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In doing the research for BlazerTop 30, I have found an interesting tidbit. Let's see if any of the old timers can figure this one out.

In all of Blazer History, there is only one player who played at least four years for UAB did not go to an NCAA tournament. Who is he?

Note: I am not including players who played five years and sat out the year their team went to the NCAAs. If they were sitting out, they were still considered on the team.

Which player who played at least four years for the Blazers and never got to go to the Big Dance.

Tony Johnson.....UAB hit a dry spell from Tonys freshman through senior seasons and did not go to the NCAA tournament. He was the only UAB player on the roster all four seasons during that dry spell from the 2000 through 2003 seasons.

(01-08-2009 04:31 AM)TheGORILLA Wrote:  Tony Johnson.....UAB hit a dry spell from Tonys freshman through senior seasons and did not go to the NCAA tournament. He was the only UAB player on the roster all four seasons during that dry spell from the 2000 through 2003 seasons.

Tony was a key reserve on the '04 Sweet Sixteen team.

My guess: Cedric Dixon

(01-08-2009 08:10 AM)MeanGreen Wrote:  

(01-08-2009 04:31 AM)TheGORILLA Wrote:  Tony Johnson.....UAB hit a dry spell from Tonys freshman through senior seasons and did not go to the NCAA tournament. He was the only UAB player on the roster all four seasons during that dry spell from the 2000 through 2003 seasons.

Tony was a key reserve on the '04 Sweet Sixteen team.

My guess: Cedric Dixon

oh....well...was I close?

My guess would have to be someone around the timeframe right after Stanley Jackson & George Wilkerson played.

Both played against UCLA, but after that it seems like we hit a dry spell.

Carter Long?

Carter Long played in the horrific George Washington game (and had two other four-year players in his class, Reg Allen and Frank Haywood).

Tony Johnson was one of two players (with Marquis Lewis) who decided to show up for the game with Kansas in St. Louis.

I'm pretty sure it was Cedric.

Cedric Dixon is right!
There have been only two four year periods when the Blazers did not go to an NCAA tournament. 1994-1998, when Cedric played, (and he was the only player to play those specific four years) and 1999-2003. Tony Johnson, Mo Finley and Sidney Ball would have fit into this category had they not all been injured and redshirted, thus making them eligible to play in the 2003-04 Sweet 16 run.

I thought it was pretty interesting that in 30 years, UAB has only had one 4 year player who did not go to the NCAAs.

It's a shame for Cedric Dixon though, who was a great player and will show later on the Blazer Top 30 list.

Depending on what happens this year, Howard Crawford may get added to that list. I don't see us making the tournament next year with basically an entirely new roster.

(01-08-2009 10:12 AM)uabfanman Wrote:  Depending on what happens this year, Howard Crawford may get added to that list. I don't see us making the tournament next year with basically an entirely new roster.

Interesting, but doesn't UAB do better when expectations aren't so high? 2002/3/4 come to mind. Before the CUSA Tournament, we weren't expected to make any post season, yet our run in the CUSA Tournament set us up for a decent run in the NIT. In 2004, we were expected to make the NCAA, but no one saw a Sweet 16 run. I've decided I like it better when no one expects anything out of us.

(01-08-2009 09:16 AM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  Cedric Dixon is right!
There have been only two four year periods when the Blazers did not go to an NCAA tournament. 1994-1998, when Cedric played, (and he was the only player to play those specific four years) and 1999-2003. Tony Johnson, Mo Finley and Sidney Ball would have fit into this category had they not all been injured and redshirted, thus making them eligible to play in the 2003-04 Sweet 16 run.

I thought it was pretty interesting that in 30 years, UAB has only had one 4 year player who did not go to the NCAAs.

It's a shame for Cedric Dixon though, who was a great player and will show later on the Blazer Top 30 list.

I guess I hadn't realized that UAB went through a 9 year period in which they made the NCAA's only once. I left Bham in November 1992 and have lived away since then. I've followed the Blazers as best as I can from New York, Florida, North Carolina and now Ohio but it's difficult. Strangely, in the early years of the internet, it was easier to hear the games because that was before teams sold the internet broadcasts to Cuban's old company and others and tried to make guys like me pay $20 to hear radio broadcasts.

Anyway, I know I've fallen out of touch but seeing it in black and white, that UAB didn't go to the NCAA's for 9 years in a row (except for once in the middle) is sort of sobering.