I think I posted about being a Purdue fan before. Purdue maybe could've won a national basketball championship in '94 if they'd had a real center. Rashard Griffith went to Wisconsin. But Purdue had a 7 foot guy at the end of the bench. We all wondered why he didn't improve. He had a black belt in Judo.
Well, the fellow at basketbawful has a hilarious story of that. It's about more than basketball. It's about having a bad roommate. Funny to think the stiff at the end of the bench...well, read all seven parts. It's grand storytelling, even if you never saw how awesome Former NBA All-Star was in college. And apparently there's more to come!
Note: Mat in the story was and apparently still is good at something. Just not basketball.
Felix_Arabia Jul 12, 2009
He was a highly tainted recruit who, upon coming out of academic ineligibility in high school, was grazed by a bullet at a friend's birthday party. While he was on the IU men's team, he may or may not have been into drugs. Paraphrasing Eric Gordon, "Coach Sampson was just so into winning and everything, he didn't have time to check and see if players were doing drugs."
Holman's best performance of the season came shortly after the end of the short-lived Dakich era and right at the beginning of Crean and Crimson, when he knocked a potted plant off a secretary's desk while storming out of a one-on-one meeting with the new Coach Crean. I hear he later transferred to some college in Michigan. That college so turns out to be Detroit Mercy. Their men's b-ball team is headed by none other than former Kelvin Sampson crony Ray McCallum. Phone calls may or may not have been a part of the recruiting process to get Holman to come to Motown, just as cocaine may or may not have been in Holman's blood stream during that fateful potted plant episode. Oh well. At least IU sports fans can still scream Puck Furdue and mean it. :D
woodhouse Mod Jul 12, 2009
aschultz Blogger Jul 12, 2009
But then we had Jamaal Davis and Luther Clay. It's just--you think your program isn't THAT crazy, and then you read about that...and Future NFL player(Chike Okeafor I think) in the comments.
Woodhouse--glad you liked it! I was coming off a bad roommate of my own, but he would have been no fun to read about. Apparently basketbawful has polished his stories over the years, and I think it shows.
Felix_Arabia Jul 12, 2009
That was a great read, btw. I like naming Big Dog "Future NBA All-Star" and how he kinda-sorta won a championship with the Spurs. What a goober, and what a good story about . . . lots of things. I look forward to reading more from this guy.
aschultz Blogger Jul 13, 2009
But man, he could brutalize people less talented than himself on the court.
Apparently people who knew Brad Miller in college weren't totally surprised he used casually. More shocking was probably his decision to go with cornrows.
Lewis Jackson(Purdue starting PG) got nailed by police for pot in his car in May so Purdue fans can't really point fingers. I suspect Purdue and IU are cleaner than most programs, which is a bit scary. It's weird, you expect your favorite team's players probably do SOME of that, but it's still a shock when it happens to any specific player.
bluberry Jul 31, 2009
"This reminds me of the real ending for I am Legend. Turns out Bawful was the monster all along."