RE: Wadood & Fields inducted into Hall of Fame
That was the last team we had that one had the feeling that, "on any given day", the Bucs could beat any team in the country. That was the wonderful thing about those '89-'92 teams. You *knew* that they could line up and play toe-to-toe with *anybody*. By that measure, the Wadood/Fields/Nuckles/Smith/Rhoda teams fall just *slightly* short, but warriors they were, each and every one of them.
As to Tirade, I kinda think he did graduate from the Rajun' Cajuns, but I'm not sure. And remember, after sitting out a transfer year, I think he averaged over 20 ppg and about 6-7 rbg, while shooting nearly 40% from 3-land. And they went to the dance. (Heck, didn't he shoot nearly 50% from 3-land his last year here? Well, over 40%, I'm sure. He had a sweet stroke and an awesome, if wild, handle.)
bartow never gave him a full chance. Yes, he had come in and wanted to put his "discipline" stamp on the program. And he did. But as I've pointed out many times previously, he (bartow) was incapable - at least in those early years, of treating him as a "special case" - which is what he was. It's easy to forget what he was going through. Death in the family - either his mother, or maybe his grandmother who he was very close to. He took it *real* hard.
Coaches have gotten A LOT more tolerant over the years about hair, dreads, whatever. But back then, Tirade's "look" rubbed bartow the wrong way, and he felt the need to crack down on him. Not that Tiras was an angel, but he really was a good dude, with a great heart. Just didn't have the love from the staff (bartow) that he needed. I wasn't privy to their conversations, but I "heard stuff".
He could have been one of our all-time greats. As it turned out, he *was* one of our all-time greats on a per/game basis (which with a dime gets you a cup of coffee, etc......).
I still feel bad for him to this day, and I'm pretty sure we'd have more NCAA victories if bartow and he could have gotten along better. My personal opinion is that bartow didn't fully respect him, and that bothered Tiras. Sad story from our point of view, but I do think he's had a long, productive pro career in Europe and Latin America. He might still be playing in Mexico. That's where he'd landed last I heard. (And tearing it up there, well into his 30s.!)
[I had originally mistakenly written "DeChellis" in the above post instead of "bartow" as intended. Have come back and appropriately changed only that. Thanks to RodShaw2 for correctly my error.]
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Wadood & Fields inducted into Hall of Fame
