🏀 KuBuckets Archive

There is the Wooden Award for best college basketball player in which the criteria is said to include more than just on the floor production.

There is the Heisman Trophy for best college football player, which is unapologetically about which player has the best SID and so gets the most hype over the course of a season.

There is the Outland Trophy for best college lineman, named for KU's early All American lineman John Outland, who correctly believed lineman were under recognized for their decisive contribution to team success in football. (Note: more teams have won mythical national championships in football without Heisman trophy quarterbacks, or running backs, than have won same with out great offensive and defensive lines. And no quarterback, or running back, has ever won the Heisman without a great line. Perhaps only exception, that would never the less prove the rule, would be Gale Sayers, who obviously deserved to win the Heisman even without a great line, and he didn't win a Heisman for lack of a great SID. But I digress.)

And now there is the bateland 1.0 Award for the lowest foundationed starter in D1 College Basketball each season getting the most out of the least ability on and off the floor.

Nominees are hereby requested via posting on this thread.

The First Annual bateland 1.0 Award ceremony will be held in The Ritz Virtual Carlton Ball Room and Convention Center in the Cloud on the first Monday after each NCAA Championship Game at the end of each season. The bateland 1.0 Award is a Petroshoeco-Influence-Free award, at least until the bateland 1.0 Award winner is proven to have endorsement value, after which the award will be prostituted to the Petroshoeco that bids the highest amount for an exclusive contract with the bateland 1.0 Foundation in promoting this award.

(Note: all fiction. No malice.)

@jaybate-1.0 please list prior virtual winners as examples of how you judge. Kevin Young? Christian Moody?

Which is more important, the lowness of the foundation or how high above the foundation the player got?

@ParisHawk

Low foundation should be the primary criterion. Low foundation can refer to extremities of height, or weight, or of lack of skill, aptitude, intelligence, or disability that ought to put an athlete at XTReme Disadvantage that the athlete nonetheless somehow finds a way to overcome and become a starter, independent of how good, or bad, his team may be.

BIG MAN EXAMPLES

Manute Bol: Almost despite his XTReme Height, 7-7 Manute Bol might have been a winning candidate in his one nearly forgotten season of college basketball at Bridgeport, because his lack of strength, coordination, fundamentals, and skill made his height almost a disadvantage. He was too tall to do anything well, except alter shots with absolute unpredictability of where his XTReme Height might actually be able to present itself on the floor in time to block or alter a shot.

Nick Pino: Largely forgotten in the mists of the 1960s college basketball, big, 7', 325-400 pound Nick Pino of KSU is yet another example of a too-big man that was so slow that team mates occasionally made two trips down the floor while Nick was in process of making one. Nick could not clear the floor jumping. He had no recognizable sense of anticipation. And yet, despite relentless scorn of fans, and broadcasters, Big Nick actually helped his KSU team to a couple credible seasons under Tex Winter.

Any TCU big man during the Trent Johnson era, each of which has had to play post in a power conference without any apparent ability to score from anywhere on the floor except by random chance.

BACKCOURT EXAMPLES:

Any Missouri guard during the Bob Vanatta era (1962-1967).

Any TCU guard absolutely unable to hit the basket from farther than 5 feet out during the Trent Johnson era.

Any guards that may have started for a D1 team, while legally blind.

Mark Turgeon--a player deficient in every conceivable facet of the game who nevertheless contributed admirably to winning KU basketball.

Valdez Ploughammer--a little known one-legged point guard that hopped for Kinesiology State Normal College of Utah in the early 1940s, while most of the draft age basketball players were over seas. Ploughhammer actually lead the nation in one legged drives and proved the jump shot feasible on one hyper developed left leg. He became the first and only one legged player to start in college basketball, who is documented to have eschewed an alumnus' offer to rent him a his prosthetic leg to improve Ploughhammer's success in the greatest game ever invented.

The above are just some examples to help guide you in your nominations.

@jaybate-1.0 Nick Pino! I never thought I would see his name on any basketball site. I actually felt sorry for the big guy. When he got into the game the chant in AFH was "Pino eats babies". The only thing more massive than his size was the amount of hair on his body.

If he helped KSU I don't remember it being in AFH.

@sfbahawk

Yes, Big Nick was one of KSU's recurring inadequate answers to KU's run of good to great big men and later had a career selling off surplus hair plugs to a variety of hair enhancement organizations.

@jaybate-1.0 Is it true that Valdez Ploughammer actually threw down a gym rocking dunk against Joe Fulks, center for Murray State Teachers College?

@jaybate-1.0 Wow...Nick Pino....a name I Iiterally haven't heard since his playing days, and for good reason. The first big man I ever saw with a negative vertical...

When I first saw Ostertag play at KU he reminded me a bit of Pino, but at least he could block shots, and managed to parlay that into a pretty good career.

While going through Teacher orientation in the 70's, Nick Pino sold me insurance.

My Nominee would by Conner Teahan.

@wrwlumpy

I will second Conner.

@brooksmd

Yes!

How about Dr. Moody? best walk-on ever...

The worst walk-on to play a significant role for Kansas basketball in at least in the last 30 years, but a walk-on that was absolutely crucial to bridging minutes gaps during an incredible season: Justin Wesley.

As a note, there haven't been a lot of walk-ons to play -- but the gold standard (Clint Normore) creates a high bar. God bless that top of the key three.

@JayHawkFanToo

He certainly was good, but maybe too good! He always seemed like kind of a walk on ringer. 😄

@JayHawkFanToo [The Pass](

@HighEliteMajor

Ah Justin, the guy who looked every inch a starter, but for some reason was not even a rotation guy, except that magic season!

@jaybate-1.0

Keep in mind that Teahan was Missouri Player of the Year, so even as a walk on, he was expected to be good.

@jaybate-1.0 Right. When you look at Wesley's game, it reminds you that skill is actually required. Lots of guys that look the part.

@HighEliteMajor

...well...he played Wilt Chamberlain in his biopic... :D

@brooksmd

Dang...I had forgotten about that one... :D

@JayHawkFanToo

Good point. Conner may have to be disqualified for being Missouri Player of the Year.

@jaybate-1.0

PHOF!

@HighEliteMajor

How can you not nominate Brady Morningstar?!?!

Man could he throw an entry pass!!!

@jaybate-1.0

Frank Mason? From no rank Frank to one of the best point guards in the country?

@VailHawk Don't get HEM started! (Very funny, though!)

@JayHawkFanToo

I remember some fans became pretty hyped with Teahan and the possibility that he could shoot the lights out.