Top 5 under TB (most of my adult fandom): Brogdon, Perrantes, Joe, Ty, Dre.
Favorite as a teenager? $$ hands down. The fall away floater to beat Duke will never be forgotten.
Favorite all time: Ty āGametimeā Jerome. His freshman year at Nova. We saw what we had coming. He was a BALLER from day 1. That deep range and ability to play controlled under pressure was a major difference maker.
My first thought was Stith. Then Ty. Then Zay, Gill, Akil. But those have all been said and I donāt wanna repeat (if I didā¦ Stith). So Iām going with Jack Salt.
I was too young to appreciate Ralph.
I was more into football than basketball in the 90s (my bad, yo).
Of the Tony era, Iām obviously picking from the big 3 because of the natty, even though the question is āfavoriteā not ābestā (for which I think my answer is unchanged). We couldnāt have won it all without any of the 3 and perhaps not without any other player on the team. Ty is my guy probably because he seemed the most out of place on a Tony team. He was the guy that had the āfuck youā element that I think made everything work. Everybody else executed at an extremely high level. Ty was the guy that just got it done.
Also important to remember this is a āfavoriteā player thread, not a āwho is the best playerā thread. Somebodyās favorite player might be Paul Jesperson for whatever reasons humans have opinions. The debate of who was most impactful, best represented the school, etc is a whole different one (although people can factor that stuff in if they want).
This feels like it should be illegal.
No problem, yo. Good pick for favorite
Oh, this is tough. Joe Harris was the first player that came to mind, but there are SO MANY I could name. LP was so so good, but I donāt think everything happens without Harris following TB across the country, so Iāll go with Joe Harris.
In this spirit, my favorite pre-Dre player was Adam Hall. Someone said him already.
My idiosyncratic favorite is Shayok .
My fave post Dre player was RD.
My fave walk on was Pete McLaughlin. I believe Iām still the only LRA poster to bring him up.** If we are going for former JJ AU assistants for HC, why not Pete?
** correction: @Serum114 once brought him up as Peter (but Serum is known for his formality)
My favorite walk on was Raleigh Harbour from our time. Was working as a bartender on the Corner (maybe the Virginian?) and made the team during an open tryout Pete Gillenās first year.
Oh yeah. Slaughter legend
Biltmore bartender
Was Chezley Watson a walk-on on that team too?
Chezley was a scholarship player. I want to say he came in with Hand, Hand beat him out for the PG spot and Watson quit basketball to play baseball.
Itās a minor mracle and it should be recognized!
Have to give props to our great friend and teammate Shawn Wilson. R.I.P. Big Red! He was the best guy.
My personal ground rule for choosing my favorite basketball player is to base it solely on watching players play. Otherwise, Iād be forced to choose amongst friends and I canāt do that. I attended every home game that Ralph played and I feel like he should be disqualified from this poll because he was so far and above the overwhelming majority of all college basketball players in his skill set and natural ability that there isnāt even a close second when it comes to UVA players. Itās like throwing out the high and low scores in a statistical analysis (or, like when Playboy magazine rated the top party schools, they threw out UVA, stating āwe are only rating amateursā). With that said, I really loved watching Gus Gerard play. At the risk of sounding politically incorrect, he was the blackest white man Iād ever seen play the game. He had so much fun, jazz and pizazz in his game, especially for that time, that it was exciting to watch. Anybody that saw him destroy national defensive POTY Bobby Jones knows what Iām talking about.
Realistically I think Justin Anderson has to be my favorite. Something about the way he made UVA basketball so exciting to watch.
Weāve had plenty of great players with talent but the dunks, the shooting, the blocks, the passionā¦ like I donāt get how people ever thought UVA basketball was boring if he was on the floor.
So much fun to watch
Your favorite player would never
