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84Duke
05-06-2019, 06:12 AM
Since it’s as we all know, May, thought I’d throw a topic out for discussion. These days, almost every Duke recruit is the best player on his high school team. But a lot of their HS teammates were great players - sometimes better players - in high school and/or in college. Thought I’d pick the collective brains of the group for some examples.

Like Chris Carawell played with Loren Woods and Jahidi White. I believe Woods was a higher-ranked prospect; White played in the NBA. Neither better college players, though.

More for curiosity than anything. Even if the argument isn’t who is better (I’m pretty sure Tommy Amaker>George Burgin), just links between notable teammates. Like Allen Williams and Jim Miller (UVA). Apparently they hated each other.

JasonEvans
05-06-2019, 06:55 AM
As I mentioned on the most recent edition of the DBR Podcast, Cassius Stanley was on a high school team with Scottie Pippen Jr and Kenyon Martin Jr, both of whom are headed to Vandy to play ball. They also had Christian Koloko on their high school team, he is a center who has signed with Arizona. In case you are wondering, their team did win the CA state title this past year ;)

Wayne Ellington and Gerald Henderson famously played high school ball together at Episcopal in Merion, PA.

-Jason "love that you recalled the Burgin-Amaker connection... gotta be an old timer to know that one" Evans

84Duke
05-06-2019, 07:00 AM
That one always stuck in my head, Jason. I was sort of leaving out the Oak Hill guys, like Avery, Quinn Cook, Nolan Smith, and Harry Giles, because they basically played on all-star teams. But there are some pretty fun connections over the years.

fuse
05-06-2019, 07:35 AM
As I mentioned on the most recent edition of the DBR Podcast, Cassius Stanley was on a high school team with Scottie Pippen Jr and Kenyon Martin Jr, both of whom are headed to Vandy to play ball. They also had Christian Koloko on their high school team, he is a center who has signed with Arizona. In case you are wondering, their team did win the CA state title this past year ;)

Wayne Ellington and Gerald Henderson famously played high school ball together at Episcopal in Merion, PA.

-Jason "love that you recalled the Burgin-Amaker connection... gotta be an old timer to know that one" Evans

Since we are reaching in the way back machine, George Burgin was a member of what fraternity?

budwom
05-06-2019, 07:39 AM
Years ago I went to Blair Academy in NJ to see Luol Deng play, and he had a pretty solid teammate in Charlie Villanueva, future NBA player as well.

HereBeforeCoachK
05-06-2019, 07:59 AM
Weren't Bagley and Ayton on the same HS team?

84Duke
05-06-2019, 08:03 AM
Since we are reaching in the way back machine, George Burgin was a member of what fraternity?

Coach K didn’t like players joining frats in my day. Burgin was (I think) an engineer - so maybe PhiPsi or PsiU? That’s where a lot of science people landed. I was older than him, so only guessing.

roywhite
05-06-2019, 08:07 AM
Going back, two pairs of high school teammates who ended up at Duke and UNC:

Dick DeVenzio and Dennis Wuycik from PA State champ Ambridge HS
Jim Spanarkel and Mike O'Koren from Hudson Catholic in NJ

fuse
05-06-2019, 08:15 AM
Coach K didn’t like players joining frats in my day. Burgin was (I think) an engineer - so maybe PhiPsi or PsiU? That’s where a lot of science people landed. I was older than him, so only guessing.

I believe Coach K’s attitude on fraternities has been consistent.

Burgin is a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon (DKE).

I’m not confident to say he is the only Coach K player to join a fraternity, certainly Burgin is one of but a few.

84Duke
05-06-2019, 08:22 AM
I believe Coach K’s attitude on fraternities has been consistent.

Burgin is a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon (DKE).

I’m not confident to say he is the only Coach K player to join a fraternity, certainly Burgin is one of but a few.

The Dekes were formed in my junior year (83) and the founders knew me and asked me to join. But it was a little late for that. Jay Bryan was an ATO, if I remember. Maybe Mike Tissaw, too. Alarie and Bilas “joined” the SPEs as seniors - but again, my recollection may be foggy. I don’t think they lived there. Weldon Williams also a maybe.

Jedweb
05-06-2019, 09:21 AM
Brent Kitchings, Ted Mann (Jr.), Jack Marin, Jim Liccardo, Bob Riedy and Bill Zimmer were Kappa Sigs.

dudog84
05-06-2019, 09:32 AM
The Dekes were formed in my junior year (83) and the founders knew me and asked me to join. But it was a little late for that. Jay Bryan was an ATO, if I remember. Maybe Mike Tissaw, too. Alarie and Bilas “joined” the SPEs as seniors - but again, my recollection may be foggy. I don’t think they lived there. Weldon Williams also a maybe.

So THAT'S why we lost the national championship in '86!!! :mad::rolleyes:

84Duke
05-06-2019, 09:52 AM
So THAT'S why we lost the national championship in '86!!! :mad::rolleyes:

We try never to talk of that day.

CrazyNotCrazie
05-06-2019, 09:54 AM
Bobby Hurley played in HS at St Anthony’s with Terry Dehere and Jerry Walker, who both played at Seton Hall ( and he was a few years ahead of his brother Danny, who also went to Seton Hall).

84Duke
05-06-2019, 10:26 AM
Bobby Hurley played in HS at St Anthony’s with Terry Dehere and Jerry Walker, who both played at Seton Hall ( and he was a few years ahead of his brother Danny, who also went to Seton Hall).

Plus Rodrick Rhodes and Luther Wright.

JasonEvans
05-06-2019, 10:41 AM
Bobby Hurley played in HS at St Anthony’s with Terry Dehere and Jerry Walker, who both played at Seton Hall ( and he was a few years ahead of his brother Danny, who also went to Seton Hall).

Ro McLeod also went to St. A's... though obviously not at the same time as Hurley and Dehere (one of the best high school backcourt of all time).

CrazyNotCrazie
05-06-2019, 10:43 AM
Plus Rodrick Rhodes and Luther Wright.

Big Luther was briefly at St Anthony’s but spent the bulk of his HS career at Elizabeth. Rhodes likely overlapped with Bobby Hurley for about a year but was closer in age to Roshown McLeod, who I think was a year behind him at St Anthony’s.

Kyrie had some prominent teammates at St Pat’s - I think MKG was there (not sure if they overlapped) and Dexter Strickland.

For the sake of this discussion, the more recent boarding school all star teams are less interesting to me.

Tom B.
05-06-2019, 11:18 AM
Daniel Ewing played with T.J. Ford and Ivan McFarlin at Willowridge High School in Missouri City, Texas.

Ford was an All-American at Texas, led Texas to the 2003 Final Four in his sophomore season, and won the Naismith and Wooden Awards that year. He played seven-plus seasons in the NBA before his career was cut short by injuries.

McFarlin played college ball at Oklahoma State and helped lead them to the Final Four in 2004, in which Duke also played (both teams lost in the semifinals -- Oklahoma State to Georgia Tech, and Duke to UConn). He played professionally for eight years, mostly overseas -- but had a cup of coffee with the Philadelphia 76ers in 2006. He's the answer to the trivia question, "Who was the extra player the 76ers threw in when they traded Allen Iverson to the Nuggets?" The Nuggets waived McFarlin and he never played for them, so he went back overseas and spent the next seven years playing in Turkey, Switzerland, Poland, Israel, Australia, Japan, and Bolivia.

84Duke
05-06-2019, 11:21 AM
Daniel Ewing played with T.J. Ford and Ivan McFarlin at Willowridge High School in Missouri City, Texas.

Ford was an All-American at Texas and won the Naismith and Wooden Awards in his sophomore season. He played seven-plus seasons in the NBA before his career was cut short by injuries.

McFarlin played college ball at Oklahoma State and helped lead them to the Final Four in 2004, in which Duke also played (both teams lost in the semifinals -- Oklahoma State to Georgia Tech, and Duke to UConn). He played professionally for eight years, mostly overseas -- but had a cup of coffee with the Philadelphia 76ers in 2006. He's the answer to the trivia question, "Who was the extra player the 76ers threw in when they traded Allen Iverson to the Nuggets?" The Nuggets waived McFarlin and he never played for them, so he went back overseas and spent the next seven years playing in Turkey, Switzerland, Poland, Israel, Australia, Japan, and Bolivia.

I forgot the Ewing/Ford connection. I had one like that with our Texas players in the cobwebs of my mind, but was thinking Thomas Hill.

frb
05-06-2019, 11:46 AM
lance thomas played at st. benedicts with samardo samuels, corey stokes ..... and while at scotch plains hs, thomas played alongside ashton gibbs.

UrinalCake
05-06-2019, 11:47 AM
This is a fantastic idea for a summertime thread! This past season I thought there were some articles stating that Zion and Ja Morant played together really early in high school, like as sophomores before Zion blew up (both physically and figuratively). But that might have been an AAU team.

My favorite all time high school connection, which involves neither Duke nor basketball teammates and thus is completely off topic for this thread, is that Jason Williams (a.k.a. White Chocolate) went to the same high school as Randy Moss. Man, that would have been a fun school to attend. My entire high school had like one guy who could dunk.

jimsumner
05-06-2019, 11:48 AM
I believe Miles Plumlee and Mason Plumlee were teammates. :)

There was a famous Durham H.S. team that included Gordon Carver, Bob Gantt and brothers Cedric and Garland Loftis back in the late 1930s. They all played at Duke. But their teammate Bones McKinney was the best of the bunch and he got away.

frb
05-06-2019, 11:53 AM
andre sweet was the second best player his team at rice/nyc. andre barrett was considered the better prospect. both ended up at seton hall.

jimsumner
05-06-2019, 11:55 AM
Fred Shabel was a high-school teammate of Holy Cross All-American Togo Palazzi. Union City, New Jersey.

And yes, I'm actually old enough to remember Togo Palazzi. Of course, who could forget someone named Togo Palazzi?

84Duke
05-06-2019, 12:03 PM
Fred Shabel was a high-school teammate of Holy Cross All-American Togo Palazzi. Union City, New Jersey.

And yes, I'm actually old enough to remember Togo Palazzi. Of course, who could forget someone named Togo Palazzi?

The best player in the history of my high school went to Holy Cross - in the 80s, when HC was not so good. He was not good there. He was one of those guys who was 6’6 in 8th grade, and 6’6 in 12th grade. Like an anti-Dunleavy.

budwom
05-06-2019, 12:22 PM
Big Luther was briefly at St Anthony’s but spent the bulk of his HS career at Elizabeth. Rhodes likely overlapped with Bobby Hurley for about a year but was closer in age to Roshown McLeod, who I think was a year behind him at St Anthony’s.

Kyrie had some prominent teammates at St Pat’s - I think MKG was there (not sure if they overlapped) and Dexter Strickland.

For the sake of this discussion, the more recent boarding school all star teams are less interesting to me.

Big Luther and his draft day yellow suit remains my most vivid memory of draft night.

BigZ
05-06-2019, 01:37 PM
Bagley and Ayton has played together for one year

duke79
05-06-2019, 01:46 PM
I believe Alex Murphy, Kaleb Tarczewski (University of Arizona - now playing in Europe, I think), and Nik Staukes (U of Michigan, now playing in the NBA) all played on the same high school team.

jimsumner
05-06-2019, 02:36 PM
Has Gary Trent been mentioned? I think he overlapped with the Jones brothers.

roywhite
05-06-2019, 02:38 PM
A more recent Duke/UNC high school combo was that of Gerald Henderson, Jr. and Wayne Ellington at Episcopal Academy in suburban Philadelphia.

Green Wave Dukie
05-06-2019, 02:58 PM
Harry Giles and Theo Pinson played together at Wesleyan Christian in High Point - for a pretty accomplished former ACC player as their head coach.

Tom B.
05-06-2019, 10:50 PM
And yes, I'm actually old enough to remember Togo Palazzi. Of course, who could forget someone named Togo Palazzi?


Not to be confused with world-renowned opera singer Enrico Pallazzo.

InSpades
05-07-2019, 02:28 AM
Big Luther was briefly at St Anthony’s but spent the bulk of his HS career at Elizabeth. Rhodes likely overlapped with Bobby Hurley for about a year but was closer in age to Roshown McLeod, who I think was a year behind him at St Anthony’s.

Kyrie had some prominent teammates at St Pat’s - I think MKG was there (not sure if they overlapped) and Dexter Strickland.

For the sake of this discussion, the more recent boarding school all star teams are less interesting to me.

Kyrie and MKG overlapped 2 years at St. Patrick's. Kyrie transferred in for his junior year which was MKG's sophomore year. They won the Tournament of Champions that 1st year (Kyrie's Junior year) but the team was suspended for Kyrie's senior year (or they likely would have won another).

JasonEvans
05-07-2019, 09:28 AM
Big Luther and his draft day yellow suit remains my most vivid memory of draft night.

https://serve.cdntik.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/b51a19aed4660c49179eba90c0b414b9.jpg

johnb
05-08-2019, 05:30 PM
Oak Hills isn't fair, but Nolan Smith played alongside Brandon Jennings and Alex Legion. They went 40-1, beat 9 state champs, and won by 27 points/ game.

Everybody pales in comparison with 1981-1982 Dunbar (Baltimore, MD), where all the guys grew up within 7 miles of each other:
Mugsy Bogues (NBA), Reggie Lewis (NBA), Reggie Williams (NBA), David Wingate (NBA), Gary Graham (UNLV), Tim Dawson (Miami), Keith James (UNLV), Darryl Woods (Virginia Union), Mike Brown (Clemson).

https://www.legendssf.com/blogs/legends-blog/10-greatest-high-school-basketball-teams-of-all-time