The KUsports.com All-Time ‘Hawks Hoops Team

By Dave Toplikar     Dec 30, 2002

Ask some long-time Kansas University sportswriters to pick an all-time KU men’s basketball team and you’ll get a two-tiered response.

First, they’ll smile and start thinking back. Then they’ll frown and you’ll swear somebody started playing the “Mission Impossible” theme song.

Wilt Chamberlain

“No way. There are too many good ones,” said Chuck Woodling, Journal-World sports editor, who’s been around KU basketball since the 1960s.

Bill Mayer, Journal-World contributing editor, who has been covering KU since he first worked as a University Daily Kansan reporter in the late 1940s, also started naming off players and quickly ran out of positions.

“It’s impossible,” Mayer said.

But, when we insisted, and asked Gary Bedore, assistant sports editor, who’s been writing about KU since the late 1970s, to join in, the three were able to come up with a consensus on two players.

  • Wilt Chamberlain at center.
  • Jo Jo White at guard. That was it.

From that point on, every position has two, three or more possibilities:

  • Forwards and centers – Chamberlain, Danny Manning, Clyde Lovellette, Raef LaFrentz and Dave Robisch.
  • Guards – Paul Pierce, Bill Hougland and Darnell Valentine all got votes for the first players you would want out on the floor with Jo Jo White.

JoJo White

And from there, you get into a long list of other outstanding players who could step in – Jacque Vaughn, Ron Kellogg, Kevin Pritchard, Charlie Black, Bud Stallworth, Cedric Hunter, Aaron Miles, Tom Kivisto, Ray Evans, B.H. Born, Howard Engleman, Fred Pralle (who was considered by some to be the Michael Jordan of the 1930s), Calvin Thompson, Maurice King, Nolen Ellison, Scott Pollard, Kirk Hinrich and Nick Collison.

Chuck Woodling’s team

Woodling thought about teaming up a pair of top southpaws around Chamberlain.

“Robisch and LaFrentz, a couple of left-handers, around Chamberlain, boy that would be nice,” Woodling said. “Then Jo Jo White and Paul Pierce back there, whew, what a team that would be! Doggies! Then I’d bring Kellogg in off the bench to pump in points like mad. Then I’d have Clyde Lovellette to spell Chamberlain.

“And I didn’t even mention Danny Manning…. I’d put him in to play at power or small forward. And he can play center, too. The amazing thing about Danny Manning is he could also play point guard. In the 1988 championship game, in the second half, Larry Brown knocked Oklahoma off guard by having Danny Manning bring the ball down. See, all Manning could do was shoot, rebound, dribble and play defense – that’s all Manning could do.”

Woodling also said he’d want Jacque Vaughn on his bench, along with Tom Kivisto, Aaron Miles and Cedric Hunter.

Bill Mayer’s team

Chamberlain would play the pivot, while Manning and Lovellette would alternate as forwards – but they could also take over the post, Mayer said.

Mayer picked Jo Jo White as the ultimate choice at guard.

All-Time Jayhawk Team

  • Wilt Chamberlain, C
  • Jo Jo White, G
  • Paul Pierce, G
  • Clyde Lovellette, F
  • Danny Manning, F
  • Roy Williams, Coach

  • Paul Endacott, G
  • Darnell Valentine, G
  • Clyde Lovellette, C
  • Charlie B. Black, F
  • Danny Manning, F
  • Phog Allen, Coach

Click here to read the full Sporting News story.

“The second guard is really a tough choice,” Mayer said. “A lot of people would go for Jacque Vaughn. Kevin Pritchard was terrific. And the Kelley boys, Dean and Allen. Gil Reich was here one year, a great player. …You’re looking for somebody who can handle a lot of things in the back court, including playing real good defense. And on that basis, I might end up teaming Bill Hougland, of the 1952 and 1956 Olympic teams and our 1952 championship team as our other guard.

” But let’s not shortchange the modern stars, particularly Kirk Hinrich, the versatile, dedicated, often underrated Iowan who’s now the mainstay of the pro Chicago Bulls. Imagine Jo Jo and Kirk in the same backcourt, alternating at the point and shooting guard spots.”

Mayer said you could pick a 15- to 20-man squad and still slight some of the greatest players.

“A lot of times, you have to look at what they did in context of the team effort,” Mayer said. “Consider what Kirk Hinrich did for the Jayhawk program over four years. It’s hard to accept that Drew Gooden’s jersey hangs in Allen Fieldhouse (he left a year early) and Hinrich’s doesn’t. I’m inclined to reward guys like that more than the shorter-termers.”

Going through the list of All-Americans, Mayer said another center, B.H. Born (1953-1954), who followed Lovellette, “was fantastic.”

Mayer said it was hard to limit his picks for a starting five.

“I’d look for people who could do a lot of different things,” Mayer said. “Clyde was not always super-duper on defense, but he could play solid defense. And Doc Allen and assistant Dick Harp said they never had a player who was more cognizant of what needed to be done than Clyde. He could see the pattern.

“Consider what Nick Collison gave KU for four exciting, productive years, same as Hinrich. He steadily developed to become one of the finest college players of all time. His jersey is in the fieldhouse rafters and he deserves it, same as Hinrich.”

Mayer finally narrowed his choices.

“It’s an impossibility. But if I had to start them tomorrow, I would go with Wilt, Manning, Lovellette, Jo Jo and Hougland, with maybe Collison and Hinrich the first two men off the bench.”

Mayer said he’d run a triple post with Chamberlain, Manning and Lovellette.

“I’d just run them in and out of there. Manning was a great passer for a big man, he could play great defense. Wilt could block shots, rebound, shoot the ball or score. He was a scorer, he wasn’t a shooter.

“Lovellette had a fantastic touch and had a good career with the Celtics. He got NBA championship rings with the Celtics and also with the St. Louis Hawks.

“Manning got stuck with a team that was pretty good but poorly coached in the Olympics …. Jo Jo won an Olympic gold medal, was all-pro and is in the Celtics Hall of Fame.”

Mayer said his bench would include Charlie Black, who played in the 1940s; Ray Evans, who made All-American twice; B.H. Born, Howard Engleman, LaFrentz, Vaughn, Paul Pierce, Fred Pralle (considered by some competent observers as the Michael Jordan of the 1930s), Bud Stallworth, who shot in 50 points against Missouri (“If they had had three-pointers, it might have been 112”: Chuck Woodling), Collison and Hinrich.

“Many are inclined to put in guys like Calvin Thompson, Ron Kellogg or Cedric Hunter. They would be way up there, but not in that upper echelon. And a lot of people think Darnell Valentine would have been there,” Mayer said.

Mayer also mentioned Maurice King, who was a great guard on the 1957 team and made All-Big Eight for three years.

Mayer said his bench would also include Nolen Ellison. Ellison put on what Mayer said was one of the greatest single performances he had ever seen, during a 1962 KU-K-State tournament game. There were four overtimes and Ellison played all 60 minutes.

“He made 32 hardscrabble points. He hit every shot he had to and made every free throw he had to. He could play on a par with anybody,” Mayer said.

Mayer’s bench – if there was any room left – would also include Scott Pollard, who too often is overlooked because he was underused by Roy Willams.

Gary Bedore’s team

Gary Bedore didn’t elaborate on his picks, but made his selections quickly before running off to cover a KU game.

“Manning…. Chamberlain….. Lovellette. The top five? Oh, you’ve got to have two guards? If you need position, those three, plus (Jo Jo) White and (Darnell) Valentine. Chamberlain, center, the other two forwards.”

Bedore said his bench would include Raef LaFrentz, Kevin Pritchard, Paul Pierce, Dave Robisch and Bud Stallworth.

Who would coach this all-time fantasy team?

Bedore picks Forrest “Phog” Allen, after whom the hallowed fieldhouse is named. Mayer went with Roy Williams, saying Allen was “great in so many ways, sports AND citizenship”, but Williams is more attuned to the modern game situation and knows how to recruit more realistically and consistently than Phog ever had to.

“How’s that for a pair of super personalities?” he remarked of the Jayhawk legends.

Woodling also favors Williams. But if you’re looking at just straight Xs and Os and a great motivator, Larry Brown is your man, says Woodling.

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