Rate the centers

[Mowilly]

1. Don Smith, easily the best ever.
2. Dean Utoff, Best rebounder
3. Victor Alexander
4. Homan
5. Meyer
The rest don't really even compare

GREAT list and I agree although I would have Meyer ahead of Homan for reasons already given on this thread. In addition, we long for Homan because he was our last true big that was really aggressive. He was a nice player but not a player that other teams prepared to stop. The other guys on that list were guys that opponents game planned around. (if the Meyer had not been hit by that train........ who knows where his place in ISU lore may be)

Does anybody else miss 14,000 people standing up w/ their arms extended to the sky yelling "VEEEEEEE" when Vic was introduced? Classic:biggrin:

 

[khaal53]

Having Vic anywhere outside of the top 3 is blasphemy.

 

[4429 mcc]

I still don't understand people's obsession with Homan... Hubalek was far more skilled and worked his tail off... That being said, Meyer was better than both of them...

I think its b/c Homan knew his job was to bang down low. Jiri wanted to be a Euro player, like Julo. I think State fans like a guy who just wants to get down and dirty.

 

[WalkingCY]

1. Fizer...(if you want to consider him as a center.)
2. Cato
3. Big Vic
4. Loren Meyer
5. Vroman
6. Shirley
7. Homan
8. Pearson
9. Rancik

and last but not least:

Andrew Skogland....he was sweet.... not.

 

[Rick]

Need more love for Uthoff. He was dominating back then. Plus the fact that not a person has mentioned Ron Falenchek makes me think you guys are not on your A game this thread.

 

[Knownothing]

How come no David Moss. The block machine.

 

[Mowilly]

honorable mention goes to

Sam Hill
David Moss
Brad Dudek
John Culbertson
Darryl Spinks
Ron Falenscheck
Phil Kunz (nice player)
Dwayne Johns
Chris Alexander
Ivan Chiriaev (I know, he never came here but the "NBA needs Ivan" quote is too good not to include)

 

[johnsonjj]

This is hard because a few of these guys aren't centers, but I'll put my list of best players:
1. Marcus Fizer - NOT a center, a forward
2. Kelvin Cato - best center we EVER had - wish we would have got 4 years...
3. Brackins - NOT a center, a forward
4. Loren Meyer - an absolute STUD
5. Jared Homan - Four year starter and an absolute horse.
6. Paul Shirley - Again, I don't know if I consider him a center, but a great player for four years for us. 3 year starter
7. Jackson Vroman - GREAT center who worked his butt off for us all the time. Wish we would have got 4 out of him too.
8. Vic Alexander - Turned into a tub but was pretty tough when here.
9. Jiri Hubalek - Took him two of his three years to learn that he WAS a center at 6'11"

I loved Cato. Hard to put him too high since he was only here 2 years. He was the best DEFENSIVE center I have seen play at ISU, but was an offensive liability, thus I disagree in calling him the best center to ever play here, as I don't see him as the best even in the last 30 years. His points were off offensive rebounds and garbage time (I would actually be happy if we had that production from Hamilton this year.) Cato was one of the few guys I have seen that could change a game defensively.

 

[johnsonjj]

That name should NEVER EVER EVER be listed in the best centers ever at Iowa State. EVER!

Tyray Pearson - only played two years, but was a forward, not a center. Didn't do lots as a junior as he was a defensive liability. Was automatic point man as a senior. He was the focus of my all time favorite LE quote. When LE was asked what he thought of Pearson having the 2nd highest FG% in NCAA Division 1 Men's Basketball, LE replied, "Too bad whomever he is guarding is 1st!"

 

[johnsonjj]

Homan was great his SR year.

Homan had attitude from day one. He would always mix it up, but for years was a foul a minute sort of guy. Put together a great senior campaign, and became one of our top two scoring options that year. He finally put enough meat on his frame to be strong enough to be really effective on both ends of the court his senior year. Earlier, he was always in foul trouble, and had more offensive putbacks blocked than Justin had this year.

 

[Clonegrad07]

I loved Cato. Hard to put him too high since he was only here 2 years. He was the best DEFENSIVE center I have seen play at ISU, but was an offensive liability, thus I disagree in calling him the best center to ever play here, as I don't see him as the best even in the last 30 years. His points were off offensive rebounds and garbage time (I would actually be happy if we had that production from Hamilton this year.) Cato was one of the few guys I have seen that could change a game defensively.

I guess I can agree with you a little bit. I probably over-rated Cato because I know he was on one of the best teams ever and he was a stud. He probably should be moved below Meyer and Uthoff... Although, they all three were OUTSTANDING centers...

 

[hook40]

honorable mention goes to

Sam Hill
David Moss
Brad Dudek
John Culbertson
Darryl Spinks
Ron Falenscheck
Phil Kunz (nice player)
Dwayne Johns
Chris Alexander
Ivan Chiriaev (I know, he never came here but the "NBA needs Ivan" quote is too good not to include)

Dwayne Johns was a good center to practice dunking on.:wink:

 

[Mowilly]

You might be the only person who remembers him (outside of local law enforcement)

I remember LE thanking TF for "giving" Johns to him:wink:

 

[jsheep]

Although I loved Cato, you guys are giving him way too much credit. He was a very up and down player. He'd have a terrific game and then be virtually non-existant the next. He's definitely in the top 10, but he's nowhere near the best. Vic was awesome. Vroman did a lot of nice things. Homan was decent, but made a lot of stupid fouls - Sam Hill was just as good if not better than Homan. I've heard stories about Uthoff and Smith and I think their numbers speak for themselves.

I also think Meyer was pretty solid, but he wasn't the smartest player. He was capable of having a huge game and really got on a roll at the end of his senior season and had a great tourney run. I remember Hoiberg being interviewed after one of Loren's monster games and they asked him what he thought. Hoiberg's response was, "Where has that been all year?" Classic.

 

[cyclonenum1]

Glad to see a little run for Dean Uthoff and Sammy Hill...I wasn't sure anyone was going to give them some love.

 

[johnsonjj]

Although I loved Cato, you guys are giving him way too much credit. He was a very up and down player. He'd have a terrific game and then be virtually non-existant the next.

I bet if you went back and looked at the games he was "virtually non-existant" they would almost always coincide with foul trouble.

 

[johnsonjj]

Need more love for Uthoff. He was dominating back then. Plus the fact that not a person has mentioned Ron Falenchek makes me think you guys are not on your A game this thread.

The only game I saw Ron play live was one he had his leg wrapped from basically hip to ankle, as did another one of our players. He was slow with the bum leg, but was a big skilled dude...from that one game.

 

[Knownothing]

Cato made the offensive of the other team change there whole mindset. That is how imposing of a block Machine he actually was. It took Homan 4 years to break Cato's 1 and a half year block record. Remember Cato was suspended the first semester of both years he played at ISU. So basically he was only around for a little over 1 year and he made that big of a difference.

 

[johnsonjj]

Cato made the offensive of the other team change there whole mindset. That is how imposing of a block Machine he actually was. It took Homan 4 years to break Cato's 1 and a half year block record. Remember Cato was suspended the first semester of both years he played at ISU. So basically he was only around for a little over 1 year and he made that big of a difference.

Cato went after EVERYTHING! I always held my breath when he was on ball as he got lots of cheap fouls becuase he didn't know how to back off at times. He was a devastating help defender. Our guards could overplay the ball as they knew the "eraser" had their backs.

 

[khaal53]

Cato made the offensive of the other team change there whole mindset. That is how imposing of a block Machine he actually was. It took Homan 4 years to break Cato's 1 and a half year block record. Remember Cato was suspended the first semester of both years he played at ISU. So basically he was only around for a little over 1 year and he made that big of a difference.

Cato played in 27 games his Jr year (33 total games for ISU) and 28 games his Sr. year (31 total games for ISU). Neither of those seem to line up quite right with missing the whole first semester. For instance, in 95-96 the 7th game of the season was on Dec. 16th.