KSTW, u got me thinking about that 1999 team...it was amazing on a few levels.
1st off it was our 1st, like your 1st time gettin it done
you never forget.
It was unforgettable cuz it was against Duke, the team that broke our hearts during the dream season run.
The roster was filled with...non-NBA players. I think this was a discussion maybe Blades started a few years back about having a recipe of a few NBA level players surrounded by solid role players...let's call it the Core/Satellite model (sorry Blades if i'm off on this). But think about it, it was Rip....Voskuhl (unbelievably played 9 yrs in the NBA), then they had a bunch of non NBA pro players (not dissing them, just stating a basic fact) El Amin, KFree, Saunders, Ricky Moore, Rash Jones, Albert Mouring, Justin Brown, EJ Harris...am i missing anyone? I think the model is still the same...or at least similar.
If i remember correctly, our bench outplayed theirs. Not bad for a program that John Thompson & Rollie M used to laugh about back in the day. More depth than Duke? Imposserous. Esp when Duke had a future 1st rounder in CMaggette & we had SWane. Great coaching, great teamwork, great win!
Wow, so after putting all the names down here, i just realized almost every player played professionally at one level or another. But again, only Hamilton was a star, and to be honest not sure most people thought he would do as well as he did in the NBA.
Ok, back to 2016-17...