I love the die-hard Aggie fans on this page and I thought this would be fun. This all started because I was talking with a buddy about how bad I wish Chima was our big man during the Corey Hawkins days.
In the spirit of Aggie basketball debate, build your dream 6 man rosters (starting 5 + one man off the bench) using any player who has ever played for our squad.
At the end feel free to include honorable mentions who just barely missed the cut. Please start with the team first.
I'll start:
G - TJ Shorts
G - Corey Hawkins
G - Ryan Sypkens
F - Chima Moneke
F - Dominic Calegari
Bench - brynton lemar
Honorable mentions:
Mark Payne
Joe harden
JT adenrele
Let's start with the guards. This was actually a very tough decision as my favorite point guard was Darius graham and had this been earlier in the year, that would have been a no brainer for my starting team. Darius was our quarterback with what seemed like an infinite amount of energy on both offense and defense. When he needed to shoot he would, but scoring off the dribble was a rare occurrence. After watching this season so far, TJ has shown similar qualities to Darius in terms of energy, passing, and controlling the offense but he brings scoring to the table.
Corey - nothing needs to be said here. Personally think he was good enough to be at least a bench player on an NBA squad. Arguably the best player Davis has ever had with Chima being the only other player to battle for that title.
Ryan - I'm a firm believer that if you want to be a cinderella in the big tourney. Mid majors need to have an abundance of 3 point shooters. Ryan was lights out.
Chima - nothing needs to be said here. He's having an amazing year thus far even though I think he's forcing his game more than last year. I mean, we need him to so I can't really blame the kid. Arguably the best player davis has ever had. Easily the best big man and the kid is incredibly fun to watch.
Calegari - while he's not a traditional "big man", I just remember him being incredibly smart and reliable down low. With someone like dom
Playing the block, I feel that Chima would have more open looks.
Bench/honorable mentions
Big men: we are pretty limited in this category. The only other option I would throw in would be adenrele. He was huge! And a big play maker but I was always a little disappointed in his contant foul trouble And being MIA on the score board.
3 point shooting: my favorite team was easily the year with Corey hawkins, lemar, Les, Richard, sypkens, Etc. We were the best 3 point shooting team in the nation that year and I firmly believe that would have been our best squad to send to the dance. My dream team could have simply been to throw Chima on that roster.
I also liked the days of our big 3 with mark Payne, Joe harden, and big Dom down low. While they are all on the list, I'm still a sucker for 3 point shooters at the mid major level.
I have even more I could share but this post is long enough!
I'll have to put some thought into this since I've been following the Ags since 1972 and, at my age, memory becomes suspect! I think you nailed a lot of our best over the years though.
1) I'm a relatively new Aggie so I'm pretty much only familiar with the D1 era. I do remember hearing about one guy who was a stud for us during the D2 days though.
2) I'm mainly thinking about our dream team in the sense of being a Cinderella in March Madess. So I designed a team that I think could possibly pull the upset :).
Was tough leaving Caligari and Ritchart out but I’ll take JT for defense, rebounding and the occasional monster slam. Outside of Mark Payne, the squad is mostly from recent teams. Shows the direction of our program
I’ve been following promarily since the D1 era so I like your team except I’d put Caligari ahead of JT. Preston Nuemeyer ( please correct my spelling) was awfully good when I was a student and would have strived with the three pointer.
Rommel Marentez - Gritty player
Phil Rasmussen - Crafty left-handed player
Thomas Jullerat - TOUGH player
David Carter - Great defender
Vince Oliver - Great all around player
Kyle Brucculeri - In range anywhere on the court
Ryan Moore - Loved watching him play
There were some good players and who were also great people on the early 2000's teams. The list is long.
If he hadn't devoted his college time to basketball Rasmussen could have had a pro baseball career, albeit probably not avery long one. Walked right onto the team in the middle of his senior year, and arguably did better than a few pitchers they already had.
About Fowzi Abdelsamad, I remember Coach Kouba made no mention of him being recruited on his website. There was a player who redshirted the previous year DeWayne Parker (saw him at Aggie Jam) who suddenly was not on the roster in 00- 01. Until I actually saw Abdelsamad play I thought perhaps Parker had found Islam and changed his name. Some NBA stars were doing that. I do know Parker found his way onto the roster of a community college in Arizona.
Speaking of Aggie Jam, do they still have that, or did the new age liberals decide it was offensive to peanut butter ?
I know I’m late to the game on this one. Instead the best players I’ll go with the guys that have made an impression over the years.
Mark Payne - a ton of talent but he was as great ambassador for the program. During warmups he’d regularly come over and give my kids high fives. His girlfriend, now wife, was a hell of an outside hitter for the Aggie volleyball team.
Chima and Hawkins. Clearly the two most talented players ever in the program. They both have made going to Aggie games a thing to do
Jason Rabedeaux- the one player from my time in school that I was excited to watch. Clearly not as talented as the guys we get now but he had a good 3 pt shot and always hustled. And I never got tired of the call “Rabadabado for 3!”
Jason Cox - I still remember watching him and wondering why a guy with his talent ended up at Davis. He, along with the rest of that d2 championship team was the real reason I went from the casual fan to the obsessed guy that dragged his kids to every home game.
Thomas Jullerat - I think 6th mentioned him. No one was tougher or a harder worker. Even now if I had to pick one guy to go set a screen or battle for a rebound it might be Jullerat.
I could probably go on and on (Harden, JT, Graham)