OT? -- All-time Big Ten basketball players you wanted to see get kicked in the groin

Submitted by Yinka Double Dare on
So, Manny's accidental elbow (and subsequent BS ejection) on Saturday, and the annoying Chris Kramer on the floor bleeding, got me thinking about all-time annoying/pain in the ass/jerky Big Ten basketball players. The ones you wouldn't mind seeing take an accidental knee to the nuts. Or even have secretly enjoyed them getting jacked in the face by a punch. Some of the ones I thought of besides Kramer were Lucas Johnson (Illinois' resident jerk of a few years ago) and Tom Coverdale (who pissed me off for reasons I can't totally explain). I'm sure some others have some personal "favorites", right? I'd rather limit this to Big Ten, because if we go for all of college basketball this will turn into a thread full of people mentioning a bunch of past Duke players, and Tyler Hansbrough.
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Tater

February 2nd, 2009 at 7:03 PM ^

Sorry, but to me it's chronically immature Chris Webber for allowing his greed and ego to trash the legacy of the Fab Five. A lot of players took Martin's money, but the bottom line is that if Webber hadn't, those Final Four banners would still be hanging at Crisler. For that matter, if Webber hadn't made it "cool" to take Martin's money, the scandal would never have happened. When the scandal broke, his subsequent call-in to WDFN where he threw an on-air tantrum because people were saying negative things about him showed that Chris Webber never gave a shit for anything or anyone other than Chris Webber. Then, in his attempt at "street cred," there was his claim of growing up poor when his parents both had decent jobs and he basically grew up middle class. Basically, Chris Webber made Michigan look like shit. And the basketball program had to pay for it for ten years. Just think about that: Webber was only there for two years and trashed the program for ten, plus the two he was there. And I am not fooled by the new, "cuddly" persona he has created for television. Webber is still a piece of dog shit. My second choice would definitely be Purdue's Brian Cardinal, though, just for the fuck of it.

Joined: 08/13/2008

MGoPoints: 30584

jmblue

February 2nd, 2009 at 7:12 PM ^

While I agree that Webber has acted very immaturely, and that his desperate attempts to gain street cred are ridiculous, I don't blame him for the decade of crappiness. It's not his fault we made one of the all-time worst hires ever in Brian Ellerbe (a man who had just been fired by tiny Loyola of Maryland) in 1997. Ellerbe destroyed the program more than the Ed Martin scandal did. And then in 2001, when we needed a good coach to build our program back up, we hired a mediocre one (Amaker).

Joined: 11/07/2008

MGoPoints: 102861

Tater

February 2nd, 2009 at 10:56 PM ^

While I agree that Ellerbe did suck and Amaker apparently can't "coach" anyone with an IQ under 200, the game ultimately comes down to personnel. Sadly, since the scandal broke, UM has gotten its ass kicked in recruiting all over Michigan by MSU. Also, other schools such as Kentucky and even fucking Oregon have cherry-picked the state for top prospects who don't want to go to MSU. Unlike in football, the state of Michigan does have great basketball players and you can win National Championships by dominating Michigan. UM has failed to even hold their ground, what alone dominate. Since the scandal broke, how many servicable big men have come to UM? One? Two? Contrast that to the 1989 roster which had seven players who were 6-9 or taller. Until UM starts getting quality big men to attend there, they won't get back to their pre-Webber level of play. My original premise was that Webber caused it all by making it "cool" to take Martin's money. Remember this: If Webber didn't take the money, there probably wouldn't have been an Ellerbe or an Amaker at UM. Along with Ed Martin, Chris Webber started the chain of events that caused Fisher to be forced out of UM and the hiring of Ellerbe. Ellerbe's failure to perform caused the hiring of Amaker. Ironically enough, both looked like great hires at the time. Ellerbe may be a decent coach with decent players, but we will never know because good recruits stayed away from UM. Consequently, Ellerbe sucked. Amaker was just a terrible coach, period; he failed to recruit or develop good players. Hopefully, Beilein is the coach to finally break the chain of events that was put into motion by Chris Webber, but it will take personnel to do it. The latter portion of this season is showing what happens to teams without enough good, big players in the Big Ten. Only when the level of players is like it was in 1989 will I believe that the effects of Webber's greed and ego are finally in the rear-view mirror. It hasn't happened yet.

Joined: 08/13/2008

MGoPoints: 30584

Blue Durham

February 3rd, 2009 at 9:21 AM ^

at Seton Hall. But Michigan AD Tom Goss' hire of Brian Ellerbe was totally incomprehensible. He had little head coaching experience (a few years at Loyola) and very little experience as an assistant. Brian Ellerbe was the worse.hire.ever by Michigan's 2 high-profile sports.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 6082

jmblue

February 3rd, 2009 at 12:01 PM ^

True, Webber started the chain of events that led to the program's demise. It's just that if we hadn't massively F'd up by firing Fisher right before the season started (making it impossible to make an outside hire) and then promoted the newly-hired assistant Ellerbe (who had just been fired by Loyola) over longer-tenured assistants who were well-liked and had paid their dues - if that hadn't happened, then the Ed Martin scandal would probably just be a little hiccup, sort of like the Jim O'Brien fiasco at OSU. BTW, while the hiring of Amaker drew a lot of praise, the Ellerbe hiring drew a lot more "WTF!" reactions.

Joined: 11/07/2008

MGoPoints: 102861

Wolverine In Exile

February 2nd, 2009 at 7:36 PM ^

Lets start with Joel Przybilla, move on to Acie Earl (Hey Acie, Kid & Play want their hair back), add Calbert Cheney, Kendall Gill, Matt Stenginga, and then for the top-off, I'll take "All-time Big 10 douchebag" for $500 Alex. Who is Scott Skiles.

Joined: 11/08/2008

MGoPoints: 10798

wooderson

February 2nd, 2009 at 9:34 PM ^

Mine would have also to be the incomparable Brian Cardinal. Remember the announcers used to call him "The Janitor" because he was "always on the floor"? He wore knee pads for god sakes! He was also in college for about 10 years, so long that he was pretty much bald by the time he finally graduated. Cardinal is the Fast Eddie to Kramer's Vincent Lauria...I kept waiting for him to show up on the bench as an assistant coach on Saturday giving a demostration of the proper way to writhe on the floor. Oh and just for fun, here's my Duke all-time team of guys to kick in the nuts: C: Laettner PF: Battier SF: Bilas SG: Reddick PG: Hurley Sixth Man: Paulus Assistant Coach: Wojo, somehow I didn't mind him so much as a player but he's got infinitely more annoying as Coach K's lacky on the bench. Cheerleader: Vitale Great topic!!

Joined: 07/28/2008

MGoPoints: 343

wooderson

February 2nd, 2009 at 11:04 PM ^

You have to ask about Battier? Cardinal and Battier were like the Mozart and Beethoven of flopping; slightly different locations and time periods, but together they elevated the art to a whole new level....

Joined: 07/28/2008

MGoPoints: 343