This is the tenth and final post revealing the ten Marquette nominees for the SBN Wisconsin Hall of Fame.  These are in no particular order, except for this particular one.

Today's final post comes from Madison resident Christian Schneider. He was once known as Dennis York. He wrote good columns for the defunct SportsBubbler. He's short, white and likes to dunk on 8 foot hoops. The Bucks' Brandon Jennings thinks he's cool people. He also had a troubling childhood. You can find more of his writings at his blog: http://www.christianschneiderblog.com/

Thanks to Al McGuire, my life got off to a good start.

When I was two weeks old, a letter showed up in my parents’ mailbox.  It was a letter from the Marquette basketball team, offering me a scholarship when I graduated high school, eighteen years later.  It offered me room and board, books, tuition, and fifteen dollars a month in laundry money.  It was signed "Al McGuire."  (Little did Al know I would only grow to be 5 foot 9.)

Who knows if McGuire knew this small tongue-in-cheek gesture would mean so much to me through the course of my life.  But what’s most remarkable is that my experience is hardly atypical.  Al was always giving to people.  Rick Majerus once estimated that Al gave away 200 of his own watches to friends and family, including the watch he received for winning the 1977 NCAA championship.  "The best thing to happen to me was that it allowed me to be called ‘Coach,'" he said.  "That’s something nonnegotiable. It makes me feel so good."

Of course, there are plenty of wonderful, caring people in Wisconsin, and Al McGuire wouldn’t get the accolades he deserves if he wasn’t also a championship-winning coach.  In his 13 years as coach of the Warriors, McGuire made the NCAA tournament nine times, making it as far as the Elite 8 four times.  After an 8-18 season in 1964, McGuire posted a 287-62 career record at Marquette, including the NCAA championship in 1977.  As we all know, the championship game against North Carolina would be the last game he would coach.

But much of McGuire’s appeal was his legendary outward personality.  He was the King of Milwaukee, at a time the city was the place to be in America.

In the late 1970s, Milwaukee was the nation’s 16th most populous city. Pabst, Miller, Blatz, and Schlitz, all of which were founded by 1856, were still cranking out the suds and providing good union jobs. The city’s manufacturing base was strong, leading the nation not only in beer production, but in industrial control equipment, mining gear, cranes, independent foundries, and of course, one of the leading indicators of industrial muscle – Harley Davison motorcycles. "Happy Days" and "Laverne and Shirley" gave viewers weekly reminders that the city was still alive and well. 

And Al McGuire ruled it all.

He brought the national spotlight to a small Jesuit school that didn’t have the advantage of playing in a conference.  And when the media descended, he rewarded them with unforgettable one-liners.  What other basketball coach was feeding reporters with lines like:

"If the waitress has dirty ankles, the chili should be good."

"Remember, half the doctors in this country graduated in the bottom half of their class."

"The only mystery in life is why the kamikaze pilots wore helmets."

Late in his life, I saw McGuire at a basketball camp being held by Majerus in Milwaukee.  None of the kids in the gym likely even knew that the frail old man sitting up in the stands watching them was a member of the Mount Rushmore of Wisconsin Sports.  He succumbed to Leukemia in 2001, having given us laughs, memories, and championships.  He is, quite simply, the only choice to be number one on this list.

This is the eighth of ten posts revealing the ten Marquette nominees for the SBN Wisconsin Hall of Fame.  These are in no particular order, except for the particular order they're in.

Today's posts come courtesy of lancheman, who's new to the site but not to the Marquette basketball scene.  My sources tell me that, in real life, lancheman is actually a journalist (no foolin') and an MU alum who's old enough to remember the Al McGuire years.

George Thompson has to be in the Hall of Fame. Why?

For one, until Jerel McNeal showed up, Thompson led the all-time scoring list for years. Thompson scored 1,773 points in his years at Marquette (1966-'69), and he did it in three years.

Not impressed? Consider this. He did it without a shot clock, took only 87 games to reach 1,773 points, and never had the benefit of a three-point line.

Thompson was only 6 feet, 3 inches tall.  And he often played with other Marquette stars who were just as adept at scoring as he was. Anyone ever hear of Dean Meminger?

Thompson holds the school record for career scoring average at 20.4 points a game. In the 1967-'68 season, he averaged 22.9 points per game.

Thompson was named an All-American his senior year. Afterward, he played professionally for six seasons, including five in the old American Basketball Association. He finished his career with the Milwaukee Bucks, playing in 1974-'75.

Thompson also was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches Silver Anniversary All-American team in 1994.

And if you're still convinced Thompson doesn't deserves this honor, give him this. He coined the term, "No footer," on MU broadcasts to describe a shot under the basket.

This is the eighth of ten posts revealing the ten Marquette nominees for the SBN Wisconsin Hall of Fame.  These are in no particular order, except for the particular order they're in.

Today's posts come courtesy of lancheman, who's new to the site but not to the Marquette basketball scene.  My sources tell me that, in real life, lancheman is actually a journalist (no foolin') and an MU alum who's old enough to remember the Al McGuire years.

After a stellar prep career at Proviso East High School in Maywood, Ill., Glenn Rivers, the son of a police officer, came to Marquette University.

Rivers played at Marquette for three seasons before entering the draft after his junior year.

In the 1982-'83 season, Rivers led the team in scoring, with a 13.2 points per game average. In 1980-'81, Rivers shot 55% for the season.

Though he only played three seasons, Rivers is the only player in the long history of Marquette basketball to record more than 1,000 points, 400 assists and 200 steals.

No. 31 led Marquette to the NCAA tournament twice and the NIT once.

As good as he was, Rivers will always be remembered for his half-court heave that defeated the University of Notre Dame, then ranked No. 5 in the country, 54-52, in 1981.

Rivers, whose number 31 was retired, ranks third all-time in steals, seventh in assists and is tied for 23rd in scoring.

Rivers played 13 seasons in the National Basketball Association. He is now the head coach of the Boston Celtics.

He got the "Doc" nickname from then Marquette assistant coach Rick Majerus. Rivers showed up at a camp with a T-shirt that said, "Dr. J," a reference to Julius Erving. Majerus called Rivers "Doc," and the name stuck.

This is the seventh of ten posts revealing the ten Marquette nominees for the SBN Wisconsin Hall of Fame.  These are in no particular order, except for the particular order they're in.

He arrived as the least-heralded player in a dynamic trio that was destined to reignite the flame of Marquette basketball.

He left as the most decorated player in that same trio: the leading scorer in Marquette history, a well-rounded force who led his team to four consecutive 10-win seasons in the Big East and four consecutive NCAA tournament invitations.

He's now a nominee for the SBN Wisconsin Hall of Fame.

I'm Tom Rinaldi.*  This is Outside the Lines: The Jerel McNeal Story.**

* No, I'm not.

** No, this isn't.

The McSteal story continues, after the jump.

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This is the sixth of ten posts revealing the ten Marquette nominees for the SBN Wisconsin Hall of Fame.  These are in no particular order, except for the particular order they're in.

A lot of these posts (at least the ones I've seen so far)  have chimed in on players' statistical greatness and professional successes. While my nominee for the SBN Wisconsin Hall of Fame doesn't have a fantastic professional career (a la Ellis, Wade and hopefully soon, Matthews), he does have one night that all Marquette fans will never forget - January 3, 2006.  UCONN visits the Bradley Center in Marquette's first ever game in the Big East.

41 points.  16 rebounds.  19,000 hoarse voices.  1 major upset.  Novak made his robotic jumper a national spectacle, knocking down shot after shot after shot.  He had a three-pointer that was so long, his foot was darn near touching the edge of the "M" at the center of the Al McGuire Court.  He officially welcomed UCONN in the BC and told every other Big East team to watch out.

His performance was widely praised around the college basketball world - even declared the number 1 individual performance by Sports Illustrated (found via Cracked Sidewalks - I love Google). He took a young, raw team on his shoulders that year and carried the Golden Eagles to a season that no one, repeat NO ONE, expected.

Novak developed his own mold - a tall, bruising, brutally efficient shooter that found a way to get open, whatever the defense threw at him.  He was a guaranteed two points at the line.  If I may interject some of his statistical greatness, in his final season at Marquette, he shot 47.7% from the floor - his 3 point percentage was 1 point below that.  He made 97% of his free throws.  Remember his two-point, fadaway jumper to sink Notre Dame that year?  Of course you do.

His 2006 season was special, but what about that first year?  What about his gutsy performances in his freshman year?  He was the ultimate role player on a team that had it all - superstar player, slick point guard and frontcourt talent.  He definitely benefitted from having a more balanced attack in his senior year (versus Sophomore and Junior), but his crunch time shooting made that 2005/6 team.

I know that Novak doesn't have the superstar power of Wade or the legendary name-recognition of Ellis or Rivers, but I nominate him for the SBN Hall of Fame for making us believe in Marquette basketball again.  It can be argued that he set the tone for the current stretch of success we've been riding on as a program.  That January game was arguably the biggest Marquette upset of the decade and it was his time.

Other than basketball, I also have a personal story regarding Novak.  On my first night as a student, when I was at my first college party, Novak was there.  I was dumbfounded.  I was more dumbfounded when Novak came up to me and introduced himself.  I was even more dumbfoundeder when he hung around to talk ball for 20 minutes.  That was my first night as a student at Marquette and I'll never forget it.  Since then, he's been my favorite player and my nominee for the SBN Wisconsin Hall of Fame.

This is the fifth of ten posts revealing the ten Marquette nominees for the SBN Wisconsin Hall of Fame.  These are in no particular order, except for the particular order they're in.

This post comes from guest author John Pudner, who writes for the always-excellent Cracked Sidewalks.com and is the author of Ultimate Hoops Guide: Marquette University. We appreciate John taking the time out of his busy schedule to write this feature on Bo Ellis.

Since All-American Eber Simpson and his Wisconsin Badgers defeated Al Delmore and Marquette 14-13 in their first meeting on December 19, 1917, thousands of students have played Division I basketball in Wisconsin, including greats such as Alando Tucker (UW-Madison), Tony Bennett (UW-Green Bay), Clay Tucker (UWM) and Dwyane Wade (Marquette), as the state has produced 51 NCAA tournament teams and five Final Four teams.

However, only one player – Bo Ellis – has played in TWO Final Fours.  The 6-foot-9 forward from Parker High School in Chicago also started in more wins – with a 102-17 record – than any other player in state history.  In fact, only UW’s Jason Bohannon (102-33) and Tucker (102-35) have even PLAYED in 102 wins, but both came off the bench for many games early in their careers.  Ellis took the court as a starter for his first MU game on December 1, 1973, and started every game through the NCAA championship win over UNC on March 28, 1977.

Prior to the NCAA championship telecast on NBC, Ellis was referred to as the best forward in the college game.  In 2007, Dick Enberg introduced him after the Al McGuire play was performed in Atlanta thirty years after the title game, and the next year he started the annual Marquette golf outing to benefit the Nicole Ellis Scholarship Fund.

After spending the better part of a year crunching the numbers and reading accounts of all 667 Marquette basketball players, I concluded by writing, “Ellis is clearly the most valuable player in Marquette history…” (page 103, “Ultimate Hoops Guide: Marquette University.”)  I compiled 10 factors on each player, and Ellis is the only MU player that ranks at or near the top in all 10:

What makes Bo Ellis the most valuable player in MU history, after the jump!

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This is the fourth of ten posts revealing the ten Marquette nominees for the SBN Wisconsin Hall of Fame.  These are in no particular order, except for the particular order they're in.

It was 2000 when I first heard of this guy on the Marquette men's basketball team named "Wade." 

At that time, a friend was working for the MU women's basketball team, which forced him to spend many hours at the Old Gym, where the men's team also practiced.  When asked for a preseason scouting report on the upcoming team, all my buddy could talk about was some guy named Dwyane Wade.  Unfortunately, we had to wait a year to witness what our friend was trying to convey to us, but it was well worth the wait.  What we didn't know was that this guy named Wade was going to reverse a bit of a stagnant trend of mediocre basketball and lead Marquette University back into the national spotlight after years of relative irrelevance.

All the D-Wade you can possibly handle, after the jump.

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This is the third of ten posts revealing the ten Marquette nominees for the SBN Wisconsin Hall of Fame.  These are in no particular order, except for the particular order they're in.

On July 19, 2004, Wesley Matthews, Jr. committed to play for the Marquette Golden Eagles over his hometown University of Wisconsin-Madison Badgers despite the fact that his father, nine-year NBA veteran Wes Matthews, Sr., and his mother, Pam Moore, both attended the University of Wisconsin (Wes, Sr. on a basketball scholarship, and Pam on a track and field scholarship).  It was another notch in the belt for then-head coach Tom Crean in the ongoing recruiting battle with the University of Wisconsin for the top in-state talent.

As a high school senior, Matthews averaged 22.5 points per game in leading his Madison Memorial team to a 24-2 record and the Wisconsin WIAA Division 1 state title.  For his effort, Matthews was named the 2005 Mr. Basketball in the State of Wisconsin.

Much more on Wes, after the jump.

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