UTEopia
09-02-2013, 11:49 AM
With the recent uptick in interest in basketball, I thought I would take a look back at the best players I can remember. I was born in 1956, so I have limited memory of the early 60's. Merv Jackson was my first basketball hero as a little boy. Anyway, after looking at the media guide of lettermen, here is my list of candidates by decade.
Because some players careers overlap decades, I decided to use the most number of years as the decade or in case of a tie, the final year as the decade. I obtained the dates from the Media Guide. The interesting thing is that every decade had some very good teams and a couple of off years. The Utes went to the Final Four twice in the 60's. In the 70's the Utes had a strong run to the NIT Championship game and then some very good teams in 78 and 79. The 80's had a great team in 82 and then sort of a lull. Majerus picked it up and the 90's were a lot of fun. It looked like the 00's would be continue to be good, but Majerus got crazier and then things (well - you know).
60’s
Leonard Black
Jerry Chambers
George Fisher
Allen Holmes
Merv Jackson
Lyndon MacKay
Billy McGill
Doug Moon
Jeff Ockel
Walt Simon
Rich Tate
70’s
Karl Bankowsi
Tickey Burden
Tom Chambers
Greg Deane
Ken Gardner
Jeff Jonas
Scot Jones
Jeff Judkins
Earl Peaches Laster
Buster Matheney
Tyrone Medley
Chas Menatti
Mike Newlin
Mike Sojourner
Doug Terry
Eddie Trail
Charlie Whiting
Earl Williams
80’s
Tommy Connor
Gale Gondrezick
Craig Hammer
Manny Hendrix
Jimmy Madison
Pace Mannion
Scott Martin
Kelvin Upshaw
Tim McLaughlin
Angelo Robinson
Mitch Smith
Albert Springs
Jerry Stroman
Danny Vranes
Peter Williams
Chris Winans
90’s
Phil Dixon
Mike Doleac
Josh Grant
Drew Hansen
Alex Jensen
Brandon Jessie
Andre Miller
Hanno Mottola
Craig Rydalch
Mark Rydalch
Jimmy Soto
Keith VanHorn
Walter Watts
Byron Wilson
00’s
Andrew Bogut
Lawrence Borha
Johnnie Bryant
Chris Burgess
Trace Caton
Phil Cullen
Luca Drca
Tim Drisdom
Shaun Green
Marc Jackson
Britton Johnson
Jeff Johnson
Bryant Markson
Cedric Martin
Luke Nevill
Jason Washburn
Because some players careers overlap decades, I decided to use the most number of years as the decade or in case of a tie, the final year as the decade. I obtained the dates from the Media Guide. The interesting thing is that every decade had some very good teams and a couple of off years. The Utes went to the Final Four twice in the 60's. In the 70's the Utes had a strong run to the NIT Championship game and then some very good teams in 78 and 79. The 80's had a great team in 82 and then sort of a lull. Majerus picked it up and the 90's were a lot of fun. It looked like the 00's would be continue to be good, but Majerus got crazier and then things (well - you know).
60’s
Leonard Black
Jerry Chambers
George Fisher
Allen Holmes
Merv Jackson
Lyndon MacKay
Billy McGill
Doug Moon
Jeff Ockel
Walt Simon
Rich Tate
70’s
Karl Bankowsi
Tickey Burden
Tom Chambers
Greg Deane
Ken Gardner
Jeff Jonas
Scot Jones
Jeff Judkins
Earl Peaches Laster
Buster Matheney
Tyrone Medley
Chas Menatti
Mike Newlin
Mike Sojourner
Doug Terry
Eddie Trail
Charlie Whiting
Earl Williams
80’s
Tommy Connor
Gale Gondrezick
Craig Hammer
Manny Hendrix
Jimmy Madison
Pace Mannion
Scott Martin
Kelvin Upshaw
Tim McLaughlin
Angelo Robinson
Mitch Smith
Albert Springs
Jerry Stroman
Danny Vranes
Peter Williams
Chris Winans
90’s
Phil Dixon
Mike Doleac
Josh Grant
Drew Hansen
Alex Jensen
Brandon Jessie
Andre Miller
Hanno Mottola
Craig Rydalch
Mark Rydalch
Jimmy Soto
Keith VanHorn
Walter Watts
Byron Wilson
00’s
Andrew Bogut
Lawrence Borha
Johnnie Bryant
Chris Burgess
Trace Caton
Phil Cullen
Luca Drca
Tim Drisdom
Shaun Green
Marc Jackson
Britton Johnson
Jeff Johnson
Bryant Markson
Cedric Martin
Luke Nevill
Jason Washburn