As we begin a new season, some friendly faces from last year will not be with us. Some have moved on to the NBA and some have graduated, and many will be missed. Especially those players that have for one reason or another left lasting impressions on us over the past few years, such as Mike Gansey, Allen Ray, Hilton Armstrong, Quincy Douby or of course, Kevin Pittsnogle. I’ll miss them all this year, and hell, I’ll even miss Carl Krauser. I’ll miss yelling at him in the Garden while he gives his X out to his boys in the bronx. And I’ll also miss that 65 year old Pitt fan in the Zubaz pants emulating Krauser after a made free throw when he gave his X out to his homeboys from Erie, Pennsylvania.

Sure, there’s quite a few I’ll miss this year, and while we’re on the topic of Mr. Popa, I wanted to honor five players from years gone by that I still miss in this fine league.

1. Sure, sure, sure, conventional wisdom tells me that I shouldn’t pick a Georgetown player. It just doesn’t seem right. However, Victor Page was one of my favorite players to watch. The guy never met a shot that was out of range and his two years in the league went way too fast. His agent, whoever he was, was clearly an idiot. Page should have stuck around for two more years and rewritten the Georgetown scoring records.

2. Syracuse over the years has had a cast of comedic players who have entertained us all to no end. They’ve had by far the most amount of talent of all the teams in the league, and there’s an insane amount of players to choose from if I could see one again. I know who most would pick, one of the all-time greats, but for me, you could save your Ronys, Shermans, Motens, Carmelos, Gerry Macs and Wallaces. Let me see Josh Pace play one more game. This guy was fantastic, and I could never get enough of that lefty floater from the free throw line, except of course, when he was burning the Huskies with that shot.

3. I miss God Shammgod. Not just because of the name, but because his efforts were outstanding, especially how good he was at drawing fouls in the lane. Shammgod had the 97 Arizona National Champion team beaten in the Elite Eight that year, but somehow Zona got by, and Shammgod’s career was over. I miss you God.

4. I’ve never had much of a liking towards St. John’s, but let me see one more game with Marcus Hatten in the Big East. Hatten was another crazy scorer, much like Page, and I could never get enough of watching Hatten play. Like Page, he only played two years in the conference and it’s a shame he couldn’t play for more years.

5. Of course, I need to pick a UConn player, and one guy I definitely miss was John Gwynn. The microwave was one of the keys to that 1990 Elite Eight team that put UConn on the college basketball map. Gwynn was like a great pinch hitter in baseball, it was exciting just seeing him come to the table. He didn’t always make the big shot, but you knew he was going to jack it up. He wasn’t all that great, but still, he was one of the most exciting players I’ve ever watched.

Categories: Big Willie Style, Nostalgia