Alex Chili

[gw67]

The Post has a nice article on Terry Chili's daughter, Alex, who is a senior this year and a much better shooter than her dad who was a reserve for Duke. She is going to attend a small school in Pennsylvania and comes accross as a youngster who has her priorities straight.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/26/AR2008022602714.html

gw67

[BlueDevilBaby]

I was hoping it was my Lafayette College. Close but no cigar.

[MChambers]

I remember Chili and his free throws to upset No. 1 Maryland in 1976 (I think). Glad to see his daughter is doing so well and has her priorities straight.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

I remember Chili and his free throws to upset No. 1 Maryland in 1976 (I think). Glad to see his daughter is doing so well and has her priorities straight.

I believe I mentioned those free throws the other day in response to my friend Mr. Sumner's dissing the class of '76 in the 1986 thread :)

Best of luck to Alex Chili. May she enjoy her college experience to the fullest!

[MChambers]

My kids and I went to a program about Duke basketball three years ago in Silver Spring, in connection with the DVD "100 Years of Duke Basketball". Terry Chili, Mark Alarie, and Wojo all spoke. As we were leaving, I told Chili that I remembered his free throws and sure hoped they were on the DVD. He seemed quite proud.

(Unfortunately, they aren't on the DVD.)

[jimsumner]

Believe it or not but Terry's foul shots against Maryland may not have been his greatest contribution to Duke hoops. One summer he was a camp counselor at Lefty's camp. Terry made friends with a young, big man from Connecticut. The youngster mentioned to Chili that he was going to graduate from high school a year early. So Terry got on the phone to Bill Foster and suggested that he get on this Gminski kid ASAP.

The rest, as they say, is history.

[devildeac]

Believe it or not but Terry's foul shots against Maryland may not have been his greatest contribution to Duke hoops. One summer he was a camp counselor at Lefty's camp. Terry made friends with a young, big man from Connecticut. The youngster mentioned to Chili that he was going to graduate from high school a year early. So Terry got on the phone to Bill Foster and suggested that he get on this Gminski kid ASAP.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Thanks, Jim. See, there is SOMETHING else positive from the Class of 1976 beside OZZIE and me;) .

[RPS]

The Post has a nice article on Terry Chili's daughter, Alex, who is a senior this year and a much better shooter than her dad who was a reserve for Duke.I actually saw Terry play in high school, in the farthest reaches of western New York. It's good to read about his daughter doing so well.

[coachbob]

I actually saw Terry play in high school, in the farthest reaches of western New York. It's good to read about his daughter doing so well.

Are you from the area? I went to the same high school as Terry and my father was his JV coach. Terry Chili and Lucille Ball-what a great part of the world!

[RPS]

Are you from the area?Yup. Fredonia (not to be confused with Freedonia of Marx Bros. fame).

[coachbob]

Yup. Fredonia (not to be confused with Freedonia of Marx Bros. fame).

My sister lives in Fredonia.
It is very ironic, just last night at the tech game my father spoke with Bucky Waters about his trip to Jamestown to recruit Terry.

[missouri2725]

Re: the Washington Post profile of Alex Chili/Terry Chili.

I saw Terry Chili's 7th-grade girls' team play a game last month. They aren't a very good team, but were winning against a very raw team about 30-10 in the 4th quarter. One of their opponents missed the first of two free throws really badly -- she probably missed the rim by a foot or two. Mr. Chili's bench players started giggling -- which really distracted this girl, who was quite embarrassed by her air ball. Every time she was about to shoot her 2nd free throw, the giggling would break out again -- oh yes, he was giggling, too.

He had the nerve to ask the ref during the next timeout "I thought you only got 10 seconds to shoot a free throw?" -- and the ref gave him a little lecture. (The rule is that his players were guilty of a violation by distracting her, so her failure to shoot in 10 seconds or less is overlooked.) There was no need for him to challenge the ref on this given he had a big lead in the 4th quarter. (After the game, the scorekeeper and timekeeper -- two middle-aged women -- were saying they had seen him act like a jerk before. They felt he and his team were way out of line for humiliating the opponent, and wanted the ref to give him a technical, I think. They also said Alex had something of an attitude in summer league games they had handled -- but the apple doesn't fall far from the tree and big scorers are usually prima donnas to some degree.)

It's hard for me to see Alex Chili playing D-1 basketball -- no way at a good D-1 school like Duke. She might be a useful 6th man on a low-level D-1 team (like UMBC or Loyola or American U.) with some other scorers -- I can see her being a streak shooter off the bench for a team with other offensive options -- but she could never create her own shots. She's not at all physical -- not sure she could be effective on defense at that level. She's a classic D-3 player -- a skilled player who's not a great athlete -- and there's nothing wrong with D-3 if you want to play a sport but also want to experience college and have a well-rounded life. (At the D-1 level, "student-athlete" is an oxymoron 99% of the time.)

If she were playing in the WCAC, I'm not sure she'd even be a starter on a good team like Good Counsel. There's a huge gap -- not unlike D-1 and D-3 college basketball -- between the WCAC and Montgomery County Public School teams (like hers). The WCAC, PG County, and the top DC public schools are miles above the average MoCo girls' team. (I'm not aware of any MoCo players who have done anything at a good D-1 school the last 10 years or so.)

Of course, the WCAC is like D-1 -- they recruit kids from 50 miles away and giving them financial aid, so it's sort of the same phenomenon. (GW coach Karl Hobbs's daughter played at Holy Cross her freshman year, then transferred to Spaulding for two years, and then to Riverdale Baptist for her senior year -- even the NCAA doesn't allow that. She never became the star he no doubt wanted her to be, and I don't think 3 high schools in 4 years is the best thing academically for a kid.)