SB Nation Atlanta Editor's Pick

Who Are Tech's Best Basketball Players?

by Atlanta's original team on Jan 13, 2011 10:53 AM EST

As this season meanders along I keep saying to myself things like, "I actually like basketball." So in that spirit lets reflect on some positive images from the past.

If I had a time machine that would allow me to pluck any Tech basketball player during their prime and put them on a team together I would come up with the following roster:

Center Rich Yunkus (all time Tech leading scorer)

Forward Sammy Drummer (on teams where he rarely had any talent around him he still is one of Tech's leaders in average points per game)

Forward Matt Harpring (made his teammates better and also is a leader in average points per game)

Guard Mark Price (what more can you say about the player who brought Tech back to prominence?)

Guard Kenny Anderson (he can stack up with any of Tech's best guards)

I thought of lots of other players and thought about doing a depth chart at each position but I got too lazy. Since this is subjective I was really trying to get at which players all time gave me a sense of confidence whenever they had the ball. The aforementioned list is it. Rarely did these guys make mistakes and they could be counted on in the clutch. All of them were flat out dangerous scorers. I also think you see in them another quality. Each one made the chemistry of their team better.

A second list of Tech players would be those who went on to be good NBA players. The best of that lot seems to be Mark Price, Dennis Scott, Stephon Marbury, Kenny Anderson and Chis Bosh.

O.K., I want to hear your thoughts on any or all of the following questions.

1. Do you think any of Tech's current players will end up among Tech's all time elite players?

2. Do you think any of Tech's current players will end up being NBA stars of the caliber I've mentioned?

3. Who are your favorite Tech stars of the past and what did you like about them?

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Here goes...

1 & 2 are easy: No.

Tom Hammonds – great combination of smoothness and strength. Also turned out to be good NBA’er
Craig “Noodles” Neal – hustle with great shooting stroke. When he got hot, look out.
James Forrest – hard worker on the boards. Underrated.
Yvon Joseph – monster underneath

BTW – An old Yvon Joseph rumor/myth: Forget the year, but when Tech played Georgetown (who I think was #1) in the Elite Eight the story was that Yvon’s Haitian wife/girlfriend mysteriously showed up at his hotel room the night before the game. Threw him off his game the next day and Georgetown escaped with a close win. Allegedly John Thompson had had her flown in to mess with his head.

by ee8384 on Jan 13, 2011 7:04 PM EST reply actions

I had not heard that

but I do remember Yvon Joseph taking no s—- from Ewing under the boards. That year Yvon Joseph was the only center who really seemed to hold his own against Ewing.

by Atlanta's original team on Jan 13, 2011 8:56 PM EST up reply actions

I attributed Tech’s loss to just one of those things in basketball. Sometimes the key shots fall for you at the right time and sometimes they fall for the other guys at the right time.

by Atlanta's original team on Jan 13, 2011 8:57 PM EST up reply actions

Ah, the Hewitt rationale

Although he trots it out even in a 20 point loss.

by ee8384 on Jan 13, 2011 9:21 PM EST up reply actions

Ouch

in that light my words were an unfortunate choice. Anyway, the Georgetown game could have gone either way and I honestly believe that if they had played ten times the series would have been 5-5.

by Atlanta's original team on Jan 14, 2011 8:28 AM EST up reply actions

Great game

My recollection is that for most of the 2nd half the teams traded buckets and misses, with Georgetown’s lead going back and forth from 2 to 4. Every time the Hoyas were up by 2 and missed, Tech missed, and never could get to the tie. Finally with the clock down to about 4 minutes Tech missed down by 4, Georgetown converted to extend to 6, and that was all she wrote – became a FT contest.

by ee8384 on Jan 14, 2011 10:06 AM EST up reply actions

I like your other choices of players

I considered Hammonds for one of my starters not just because he was as solid as any Tech player in history but he could play any position on the court. But then the problem was where to play him. If you play him at guard then there are several all time great guards ahead of him. Forward would be a natural position but again I felt like I had to make room for Drummer who perhaps had the greatest vertical leap of any player in college ball. And yes, I am remembering David Thompson of North Carolina State. But Hammonds would definitely be my first guy off the bench.

Yvon Joseph was perhaps Tech’s best prototypical big man however I went with Yunkus because he is Tech’s all time leader when it comes to putting the ball in the hole game in and game out.

I also agree with you about Forrest. Craig Neal is the kind of player you have to love but he is probably not even a fifth stringer on my all time team. Think of all the great guards that have played such as Dennis Scott, Brian Oliver, Roger Kaiser, Travis Best, Stephon Marbury, Jarrett Jack, Marvin Lewis, Will Bynum, to name a few.

by Atlanta's original team on Jan 13, 2011 9:31 PM EST up reply actions

Yeah...I never heard that and I was a student on campus at that time

it was the 1985-86 season…the Haitian Sensation…the dude was 6’10" of muscle…just a beast of a guy…loved watching him on the boards from my seat usually just a couple rows back behind the basket

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by Jaxon on Jan 20, 2011 11:02 AM EST up reply actions

I remember a tense moment in the Georgetown game

when it looked like Joseph and Ewing might come to blows. The TV commentators said that Patrick Ewing should think twice because he was facing a real man. Ewing apparently did think twice and backed off.

by Atlanta's original team on Jan 20, 2011 3:00 PM EST up reply actions

Thanks

Your question was who are your favorites, so I wasn’t trying to pick those that would crack your starting lineup. Some of those in your starting lineup are also on my favorites list but I was also trying to not be redundant.

Jarrett Jack and John Salley are two other standouts.

by ee8384 on Jan 14, 2011 7:18 AM EST reply actions

You're welcome

I wish someone would respond with an all-time depth chart. That would really start the conversation rolling.

by Atlanta's original team on Jan 14, 2011 8:26 AM EST up reply actions

Depth Chart

Point: Price-Anderson-Kaiser-Jack

2 Guard: Noodles-Dalrymple-Oliver-B.J. Elder

SF: Scott, Harpring, Ferrell, Isma’il Muhammad

PF: Spider, Hammonds, Lenny Horton,Forrest

C: Yunkus, Yvon, LUUUUUUKE, Goza(special mention for spitting on Ralph),Gieger

6th Man: Dalrymple, Steppe, Jon Barry

Coach: CBC, CPH, CWack, C Heisman

Best 2 Sport: Frank Broyles

“We’re here to lock s#@t down”: Jeremis Smith, Anthony McHenry, Malcolm Mackey (just ask Bobby Hurley when he woke up after that pick)

Best teams: Lethal Weapon 3, 1955 (stopped UKY win streak)

Most fun to watch: 1985 “Thin Gold Line”, Sammy Drummer + Tico Brown + Lenny Horton lighting up the Metro, Lethal Weapon 3 lighting up everybody, 2004 San Antonio.

Wish we knew you better: Marbury, Favors, Bosh, Bud Adams,

Best memories (in person): 2004 San Antonio, 1983 victory over UVA/Sampson at Thrillerdome in Triple Overtime, hanging with Spider when Playboy channel came to campus cable system.

Greatest shot: Forrest, 1992 vs. SoCal.

by DressHerInWhiteAndGold on Jan 14, 2011 1:47 PM EST reply actions

Thank you

That was brilliant.

I might quibble with a pick here or there but you have done the hard work of putting together a depth chart so I will try to resist.

Thanks for mentioning Brooke Steppe. I loved watching him play even though he was on some of Tech’s worst teams. Even when every team Tech played knew he was the only threat they still couldn’t keep him from getting his points. What a mad man on the court!

I also liked Sammy, Tico and Lenny. I wish someone would use computer technology and analyze old game film of different teams and see which teams actually played above the rim the most. I would argue this team could stack up against any in that regard. Sammy’s vertical leap was something to behold and when he and Tico worked together it seemed like everyone else was down in a valley somewhere watching.

Making Dennis Scott a strong forward was cheating.

Did you rank the coaches in order? Is so, some of us may have a question or two, ahem.

by Atlanta's original team on Jan 14, 2011 3:15 PM EST up reply actions

Excellent

Although I think Muhammad was a hack (sorry to Jesse28).

Go-za, Go-za.

by ee8384 on Jan 14, 2011 3:45 PM EST up reply actions

Small or shooting Forward

I usually go with the shooter at the #3 position, and the size/strength guy at #4. I think of this guy as the one who can run Point Forward with a 3 Guard set.

I’ll stay with CPH at 2. Like everyone else, I’m disappointed in the last few years, but he has recruited well, and there will always be 2004. Would we rather have NOT had the one and dones at the Thriller Dome? Were we not a better team in 2004 without Bosh than we would have been with him?

As much as I’d like Blue Chip/Lottery level players to stay for 3 or 4 years, I can only think of Florida as a team that stayed together at the player’s insistence to win another Championship.

I still remember Isma’il as the guy who forced the other coach to call a timeout when he went off on a dunk. Very DR. J like, and you just don’t see that anymore with all of the breakaway dunks, tomahawks, off the backboard stuff in every game.

As a way to stimulate more traffic on this tread, consider my long held belief that instead of raising the basket, widening the lane, etc. how about giving one point for shots where the player touches the rim or releases the ball in the cylinder?

You get 1 point for a free throw from 15 plus feet away, and 2 points for a point-blank throwdown. Doesn’t make sense. What is the value to the game NOW for a 99.99% successful shot?

1 for dunks
1 from the Charity Stripe
2 from the field
3 from the other zip code.

This also doesn’t penalize guys who cannot dunk the way an 11 or 12 foot rim would alter the game.

I love these threads. Not much going on in January except Pro Playoffs, ice in the South, Barrett Jackson, and the Hockey Tourney in Savannah.

by DressHerInWhiteAndGold on Jan 15, 2011 9:13 AM EST reply actions

Not much except a couple of important NFL playoff games today. Not that I will necessarily watch them; I may have date with the wife.

by Atlanta's original team on Jan 15, 2011 9:20 AM EST up reply actions

One more thing about Hewitt and recruiting

I have a theory, unsubstantiated, but it is my theory none the less. In Hewitt’s first years he was recruiting from among players who grew up watching Tech play under Cremins so it was easier to recruit because of the cache of the Tech name. A few years later Hewitt was able to recruit because there were basketball players who were intrigued by the urban mystic of the ATL. Now in later years it is harder because, frankly, if you are a good player there are a lot of other schools that are capturing the national spotlight. I could be wrong but I think as the quality of recruits goes down it reveals more and more the glaring weaknesses of his coaching style.

by Atlanta's original team on Jan 15, 2011 12:48 PM EST up reply actions

I have one thing to say about all of this...

is it baseball season yet?

Paul Johnson: not giving a crap about what you have to say since 1987.

by GTNate on Jan 15, 2011 10:39 PM EST reply actions

Be brave; it’s coming.

by Atlanta's original team on Jan 15, 2011 10:45 PM EST up reply actions

Favorite player all time: Dennis Scott

Just an amazing scorer in his day and was more than just a pure shooter

Favorite team: The 86 ’Dream Team" : Starting five: Salley, Price, Ferrell, Hammonds, Dalrymple

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by Jaxon on Jan 20, 2011 11:05 AM EST reply actions

The rap on Dalrymple was that he wasn't a pure shooter

He played better close to the basket and was an incredible rebounder for a guard. What I liked about him was that he seemed to make the overall chemistry of a team better.

by Atlanta's original team on Jan 20, 2011 2:56 PM EST up reply actions