The Winfred Walton All-Stars

[jekelish]

Top 10 recruit out of NYC in class of 1990 [same class as Shaquille O'Neal and Kenny Anderson], supposed to be a great shooter and strong inside scorer taking it to the rack. Versatile SF, who could do it all.

Unfortunately, he was also a drug dealer who killed someone and derailed his career, and eventually was killed by rival gang members.

Somebody made a documentary about it--it's about an hour long. Captivating for those of us who remember this crazy situation.

Ahh, the combination of my being about 9 when he was recruited, and him never actually making it to SU explains why I've never heard the story. Damned youth!

 

[TexanMark]

Payton was ok. Averaged over 10 ppg his senior year. I think Warwell is appropriate as he only played a year.

I guess I misremembered about Ron...thought he transferred out early.

 

[OttoMets]

I don't think Rock Lloyd made the McDonald's team in '96, but I did have high hopes for him as a player. Very Anthony Harris-like: big scoring guard who got overshadowed by a classmate (who'd become a four-year fan favorite) and chose to bail.

Other than Walton (who could've made us a completely different team in '97 if he hadn't cheated on his SAT), Duncan's the biggest "what if" player on that list. I wish he'd hit that shot against Rhode Island...those three seasons could've turned out very differently if we'd made a tournament run in 1988 and he'd decided to come back and play with the best team in the country in 1989 and 1990.

 

[jekelish]

I don't think Rock Lloyd made the McDonald's team in '96, but I did have high hopes for him as a player. Very Anthony Harris-like: big scoring guard who got overshadowed by a classmate (who'd become a four-year fan favorite) and chose to bail.

Other than Walton (who could've made us a completely different team in '97 if he hadn't cheated on his SAT), Duncan's the biggest "what if" player on that list. I wish he'd hit that shot against Rhode Island...those three seasons could've turned out very differently if we'd made a tournament run in 1988 and he'd decided to come back and play with the best team in the country in 1989 and 1990.

Actually you may be right - Rock was a Parade All-America, but he might not have actually made the McDonald's team.

 

[TinyManInside]

You need to add Richard Manning, who transferred to Washington and later played in the NBA, an Keith Hughes, who went to Rutgers with Duncan and averaged about 20 ppg. They were both really good players who had more talented players in front of them and didn't want to wait their turn.

Also Glenn Sekunda had a nice career at Penn State.

 

[jec1521]

Tiki Mayben once a top 10 recruit you got him on there already)
http://www.onebidwonders.com/2011/04/28/former-america-east-players-suiting-up-in-albany/

Mike Jones has to get a mention a freshmen with paul harris. I remember him knocking down i think 4 midrange jumpers in one game. I turned to my friend and said he could turn out better then paul harris. I believe that was the game where Harris had his first full court monster dunk that everyone raved about. Man I miss having a strong guard like harris take the ball to the rim. Would love to have another with a build like him but with better dribbling skills and a jumper.

dashonte riley and sean williams projects but both 7 feet.

I don't think Harris was ever even close to be considered a guard. That was his problem. He was a 6-4 PF. Didn't work, especially for our system.

 

[jekelish]

I don't think Harris was ever even close to be considered a guard. That was his problem. He was a 6-4 PF. Didn't work, especially for our system.

And 6-4 was a stretch. Harris was closer to 6-2, in reality.

 

[longtimefan]

blocked at work for me...a couple of guys from the 70s/80s: Cliff Warwell and Ron Payton

If you do a list for Football go with the: Idris Price All Stars

Warwell (NYC via Ithaca) lasted only a year. Payton stayed all 4 years I think.

How about Roger Rollocks?

 

[cuseincincy]

Lazor, Glen Sekunda, Richard Manning, Michael Brown, Rodney Walker, Sam Spann, Malik Campbell, Matt Gorman, Josh Wright and I would say even Mookie. I really hope we don't have to add DC2 to this list in a couple years.
So many that it makes one wonder which of next years recruits make this list some day. Hopefully none.

 

[jec1521]

And 6-4 was a stretch. Harris was closer to 6-2, in reality.

Yeah probably. 6-2 or 6-3. Regardless I don't remember him hitting jumpshot longer than 15 feet in his whole career.

He seemed like a good kid, but he was a bit of a bust all things considered.

 

[pfister1]

I guess I misremembered about Ron...thought he transferred out early.

Ron Payton was here all four years, he along with Andre Hawkins were charged with raping a Villanova coed after a game in the 1982(?) Big East Tournament.

 

[pfister1]

Yeah probably. 6-2 or 6-3. Regardless I don't remember him hitting jumpshot longer than 15 feet in his whole career.

He seemed like a good kid, but he was a bit of a bust all things considered.

I don't think Paul Harris was a particularly good kid, in fact I think he was probably a huge pain in the coaching staff's hindquarters. Wasn't he the guy that Hop had to chase back to Niagara Falls to retrieve on one or more occasions.

Nonetheless he wasn't a bust. Just didn't live up to the ridiculous expectations that were heaped on him. In 3 years he ended up scoring 1,200+ points (38th all time) and grabbed 832 rebounds (15th all time). Definitely not a bust.

 

[cuseincincy]

Yeah probably. 6-2 or 6-3. Regardless I don't remember him hitting jumpshot longer than 15 feet in his whole career.

He seemed like a good kid, but he was a bit of a bust all things considered.

Harris made 22 3 pointers in his career with a stellar 22.4% made. I dislike it when people call Harris a bust. I would agree he did not live up to the extremely high expectations but as a 6'2" PF he may have overachieved in averaging about 12pts and 8 reb per game for his 3 years.

 

[SoBeCuse]

Yep - he just missed the cut. I remember being super excited about him. Was he in the same class as Walton, I think?

I believe he was. Received some hype in that Street and Smith's magazine I had as well!

 

[orange2win]

Paul was not developed as a #2 at SU as he should have been, which would have assured him of an NBA career. Instead he was applied at forward because of the immediate value.

As noted earlier, he must be one of the smallest forwards in SU history, yet he ranks just behind Rony Seikaly and just ahead of Hakim Warrick in the career RPG stat. Incredible.

 

[xc84]

Warwell (NYC via Ithaca) lasted only a year. Payton stayed all 4 years I think.

How about Roger Rollocks?

That's a name I forgot. He had some hops.

 

[stuckinbig11]

Herman Harried.

Dunbar High School.

Suffered bad knee injury before his sophomore year and was never the same...

good enough to play in the NBA

 

[RF2044]

Paul was not developed as a #2 at SU as he should have been, which would have assured him of an NBA career. Instead he was applied at forward because of the immediate value.

As noted earlier, he must be one of the smallest forwards in SU history, yet he ranks just behind Rony Seikaly and just ahead of Hakim Warrick in the career RPG stat. Incredible.

I agree with that. When we had all of those injuries Harris's sophomore year, he got forced into playing the 2G position. He obviously wasn't a consitent shooter, but he had a really nice finish to that season, and was a really problematic matchup problem who drew a TON of fouls and got to the line a lot because he could overpower people off of the dribble. And whereas he was somewhat overmatched on the back line of the zone [as great of a rebounder as he was, and he WAS great for his size, a lot of teams were able to steal rebounds over the top of him], he would have been fantastic atop the zone.

His best position probably would have been 2G. But he wasn't playing that here with Devendorf / Rautins also being here, so he got miscast as an undersized 3. Would be interesting to see what might have happened if Harris had been able to play his entire career at the 2.

 

[Madbiker]

How can you forget DaShonte Riley that 7 foot shot blocking machine who transferred to Eastern Michigan?
Other infamous big men: Ethan Cole, Eric Williams, Erik Rodgers. Wow, we've had a lot of these.

 

[pfister1]

How about Wilfred Kirkaldy? I think his career got derailed on a recruiting visit to SU.

 

[RF2044]

Lazor, Glen Sekunda, Richard Manning, Michael Brown, Rodney Walker, Sam Spann, Malik Campbell, Matt Gorman, Josh Wright and I would say even Mookie. I really hope we don't have to add DC2 to this list in a couple years.
So many that it makes one wonder which of next years recruits make this list some day. Hopefully none.

Rodney Walker got recruited over [Derrick Coleman].

Also not sure that Josh Wright fits the criteria to belong on this list [he stunk, whereas others went on to have nice careers elsewhere].

 

[jgeorge322]

Winifred Walton is by far the most misspelled name in SU basketball history.

Great article, Jekelish.

what about carmello?

 

[bozophobe]

There was one recruit whose name I have never seen on this website (until Pfister's; this post is an edit) - Wilfred Kirkaldy. Very controversial at the time. It seemingly started with public outrage over him doing what one would think most young males learn to do in college dorms (regarding women). Then allegations of rape started. SU quickly disowned him, but his problems would get a hundred times worse over the years. Outrageous, heart-breaking, confusing, etc.

 

[jekelish]

There was one recruit whose name I have never seen on this website (until Pfister's; this post is an edit) - Wilfred Kirkaldy. Very controversial at the time. It seemingly started with public outrage over him doing what one would think most young males learn to do in college dorms (regarding women). Then allegations of rape started. SU quickly disowned him, but his problems would get a hundred times worse over the years. Outrageous, heart-breaking, confusing, etc.

Yikes...just found this: http://articles.philly.com/1993-03-17/sports/25953238_1_leg-bone-screws

Wow.

 

[orange2win]

Whoa! What an amazing and sad situation. It was a name I had forgotten - because I had not heard the rest of the story.
Nice post jekelish