Most Hated Mid-Con Players

[crusaderboy]

Kansas City?

[chef]

Oh yea...I almost forgot he wound up in the Porter County Jail the night of his wedding, after getting into a fight at NorthSide.

[rlh]

Actually the fight was at the front desk of the Super 8 Motel....I saw the video one day at the cable TV office....two guys attacked him and the desk clerk was up on the counter screaming...unfortunately, there was no sound, just video....Tony more than held his own....what prompted the attack was always up for conjecture.....The coach in question who went on the floor and "threatened" to punch him in the face was Tim Cohane from Buffalo. He never actually threw the punch, but Tony laughed at him when he threatened to throw one. It wouldn't have been much of a fight....by the way, the basketball secretary, Sherry Williams, told me she talked with him a few weeks back and Tony is now remarried and playing ball and coaching in Europe. She says he told her he couldn't believe some of the stupid things he did when he was here....He was the kind of player that if he was on your side you loved him, if not you hated him..but a big part of the Sweet 16 run...remember the rebound basket in overtime against Florida State?

[chef]

You're correct. The NorthSide fight was a different incident which ended with Tony in Porter County lockup. I believe he's playing in Belgium now, and remarried.

[nkvu]

chef said:

Homer suspended him one game when the hostess from Ponderosa ended up in his room, slightly after hours.

So much for eastern European players being "soft"

Thanks guys, these are great stories! ;D

[ivy6]

I would like to put in a vote for Big Head Odell Bradley.

I hated how the second he passed the ball to a teammate- he would clap his hands and expect it right back. His POY award over Hobo-Jesus Andrew Wisniewski still bothers me.

Oh, and he pouted like a 10 year old.




Honorable Mention: Dan Leadbetter, Erica Zielinski, Tony Falu, Claudia Louis, Leslie Crane, Johnathan Bluitt.

[aztrig3]

Tony was a fun guy. Very personable. One good story I remember about him concerns the old Jackson's Bar. Tony had been frequenting the place for a couple of years when he walked in one day with a big grin. The bartender asked him why he was so happy and Tony informed him it was his 21st birthday!

[loup]

Let's not forget that after winning the award (see how happy he is!), Odell could not attend the post game press conference because he was pouting.

Dan Leadbetter belongs on the "most beloved" Mid-Con players list. He's my all time favorite. Legendary.

[aztrig3]

For those of us who go back to the inception of the Mid-Con the most feared and hated basketball player ever was Jim Stueve of Valparaiso. He was a 6'7" center in the early 80's who played with a fierceness you couldn't believe. It approached manic behavior and elicited the "flight or fight" reaction in many of his opponents. Most chose flight but not a few chose to fight, and Jim wasn't one to back down. Today he is a successful insurance executive in Houston and a mild mannered guy.

[valpo89]

Thanks everyone for bringing up some good stuff. I knew you'd have an old-timer to throw in there, tri-g.

I think in my original post I may have used the word thug, and I don't think JJ Redick could be classified as a thug. The more I thought about it this afternoon, maybe Bryce or Tony Bennett could be looked upon as a "hated" player in that same mold. I think Brandon Creason would be the best answer in that regard we've seen so far. We'd all agree that Tony V. isn't in that mold, or a legitimate thug like Daveeno Hines or the guy from Youngstown who stepped on Bryce.

[chef]

89: Are you saying Tony wasn't hated or a thug?
As former YSU coach Dan Peters said following the game in which Camuso nearly put Bryce in the hospital, "Camuso...please, Vilcinskas is the dirtiest player in the league by far, ask anybody."
A few years ago Tony was playing for Atrhletes in Action. In an exhibition game at Allen FieldHouse Tony cheap shotted a Kansas big man (I think it was Eric Chenowith) and broke his nose. Roy Williams went down to the AIA bench and told their coaches "Get that animal out of here and don't ever bring him back."

[crusaderjoe]

If were talking about "hated" players in the Tony Bennett and Bryce Drew sense, I nominate Sherrell Ford to that list. The guy could just flat out play....Valpo never really had an answer for him when he played against us. I think he was UIC's leading scorer for a couple of years.

[valpo89]

No, chef, I'm not saying Tony wasn't a thug. I'm talking more about great players who are hated by the opposition because they're good. I re-thought my original question because this went in the wrong direction. Crusaderboy nailed it with Brandon Creason.

Tony V. isn't disliked for the same reasons JJ Redick is disliked. Tony probably deserved it because of the way he played, not because he was going to hit a dagger 3 in the last minute of regulation as Redick did tonight against UNC.

[cp]

For me, it has to be Michael Watson.

[ca]

Rasaun Young was cool..he talked alotta stuff but it was all in fun.

Mike Martino was a talker too but i loved it.

but there was no one hated more than Tony V

we played in the IU classic and after the game when they announced our whole team, everyone got an applause from the IU fans except Tony. He was booed and loved it.