Players You Couldn't Help But Like

[Tripping William]

Hope these guys "count":

• Dell Curry (VPISU): For obvious familial reasons
• Danya Abrams (BC): Because March Madness 1994

[MChambers]

Worthy, Stith, Duncan, as others have said. Rodney Rogers. And, believe it or not, before I attended Duke, Len Elmore. I don't feel that way about Len any more.

[burnspbesq]

Interesting that we've made it to page 4 and no one has mentioned John Lucas yet.

[Listen to Quants]

Interesting that we've made it to page 4 and no one has mentioned John Lucas yet.

Demographics, I'd guess. Fine tennis player. I'm missing the mentions of Phil Ford. Talk about willing to have the ball in his hands at the end of games He really did seem to play with joy.

[mark34]

Dennis Scott... he always enjoyed the Cameron crowd before the game.

[wilson]

Dennis Scott... he always enjoyed the Cameron crowd before the game.

...and the Dope Shop cuisine.

[devildeac]

To name a few:

WFU-Childress, Rogers
NCSU-Monroe, Corchiani Sr, Gugliotta
Clemson-Rollins, Wise
GT-Scott, Price
Md-Dixon
UVa-Lamp, Stith
Cheaters-[redacted]
F$U-I'll get back to you

Not sure there are any with some of the Big East refugees that I've really liked.

[Reilly]

"I like you cus ...

Lefty did TV color commentary after Maryland and before JMU. A friend liked to imitate how, one time doing a UNC game, he said in his drawl "Ah like dat Chilcutt".

[Indoor66]

Loved me some Fire & Ice, Stith, Duncan, Bob Bennet over at the Dump, Cunningham, Thompson, Mugsy, Dixon, Dennis Scott.

Actually there are too many to list. We have seen a lot of great players who were likable. I have been fortunate enough to know a number of guys from many schools and most of them are great guys. Our loyalties tend to shade our judgment about these young men. Most are quality people - it's just that some made some poor choices on attending school.

[Doria]

I agree with a lot of the other posts' choices above, and some of them brought back memories I'd all but forgotten.

For me, of particular note (though not with particular organization):

UNC: Worthy, Warren Martin (not a good player, but I really liked him for some reason)
NCSU: Monroe, TJ Warren
Wake: Childress, Bogues, Duncan
GT: Dennis Scott (also had a great historical nickname)
MD: Bias
UVA: Sampson
FSU: Sam Cassell (gets the nod solely for the original "wine and cheese crowd" assessment of the Dean Dome)
Clemson: Uh... I'm sure they've had players I've liked and/or respected, but man, none of coming to mind for me this afternoon.

Fun topic!

[Mike Corey]

Good call on Dennis Scott.

[Indoor66]

Good call on Dennis Scott.

A fine memory rekindled. Thanks for posting.

[brevity]

Good call on Dennis Scott.

A fine memory rekindled. Thanks for posting.

Karl Brown sighting! Later he tried out for a pro career... with the Denver Broncos.

I've been thinking a lot about that 1989-1990 Georgia Tech team ever since Amile Jefferson got injured. They got to the Final Four with six players on their roster (including two freshmen and two junior college transfers) getting 93% of the minutes. Granted, three of those six players averaged over 20 points a game each, and together they scored almost 78% of their team's points. But still, Six was Enough.

Bonus article here about the non-lethal three of Brown, Malcolm Mackey, and Johnny McNeil, written just before their 9-point semifinal loss to UNLV. Maybe a game that needs to be discussed more, considering how its outcome wildly affected Duke history.

[MChambers]

How could you not like David Thompson (if you were a hoops fan when he played)? I should have listed him earlier. Loved it when State beat UCLA.

[TruBlu]

I agree with a lot of the other posts' choices above, and some of them brought back memories I'd all but forgotten.

For me, of particular note (though not with particular organization):

UNC: Worthy, Warren Martin (not a good player, but I really liked him for some reason)

Fun topic!

Mr. Martin held the (unofficial) title for most un-called walks in all of college basketball, until the record was shattered by Hanstravel.

His travels prompted the Crazies to repeatedly chant "Watch Warren walk! Watch Warren walk!" at the refs during his visits to Cameron.

[dukejim1]

My all UNC team:

Jamison
Jones
Lynch
Scott
Phelps

I always felt this group would have been good blue devils.

[uh_no]

gary,
record

[kmspeaks]

I've always appreciated these 2 points from Tyler Zeller

[akg4y]

Man that 1990 GA Tech team was fun to watch... I was in middle school in Atlanta at the time and had to keep up with half of the games on the radio because games werent so prevalent on TV at the time. They had so many comebacks and their Final 4 run was just unbelievable. Scott, Anderson & Oliver.

[burnspbesq]

Mike O'Koren, the Jerseyest Jersey Guy in ACC history. Hurley and Spanarkel together weren't that Jersey.