Friday Five: My Five Favorite College Basketball Players

I love watching March Madness. It's not always kind to me, but it's still one of the best sporting events around. This year, I have a few different rooting interests that are floating around in both the men's and women's tournaments. I thought it would be fun to post my favorite college basketball players for this week's Friday Five post.

Unfortunately, not all of these players have cards.  

Honorable Mention - Elissa Cunane - NC State 2018-2022 

The best sports team at NC State over the past decade has been the women's basketball team. They are consistently ranked, play at a high level, and compete for titles at both the conference and national level. Elissa Cunane was their center the last few years and was a big part of the reason the team won three consecutive ACC Championships. She's a skilled big person who scored around the basket, but also shot three pointers and could run the floor. Elissa was drafted by an WNBA team, but ended up playing this past year in Europe. The Wolfpack women's team is playing Princeton in the first round of the NCAA tournament. A bit of a down year without Elissa this year.  

Honorable Mention - Lorenzo Brown - NC State 2010-2013 

NC State was horrible while I was in school there. The team was coached by Sidney Lowe, who was the point guard on the 1983 National Championship team. The biggest problem was that he could not develop a point guard. The last year I was in college and Sidney Lowe coached State, he brought in Lorenzo Brown as the team's star recruit. Too bad Sidney got fired, because he actually got a good point guard with Lorenzo.   

I am not going to go look up his stats, because they don't matter. Lorenzo Brown just played basketball the right way. He was good on defense, great passer, and he scored when the team needed some points. If you made a list of the attributes for the ideal college point guard, Lorenzo Brown would have them all. The team ended up making a Sweet 16 run while he was there. 

Not as flashy as some of the other players on this list, but still ended up playing in the NBA for a few years with the Toronto Raptors.  Lorenzo is also on the Puerto Rican National Team has had some big games in World Cup and Olympic-type events.  

5. Cat Barber - NC State 2013-2016 

Cat deserved better. He was a great player who was at NC State while the team was filled with underachievers and crappy coach. Cat is from the Hampton Roads region in southeast Virginia, same as Allen Iverson. As shifty, quick point guards, the two drew a lot of comparisons. In my opinion, the comparison hurt Cat. He got a bad rep at times and it was not deserved. Cat grew a lot as a player during his years in Raleigh and ended up averaging 23 points per game and almost 5 assists per game their senior year. Cat was a dominant college player who probably could have done a lot of damage in the NCAA Tournament with a better coach who could have utilized the supporting cast a little better.  

Cat was drafted by the 76ers, but never really stuck in the NBA. He played a few games with the Atlanta Hawks, but has been a fixture in the G League and Europe. Panini made a bunch of cards of Cat when he was first drafted, almost all NC State cards. The Panini cards list him as "Anthony Barber", but he signed all of his autographs as just "Cat".  

Mike Krzyzewski heading back to the locker room after his press conference and walks up to Markell Johnson, hugs his and says “you played a great game... not a good game but a great game.” #DUKEvsNCST @ABC11_WTVD pic.twitter.com/TPFyrpXriZ

— Bridget Condon (@BridgetCondon_) February 20, 2020

4. Markell Johnson - NC State - 2016-2020 

Markell does not have a basketball card, which stinks. Of the players who have been at NC State under their current coach, Kevin Keatts, Markell Johnson is my favorite player. He stayed in college all four years, did not transfer, and got better every year he was in college. Best thing about Markell was that he showed up in big ways when State played big games. 

Markell was a great passer. He averaged more than 5 assists per game for his college career and is third all-time in school's history. Markell also has 4 of the 10 highest assist games in the history of the school.  He's not in the NBA or G League, but has spent time playing professionally in Turkey.  

3. William "Bud" Eley - Southeast Missouri State 1995-1999 

The Ohio Valley Conference has Belmont, Murray State, and Austin Peay. It's a tough league. Southeast Missouri is always a step below those schools, which stinks when you're a conference that only sends one team to the NCAA Tournament. While I was in school there, the team had Bud Eley. He was a 6'10 center who was an all-conference player three years, conference player of the year. He led the conference in scoring, rebounds, and block shots. I believe he lead Division I basketball in double-doubles his last two years. If you went to a SEMO basketball game in the late 1990s, Bud was going to score his points, get his rebounds, and block a bunch of shots. Was anyone else going to help him?  

Depends on the night.  

Bud never made the NCAA Tournament.  

Thanks, Murray State. 

Bud Eley never played in the NBA, but had a long career playing in Spain. He even has basketball cards, but I cannot find any of them online. Panini has made several sets for the ACB, Spanish Pro League, and Eley has cards in the set.  

Southeast Missouri did make the tournament this year.  

They did not win their game in the First Four against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, and their mascot may or may not have broken a Pitt Panthers sign in the arena.   

2. Anthony Peeler - Missouri - 1988-1992 

Anthony Peeler rolled out of bed in the morning and was good for 20 points. I grew up watching the Norm Stewart era Mizzou teams, there were other good players, but Peeler was the best of the group. Peeler could shoot from the perimeter or drive to the basket. I know Doug Smith was at Mizzou around the same time as Peeler, but he did not have the excitement factor of Peeler. He could do it all and won Big 8 Conference Player of the Year in 1992.  

Anthony Peeler played in the NBA for a long time and has a lot of basketball cards. I like this 1994 Topps cards with Charles Barkley's head in the background. Peeler's crowning achievement as an NBA player was probably punching Kevin Garnett in the face during a playoff series game 6 in 2004. 

Peeler and Garnett were teammates for a few years on the Timberwolves.  

1. T.J. Warren - NC State - 2013-2014

Long ago, when players stayed in school for four years, T.J. Warren would have set every offensive record at NC State. He played two years at State, didn't start his freshman year, and still averaged 12 points per game. In his sophomore year, Warren averaged 25 a game and was the ACC Player of the Year and a consensus All-American. Warren is a bit of a throwback with most of his points coming on runners and mid-range jumpers.

T.J. is still playing in the NBA with the Phoenix Suns. He's been injury-prone as a pro, but still has his good scoring touch. For his career, T.J. is averaging a little over 25 minutes per game while scoring 15 points per game. 

The Old Mall Card Shop

I am approaching ten years now in this space. During that time, I have made several vague references to a "mall card shop" near my house that I never really visited. I am not going to name names for this post.  Maybe in a future post. Mall card shops are not really ideal, I do not want to spend a lot of time rehashing all the various reasons. 

The mall with the card shop was in the process of closing prior to the pandemic.  The anchor stores were closed and the mall was filled with all sorts of odd shops.  One of the local high schools had even landed a space in the mall for their robotics teams.  I am not sure exactly when the mall officially closed, but the most recent pictures I can find show it completely shuttered. 

 

I had actually been to the mall card shop several times while the remaining stores were in the process of holding clearance and closeout sales, but it was primarily for a few large card boxes. I discovered a sweet table of old wax boxes on the last trip. I ended up buying a box of 1995 Emotion cards, which was a fun product back in the day.  

At some point in the last year, the mall card shop reappeared within a five minute drive of my house in a new development.  I was curious about the store, but did not make a visit. I figured it was likely going to be similar to its identity as a mall card shop and it's in a little bit of an odd place. The only thing I knew that was on that same street was a trailer park.  

Well, I needed some card boxes a few weeks back, so I loaded the little man in the car and made a visit to the card store.  Not my picture, but it looks nice from the exterior.  Yes, the trailer park is still there, just to the left in this picture. 

I dare say, I was impressed with the store. They had a decent selection of single baseball cards and a lot of wax. The little man spent a good thirty minutes looking through the boxes trying to find some Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt cards. He ended up with a nice stack of cards. I also ended up buying a few inexpensive Jake Cronenworth cards, but I was just more impressed that the store had card supplies.

Enter this week. We have been in the process of replacing the floors in our house. Our furniture has been moved around. On Wednesday, the little man could not hang out in his room, because our contractor was working on our staircase. 

 

What to do?  

We made another trip to the former mall card shop. Again, I was impressed by the store. The little man was able to track down a few single cards from the Cardinals, Tigers, and Rays players he collects. Those are his three favorite teams. I also ended up with a bunch of single cards that I am posting now, but also ended up picking up some Topps Heritage Minors. That's for a different post.

Here was my haul. All of these cards averaged out to roughly a dollar per card minus the last card. 

I have not really done much with collecting Paul Goldschmidt cards since the Cardinals traded for him in 2019. He was a nice player on the Diamondbacks, but I was not a huge fan. I feel like I have come around a bit after this past year.  Good player, borderline Hall of Famer.  I will try harder on Goldschmidt in the coming year. 

Next up is a MacKenzie Gore. He's from North Carolina and I have a connection to him through work. Not the best year in 2021, but I still think he has a bright future. 

The late 90s Gold Label sets were much better, but still not bad cards.  Picked up a Pujols and Goldschmidt. Not sure if the Class 1, Class 2, and Class 3 cards are the same as the original sets.  Pujols is a Class 3 card, which is why I asked. I believe those were short-printed back in the day.

Next three are all of the newest Cardinal, Steven Matz. Just a bunch of Topps Chrome singles, nothing too fancy. 

 

 

The bottom 1984 style card from the 2019 Topps set is my favorite Matz card out of this group.  I need to go through my Mets and Blue Jays singles from the last few years and see what other Matz cards I have hanging around.   

The next three are cards are all NC State players.  First up is Russell Wilson and Trea Turner.

 

 

Nice to see Russell Wilson shown as a position player with a bat in his hands. There are several Panini cards floating around where he is shown as a pitcher.  Russ was actually a second baseman. Heard he also played for the football team.   

Two T.J. Warren cards.....

I am a team behind on T.J.. The last time I posted one of his cards he was still on the Phoenix Suns. That was two years ago. He's played well on the Pacers so far, although T.J. has still had problems staying on the court due to injuries. Last year, T.J only played four games. This season, he has already missed a game or two with a foot injury. Still my favorite former NC State basketball player.  

Last card for this post.  

An old Durham Bulls favorite, Anthony Banda.  

He was really good for the Bulls a few years back, but has had a few arm injuries and bounced around to the Giants, Mets, and Pirates.  The Pirates used him as a reliever during the second half of 2021 and he seemed to find his stuff again. 

I picked up two boxes of Topps Heritage Minors while I was there. Not very mall-like prices on the boxes, plus I love Minor League baseball cards. That post is for another day. 

Just Some Old Basketball Players

I have been on this big kick lately with finding older baseball cards of players who appeared on the Durham Bulls several decades ago.  Since I dabble in basketball cards, I decided to do a similar thing with that part of my collection.  A little bit smaller scale, maybe slightly more recent cards, but these weree all enjoyable finds.  There are a few NC State cards, but also a few of the players that I watched while I was living in St. Louis.  

Let's start with the NC State players first.  I have added two good State cards, both are household names in there parts that many are likely to recognize.  First up, is the greatest of the greats in Raleigh. 

 

 

This is actually my second copy of this card.  I picked this up while I was working on baseball cards.  Found a guy who was unloading some Rays/Durham Bulls in a Facebook group.  My Facebook profile is an NC State logo, so he asked if I would be interested in this David Thompson card.  I cannot say no to a good deal, plus I love getting combined shipping on cards.  

 

Next.  From the promotions table at NC State, to someone's house, and eventually into my collection.  

 

 

I am usually pretty good about checking out the promotional tables when I go to NC State games, but for some reason I missed out on this T.J. Warren card.  Serious, it's T.J. Warren.  He slimmed down a bit in college.  There is not much evidence of this version of T.J. Warren ever existed outside of this basketball card and 90 second clip of him getting a lay-in and a dunk against UNC. 

On to other schools.  The rest of the cards are players from Mizzou or SLU.  I will go in order working from newest to oldest.  

First up is Keyon Dooling.  He had a fairly long career in the NBA as a back-up guard.   Pretty versatile, could play both the point and shooting guard positions. 

 

Keyon has worked in the front office for the Utah Jazz since retiring a few years back, but recently got added to the coaching staff as an assistant last month. While Keyon may not have it listed on his resume or LinkedIn page, I have been employing him as a gif in PowerPoint and Google Slides in my classroom for five or six years now.  

This incredible gem is from a charge call against Kansas.  He didn't quite jump over the KU player while dunking the ball over him, but came really close.  

If you are a teacher, this gif is great for 

"The schedule changed because of an assembly"

"Someone thawed our freezer pops by moving them to the refrigerator" 

or the classic:

"It's picture day and the cafeteria is serving spaghetti. Don't do anything that results in your mom emailing me after school because you are doing picture retake day next month"  

Let's move on.  

 

 

Larry Hughes is from St. Louis.  He's a little younger than me.  I saw him play in a high school Christmas tournament his senior year while I was a freshman in college.  He actually played with Jayson Tatum's father, Justin Tatum, at a small parochial school.  Hughes and Tatum both committed to stay home and play at Saint Louis University.  Hughes played one year and left college for financial reasons connected to his younger brother's health.  Tatum sat out at least one year, might have been more, because he had a diagnosed learning disability that allowed him to take the ACT without a time limit.  The NCAA was even ridiculous in the 1990s.  

Rest of the players are from when I was in high school and middle school.  A little nostalgic for the old Big 8 Conference here.  

 

Another long-time NBA player, Peeler had a good career as a offensive spark plug coming off the bench for the Lakers and Timberwolves.  A few other teams mixed in there too.  He was a great college player.  I believe he was an All-American and the Big 8 Player of the Year his senior season.  I liked this card because it shows Peeler in his college uniform.  There are not too many Anthony Peeler cards in a Missouri uniform floating around out there.  

It's a little odd that they have Peeler in his college uniform, logos and all, but they airbrushed out the defender.  You can still make out the T from the Texas A&M logo on the shorts.  I know the Big 12 was not around in the early 1990s, but Mizzou played them Peeler's senior season.  The Tigers won by 30.  I would try to find Peeler's stats for the game, but I am guessing he sat on the bench in his warmups for a large portion of the second half. 

Next up is a Mizzou player that is new to my basketball card collection.  I was surprised that I did not have a card of this guy.  Great college player, not so great in the NBA.  Let me say it again, great college player.  

Two Doug Smith cards.  

Smith was this huge guy, with a huge frame, but he was really quick.  He played before Greg Ostertag and Bryant Reeves were in the Big 8, but there were a lot of other lumbering centers and power forwards that Smith would just blow past on his way to the basket.  He also had a nice mid-range jumper, so when defenses started sagging off of him, he could knock down some shots.  Only player in the school's history to score 2,000 points and grab 1,000 rebounds. 

 

 

Smith and Peeler's time in college had some overlap, but Smith was older.  He was also an All-American player, won the Big 8 Conference Player of the Year award twice.  He got selected as the sixth overall pick in the NBA Draft, but never panned out.  I read this interesting take on a Celtics website about Smith in the NBA.  He ended his career in Boston after they tried to turn him back into the Doug Smith at Mizzou.  

To summarize, Smith was a big man (6'10), but his quickness and athleticism were what made him a great scorer in college.  The Mavericks drafted him, thought they were going to put muscle on his large frame, but that just made him slow and he couldn't score anymore.  How many good college players did the Dallas Mavericks wreck in the early 1990s?  Apparently it was a long list.  The Mavs were thinking Karl Malone when they should have been thinking about Julius Erving. 

This Mavericks card is alright, but I really like this Kellogg's card below. 

College Basketball Greats.  This seems like the perfect Doug Smith card.  Look at that positioning under the basket.  This is the Doug Smith that I remember.  He's got the big guy sealed behind him and some little guard trying to come down on a double team.  At least that what I think is happening.  Is this against Nebraska?  Doug probably scored a ton of points in this game.  Save for Eric Piatkowski, the Huskers were terrible at basketball when I was younger.

Last card.  

Anthony Bonner was in the NBA for awhile with the Knicks and Kings. Really good rebounder and defender in the NBA.  The talent level at Saint Louis University was not very good until the mid 1990s when Charlie Spoonhour got hired.  Bonner was sort of the lone bright spot during the 1980s  I have no idea about this brand "Star Pics".  I feel like I might have bought one of those novelty sports cards that you can buy at Walgreens photo. 

Weekend Countdown: My Favorite College Basketball Cards

This was the weekend that we were supposed to be watching the NCAA Final Four.  I spent my weekend sorting cards, planning some online lessons for my students, and also wrangling my own kids.  Somewhere in there, I had a little bit of time to sort through my basketball cards.  

Here is this week's single rules:  

• Cards have to show the player in their college uniform, no airbrushed out logos, or NBA cards. 
• Multiple universities are represented on my list, it's not just my 10 favorite NC State cards.  

Let's go.  

10. 2009-2010 Upper Deck Brandon Costner 

He played at NC State while I was in college there.  Good player.  He was a power forward who had a nice outside jumper, even shot some threes.  He ended up playing in Spain, China, and the G-League after college.  His claim to fame at NC State was that Tyler Hansbrough once got a technical foul for trying to slap him after grabbing a rebound.  

  

There is an autographed version of this card out there somewhere.  I don't own it.  

9. 2016-2017 NC State Basketball Card Set Dennis Smith 

There is a table at all of the NC State sporting events that is covered in posters, schedules, and all sorts of free stuff.  For a long time they gave away basketball cards, though they have stopped in recent years.  Generally they did one or two players per game, each player was available for a game or two.  

Here is the card.  

Never quite sure how to view Smith.  He was a great player, but State was a terrible team the year he played there.  Plus, he took money on the side from Adidas, and is likely going to get State put on probation here in the next year or two.  

8. 2012-2013 UD Black Lorenzo Brown Autograph 

Lorenzo was a freshman the last year that I was in college.  Great point guard.  Great vision.  He was on a team that ended up in the Sweet 16, and probably did not get the credit he deserved.  Plays like this......

Everyone is looking at the result, which was a dunk over a defender, but miss the fact that the pass was threaded through 3 defenders.  

  

This is a nice card.  

Lorenzo played on the 2018-2019 Toronto Raptors NBA Championship team, but has bounced around the NBA and a few other professional leagues.  I believe he played last season in Europe.  

7. 2009-2010 Upper Deck Courtney Fells Autograph 

The sad part about NC State's basketball team while I was in college was not the fact that they were bad, it was the fact that they were bad and they had talented players.  Courtney Fells only averaged a dozen points or so during his time playing in college, but he was the player on the team that would make plays that would have to watch a few times when you got home to figure out how he made the play.  

I have no idea how he blocked this shot.  

Fancy in game dunks.  Steph Curry bricks the shot that leads to this fast break.  

 

Loved watching Courtney play.  

6. 1995 Classic Rookies Autographs Erwin Claggett 

The last few years I was in high school, Saint Louis University was really good.  SLU played in the Kiel Center with the Blues, so there were always plenty of tickets.  They were coached by Charlie Spoonhour, who played four guards and a forward, and the offense relied heavily on three pointers.  They made the NCAA Tournament a few times, and played a really good game against Wake Forest in the second round while Tim Duncan was in school.  Claggett was one of the better players on the team.  I am not sure if I would classify him as a shooting guard or point guard, but he was a good player. 

I wouldn't watch the whole clip, but he is in here a few times if you watch it for a minute.  

 

I did not even know this card existed until a year or two ago, when I saw someone I follow for Cardinals cards tweeted out a picture of it.  I thought it might be a custom card of some sort.  Nope, it was real.  

5. 2017 Panini Contenders Dennis Smith Autograph 

Again, mixed feelings about Dennis Smith and his time at NC State, but this is the only college basketball card that I have ever really tried to chase down.  The rest of the cards on this list were just sort of there, and I bought them for small amounts of money.  This was an expensive card for a long time, and then he got traded to the Knicks.  

As the only college basketball card I have ever worked hard to add to my collection, I can rank this card in the middle of my list.  If NC State gets a punch of penalties, I will never speak of this card again.  

4. 1992 Classic Anthony Peeler 

I get frustrated talking to people in North Carolina about Anthony Peeler.  What do most people remember Anthony Peeler for?  Punching Kevin Garnett in the face.  

 

I assure people he was a great college player, not just an NBA role player who punched a really good player once during a playoff game.  He was the Big 8 Player of the Year, an All-American, and I believe he is the school's all-time leader in a few different categories, maybe steals and assists.  I think Steve Stipanovich might have scored more.  There is a name for you.  

Long highlight, but here he is dropping 43 on Kansas.  

and here is the card.  

I have no idea how his jersey is not retired, or honored by Mizzou.  

3. 2014-2015 SPX T.J. Warren Autograph 

Easily my favorite player I have watched at NC State. T.J. Warren won the ACC Player of the Year his sophomore year, which was his final year in college.  He scored a ton of points, that was his thing.  Warren was nicknamed "Tony Buckets: in college.  I don't think its stuck in the NBA.  Kind of a throwback player in that he scores a lot of his points on jumpers and runners inside the three point line, but he is not someone who is really aggressive driving at the rim. 

I think this basket kind of exemplifies what he does well.  He is doing this same stuff for the Indiana Pacers, only he's gotten better at shooting 3s since going pro.  Scores just under 20 a game in the NBA.  

This was one of my first cards I got of T.J. Warren 

2. 2016-2017 Panini Black Gold Collegiate Basketball Cat Barber Autograph 

Cat is my second favorite NC State player after T.J. Warren.  He was on a Sweet 16 team while he was at State.  Barber was the point guard on the team that upset Villanova, which led to the crying piccolo player.  

Classic.  

Barber was quick, had a nice jumper, and a good feel for the game.  

I think he is too small and slight for the NBA, but he has played professionally in Europe and the G League since leaving State.  Great college player though, and I am happy that Panini gave him a college basketball card.  

All of his autographed cards are signed "Cat".  

1. Upper Deck Exquisite Collection T.J. Warren Autograph 

I know there has already been a T.J. Warren card on the list, but this one is even nicer.  

Does anyone else collect college basketball cards?  

What are your favorite college basketball players?  

Buckets!!!

It has been almost two years since I have found a decent card of one of my favorite former NC State players, and current Phoenix Sun, T.J. Warren.  He was a lottery pick a few years ago, after scoring a ton of points while playing in Raleigh.  He scored at the rim, on jumpers, 3 pointers, and all sorts of runners and floaters.

All of which earned him the nickname Tony Buckets.  

I do not do much with basketball cards, I dabble here and there, but I have a nice little stack of T.J. Warren cards going.  I do not know much about basketball cards, but there has been a dramatic decrease in the number of T.J. Warren cards the past few years.  The last card I picked up was some sort of knight/castle inspired autographed card....

Since that time, averaging almost 20 points per game somehow gets you less cards made.  Go figure.  Maybe it's because the Suns are really bad.  Maybe it's because T.J. Warren has been injured a few times and missed some games.  Honestly, I do not know.  

So, magically it appears that there are some nice new cards of T.J. Warren that have popped up in the last year.  They are suddenly really cheap too.  I picked up one of them, and will likely add a few more in the coming weeks.  Here is my new card....

Pretty excited for a few more too.  

New T.J.

I am always a little bit reluctant to buy cards from overseas sellers on Ebay, but I saw this really cool T.J. Warren card a few weeks back and decided that it was worth the risk given that the card was selling for less than $5.  If you have never bought from an overseas seller on Ebay, the tracking options for the packages can be limited, and the shipping can be a little bit slow.  This card took me just over three weeks to land in my mailbox.....

I do not dabble outside of baseball cards often, but I have really enjoyed picking up a few T.J. Warren cards over the past year since he left N.C. State for the NBA.  Warren was the ACC Player of the Year two year back, and was also one of the leading scorers in college basketball, but was slowed by injuries and limited playing time with the Suns during his first year in the NBA.  He had a great summer league this year and I am looking forward to checking out his lines in the box scores once basketball season starts back up again in a few weeks.

Almost all of the T.J. Warren cards that I have added to my collection have featured the forward wearing his NC State uni, but I would imagine that more and more of his cards will be of the Suns variety in the near future.  In the meantime, there are a few more nice Wolfpack autographs of T.J's that I would love to add to the collection.

Tony Buckets Signature

I am really excited about this post today.  I have posted one T.J. Warren card since the NBA Draft, but it was a really inexpensive and slightly odd relic card from Panini.  I have been waiting, patiently, for something new to hit the market in way of Warren cards.  I am not a huge basketball card person, so while I can tell you that Bowman Draft is coming out in a week and a half, I have no idea when half of the basketball products hit the shelves.  It's basketball season, so I am guessing now?  Yes?  There are a few Warren autographs now floating around on secondary market sites, but this card was my number one target.

Warren was a really fun player to follow last year playing for NC State.  He won the ACC Player of the Year, the conference scoring title, and was the entitre Wolfpack basketball team some nights.  I am following along with TJ while he is playing in the NBA this year, but I will always prefer to see him in a red (or white) NC State uniform.

Vote T.J.

Do you have a vote for the ACC Player of the Year Award?  No?  I figure most voters probably are not going to come and read a blog focused on baseball cards, but you never know.  Outside of baseball, my next favorite sport is college basketball.  I moved to North Carolina about eight years ago and told myself I was going to remain a neutral observer during the college basketball season.  I really did not like Roy Williams growing up in Missouri, so throw neutral out the window.  Add in that I decided to get a Masters Degree and thought the $40K a year to go to Duke might be a steep price for a fourth grade teacher and you've got an NC State fan. 

This year has been a down year for basketball in Raleigh.  The Wolfpack lost three starters on last year's NCAA tournament qualifier to the NBA and Rodney Purvis transferred to UConn.  That left the cupboard rather bare with former sixth man T.J. Warren and Australian center Jordan Vandenburg being the majority of returning talent.  There is also Staats Battle who won the ESPN NCAA Name Tournament two years ago.  School did not hang a banner. 

The team is 9-9 in conference and is probably playing as well as many State fans could have hoped for in a tough league.  The real story this year has been T.J. Warren who morphed from former sixth man to leading the ACC in scoring, field goal percentage, and steals.  If you love basketball and have not had a chance to check out T.J, or Tony Buckets, in action I highly recommend taking in part of the ACC tournament this coming week.  For a sneak preview, here are three of T.J.'s most recent games:


Versus Boston College: 42 Points with 13 rebounds



Versus Pitt: 41 points. 



Versus UNC: 37 points