has done pretty well of late. I think they are one of only two teams to reach the Sweet Sixteen each of the last three years. I was elected conference player of the year, twice and earned All-American honorable mention. I led my school in rebounding all four years grabbing over 1,000 in my career. I also scored more than1,700 while maintaining a field goal percentage of 59.4 percent. Someone must have found that to be sexy enough because I was a lottery pick in the N.B.A. draft. How many N.B.A. lottery picks came out of the Midwestern Collegiate Conference? That’s got to be a short list. I played over 700 games for five teams in The Association averaging 10.5 points and 7.4 rebounds. I earned first-team All-Rookie honors. Lately, I have been spending time with my foundation: Shake It Till We Make It!
Who am I?
You’ve got to be kidding me.
That’s another way of saying, “I have no idea.” Well, actually I do because I googled the key hint, and found out it’s a player I wouldn’t have got if you gave me 1000 guesses. I couldn’t even figure out what the school is. My first guess was Bradley. Pretty decent guess, right? They’re a mid-major in the midwest. Nope, not even in the midwestern collegiate conference.
I could offer another hint on the actual school, but it would be way too obvious.
This one hits home a little bit. The MCC is Butler’s conference, but now known as the Horizon League. (Fun fact: before joining the Big East for all sports except football, Notre Dame’s “non-revenue” teams were members of the MCC for much of the ’80s). Xavier was also in the MCC at one time. Both Butler and Xavier have enjoyed NCAA tourney success so should probably focus the search on their alums. Now I have to get going … will return later. Hopefully someone will move the ball downfield or even score while I’m gone.
Still rackin’ the brain trying to come up with one of the all-time greats for Butler or Xavier … somebody who played in NBA roughly in the ’90s and maybe a few years 2000+. Looks like one of those hard working, lunchpail types … power forward. A bit of a journeyman, given 5 teams over 9-10 seasons. Hmmm. NBA not my strong suit, esp for non-HoFers or 1st Team All-Americans. My hunch is that it’s a former Xavier player, since the clues are coming from Casey. Where’s Abby … can she help us out? Please?!?!
Taking the clues started by Wally and kinda by Chas. Limited by what I can type on my phone – I am going to guess David West..Big guy, all-star who would have led Xavier all 4 years in his tenure. Of course it is a guess.
Taking the clues started by Wally and kinda by Chas. Limited by what I can type on my phone – I am going to guess David West..Big guy, all-star who would have led Xavier all 4 years in rebounding during his tenure. Of course it is a guess.
Can’t be David West…Hasn’t.Xavier always been in the A-10 so this couldn’t be from Xavier. Bad guess and I hate my phone.
I have never hear of that conference, so I am bowing out early.
No, Smitty, Xavier was in the MCC “back in my day” and into the ’90s … but it can’t be West because he played for Xavier after the MCC period. This is someone 8-10 years older than West. I’m still assuming it’s a Xavier player only cuz of the Casey connection. Also, Xavier has probably been a bit more successful than Butler overall in the NCAA tourney over the years.
I hate your phone, too … it repeats itself.
No Smitty, Wally’s right. Xavier was once in the MCC (whether that’s Midwestern Collegiate Conference or Midwestern City Conference is up for debate), which is now the Horizon League.
C’mon Pete! It’s Xavier … an early ’90s player … one of their best EVER. (I’m saying this and I still cannot think of who it is). But don’t give up so easy!
Where’s Abby … I know she can carry this ball into the endzone.
Smitty … ’90s Xavier … think of some names.
I want to say it’s the guy who just had his jersey retired from Xavier. Gosh what is his name?!
Brian Grant? Played with the Lakers and maybe the Hawks. Power forward in its true form so he has to have a high FG% for his career.
Nice job Rey. I truly had (and still have) NO IDEA.
I googled the “Shake It” foundation. My response to the answer was the same as when one of the pundits googled Caleb Hanie during the NFC Championship game and Google came back with “Who’s he?” The closest I come to knowing Brian Grant is confusing him with Ryan Grant. I did not follow college basketball closely in the ’90s and have NEVER followed the NBA. My early drop-out was indeed warranted.
Rey! YOU DA MAN!!! I think you nailed it … Grant was Xavier and certainly a wonderful power forward. Didn’t he kinda do the “West Coast Swing” and also play for Sacramento and Portland?
Way to go, Rey. 😉
Meanwhile, back in a place where time stands still, Smitty is still debating whether or not Xavier was in the MCC. And he’s blaming his phone for whatever’s gone wrong today. We can only shake our heads …
Well I think Smitty is ahead of me. I don’t know enough about my phone to be able to blame it, and I have no memory of an MCC or a Brian Grant. OUCH!
Well, Pete I already said that I wouldn’t have guessed correctly if you gave me 1000 tries. I might have guessed Horace Grant, but not Brian Grant.
If this is a taste of what the basketball WAIs are going to be about, we’re going to be needing Rey to hang out here more often.
It’s too bad I didn’t play more SOM BB, but the game stunk in that sport. SOM was my portal to knowledge about many athletes in the 70s, 80s and 90s.
Wally – actually there was supposed to be a question mark in there.. but my phone wasn’t cooperating. Can’t access the site through our work computers, so I am relegated to check to site via the phone.
Nice work Reynell! I am kicking myself because I was just reading recently about Brian Grant and that he was a Xavier alum.
Pete, I actually liked playing the solitaire version of SOM Basketball, although my buddy and I were in agreement that it was the worst of the three games.
Rey – To. The. RESCUUUUEE!!!! Outstanding. I could hear the William Tell overture playing as I read your answer. That must make Wally your kemosabe. Nice work.
A little background – the A10 officially came into existence in the 1982-83 season. Original teams were Rutgers, St. Joe’s, Temple, UMass, Rhode Island, Bonaventure, West Virginia, Penn State, Duquesne, George Washington. Before that the conference was known as Eastern 8.
Xavier, Dayton, LaSalle and Fordham joined the A10 for the 1995-96 season. Xavier and Dayton came over from the Midwestern Collegiate Conference. There could be some confusion with the MCC as there is a NAIA conference by the same name.
By the way, when I said:
“I could offer another hint on the actual school, but it would be way too obvious.”
That was a hint. 🙂
Total team effort. I had no idea until I read the comments that pointed out the conferences and the fact it might be Xavier.