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7/21/2021 11:51 am  #1


Starting Five By Coach..Part 1

Time for a new summer series intended to both reminisce as well as encourage healthy, intelligent debate as opposed to incessant bickering.  Who would your choices be for a starting five by GW coach?  I'll write these up two coaches at a time.  Here are my guidelines:

1) Since I only like to comment on guys I've seen play, my starting point will be with Coach Bob Tallent.  That means that old-timers like Joe Holup and Walt Szcerbiak won't get mentioned.

2) This also means that players like John Holloran and Les Anderson will be left out.  Each played for Bob tallent but both were already Colonials by the time Bob Tallent was hired as head coach.

3) Since players may have played for more than one coach, we'll assign a player to the coach who recruited them either out of high school or as a transfer.  So, Shawnta Rogers had a big season for Tom Penders but he'll belong on the Mike Jarvis team.  The Bolden/C. Smith/Marfo class will be Lonergan's property even though they only played a handful of exhibitions in Japan for him.

4) This exercise is for a starting five and not necessarily the five best players.  I'll encourage some leeway as far as slotting a player into a position but it should be realistic.  Pato Garino may be your starting shooting guard or small forward, but he should not line up under any other position.

5) We have not seen enough of JC recruits yet so he'll be exempt from this.  We'll go through the MoJo group.

That said, let's start with the Bob Tallent and Gerry Gimelstob teams.

Bob Tallent:

PG    Curtis Jeffries
SG    Brian Magid
SF     Tom Glenn
PF     Mike Samson
C      Mike Zagardo

I did not see much of Samson so if he's more of a SF, he can flip positions with Tom Glenn who was more than capable at either forward position.  The toughest omit here was Wilbert Skipper who like Brian Magid, had two productive seasons at GW after transferring.  Brian gets the nod because he played on better teams and because had there been a three point shot, his scoring average would likely have been 4-5 [points higher.  My sentimental omits included Mike Brey who only played one season at GW (while Curtis Jeffries ran the show for a while) and Oscar Wilmington who could dunk with the best of them.

Gerry Gimelstob:

PG  Mike O'Reilly
SG  Gerald Jackson
SF  Troy Webster
PF  Moti Daniel
C    Mike Brown

Here, I am taking a liberty by playing Troy at the 3.  Fortunately, Brownie collects so many rebounds that we can afford to go small.  Jackson was a transfer from Minnesota (perhaps Jameson Battle was the player to be named later)  who was the team's best player once the Brown-Webster regime ended.  Had Mike O'Reilly not missed much of his junior season after breaking his jaw courtesy of St. Bonaventure's Doug Turner, his career assists would have looked even gaudier than they already are.  Moti, an Israeli,  was one of GW's first international players who put up good numbers on some bad teams.  He edges out Darryl Webster who was a serviceable third option playing with Brown and T. Webster (no relation) but who arguably did not live up to more lofty expectations.

You younger guys and gals may have a tough time with this but don't despair, the 1-27 days of John Kuester and lone Sweet 16  era of Mike Jarvis are coming soon.  As for the rest of you, let me know your starting 5's, and tell me where I got things right and wrong.

 

 

7/21/2021 3:25 pm  #2


Re: Starting Five By Coach..Part 1

For Bob Tallent both his brothers Pat and Mike wold be in his all-time starting five. I saw every home game the Tallent boys played. Pat would have been an excellent NBA player if he had not hurt his knee after his junior year and sat out a year. These guys were way better than Jeffries or even Magid.

 

7/21/2021 3:35 pm  #3


Re: Starting Five By Coach..Part 1

At Hiker, both brothers were excluded because Bob was not the varsity head coach who recruited them.    Granted that Bob was likely a strong influencer, and may have been the JV Head Coach when one of the brothers first arrived.  Again, it's like the Shawnta example.  He did play for Penders but was recruited by Jarvis. 

     Thread Starter
 

7/22/2021 6:40 pm  #4


Re: Starting Five By Coach..Part 1

It might also be fun for us older guys to look back at the Carl Slone, Wayne Dobbs, and Babe McCarthy years.  And the five coaches before them were a combined 463-297.

 

7/26/2021 10:40 am  #5


Re: Starting Five By Coach..Part 1

Thought I'd bump this once more just in case anyone else would like to weigh in on their choices (or give opinions on my choices) for best starting five's under Tallent and Gimelstob.  Am also for The Other MG's suggestion...those of you who are familiar with the top GW players who played prior to Bob Tallent are encouraged to provide their choices under former coaches.  I'll start a new thread covering the Kuester and Jarvis eras later in the week.

     Thread Starter
 

7/28/2021 1:13 pm  #6


Re: Starting Five By Coach..Part 1

Of the players that I saw ('66-'71), I would say:
Bob Tallent
Ronnie Nunn (edges out Mike Tallent - eye test, style points)
Walter Szczerbiak
Mike Battle
Bill Knorr

Pat would knock out both Ronnie and Mike.  Would ask opinions on whether Clyde Burwell or Keith Morris would knock any of the above off the list.  Although he can't touch this list, my favorite player for a long time was Joe Lalli.
 

 

7/28/2021 2:40 pm  #7


Re: Starting Five By Coach..Part 1

Really liked The Other MG post. Ronnie Nunn was a gunner with moves to be in awe of. But he made mistakes. Keith Morris was an Uber athlete. A great contributor to the team who rarely turned the ball over. Clyde Burwell was a rim protector and could influence a game much more than Bill Knorr. I saw Szczerbiak out score Julius Irving in MSG. He shot over 60% from the field. Lightly recruited a star in Spain for years. Mike Battle from Cincinnati was a warrior. Rarely, has GW had a physical presence as he was. All great memories.

 

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