Off The Boards By Jack Scheuer – February 1, 2017 Edition

Off The Boards

By Jack Scheuer

February 1, 2017 Edition

Since it’s the 90th anniversary of the Palestra, I thought I’d try to pick the 5 best players who have played at that historic building. However, after a thorough look back, I find it’s impossible to limit it to 5, so I’ll go with 10, and that won’t be easy either.

The first 3 are the easiest, and interestingly enough, they all performed at the Palestra during the 1957-58 season. That trio would be Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson and Jerry West, and what they have accomplished needs no further explanation. In alphabetical order, here are the other 7 who we were fortunate enough to see live and in person through the years.

Rick Barry, from Miami; Dave Bing, Syracuse; Julius Erving, UMass (who came in virtually unknown, and at halftime people on press row were asking, “Who is this guy?”); Patrick Ewing, Georgetown; Navy’s David Robinson; Wes Unseld, Louisville, he of the patented 40-foot, 2-hand outlet pass; and Lenny Wilkens, from Providence, who is in the Hall both as a player and a coach.

It was really difficult to limit the list to 10, but there had to be a cut-off or it could have gone to 20. Look at who are some of the greats are not named: Princeton’s Bill Bradley, named  the Outstanding Visitor 3 times; Calvin Murphy, the little guy from Niagara who put up 52 against La Salle, the most ever scored at the Palestra; Bob Lanier,  St. Bonaventure; and Kentucky’s Dan Issel, just to name a few.

So there they are, 10 Hall of Famers, all of whom showed their greatness in what should be called a Hall of Fame building.

 

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Here’s a good question: Who would you pick as the biggest college basketball rivals? Some top choices would be Kansas-Kansas State; Cincinnati-Xavier; Arizona-Arizona State; Saint Joe’s-Villanova; or my choice, Duke vs. North Carolina.

 

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Trivia Time: Who holds the NBA record for most games played?  Answer at the end of the column.

 

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The NCAA rules committee might want to take a closer look at the graduate transfer rule, which is getting out of hand. It’s just a matter of time that a team will have all 5 starters coming in from out and beyond.

 

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This and That: If I was a coach, 2 guys I’d like to have officiating my games would be Ed Corbett and Pat Driscoll. They stay in control, and in a good way….Syracuse point guard John Gillon has had an interesting journey. He’s from Houston, Texas, went to ULAR, Colorado State, and is now with the Orange….Ex-Prepper Steve Vasturia has made 60 of 65 free throws, (90%)…. Nova’s Chris Jenkins keeps taking advantage of his pump fakes, which scouting reports must report but are evidently ignored….Upcoming: Tonight, Villanova is at Providence, struggling La Salle is home with UMass; Drexel is at Towson tomorrow; Penn is at Harvard on Friday; And a big day Saturday when everybody plays except Temple….. And where is Bob (Buckets) Knight, I miss him.

 

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Answer to Trivia Time: Robert Parish played in 1,611 games