Will Cherry - Potential to Be Best Ever?

[AllWeatherFan]

I had the pleasure of seeing Michael Ray play many, many times. When he was a freshman, he was quite ragged. There were times when his body was moving way too fast for his brain to catch up. But even though he was rough around the edges, he had quickness the likes of which nobody had ever seen in a Griz uniform. I remember specifically when nationally renowned scorers came to town to play the Griz, such as Frank Oleynick of Seattle U (drafted by Sonics in 1975 in the first round – 12th overall pick) and Freeman Williams of Portland State (drafted by the Celtics in 1978 in the first round – 8th overall pick), it was Michael Ray Richardson that wowed the crowds. So it was no surprise that he was drafted 4 picks ahead of Freeman Williams in '78.

Will Cherry may not be Michael Ray Richardson, but he’s a special player, and when his career is over at UM, his name will be all over the record books. He’s the only other player in Griz history who is anywhere near as quick as Michael Ray. (In fact, he may be every bit as quick.) But Michael Ray was 6’5” and that caused all kinds of problems for teams who had to try to deal with him. Cherry is going to give opposing teams the same kinds of headaches. We're very fortunate to get to watch him play.

Also, I'm glad bluenoser mentioned Derrick Pope. One of my favorite Griz basketball memories is being glued to the radio, listening to Grizzly Bill Schwanke call the game at Moscow in which Pope broke the backboard (as well as the hearts of the Vandal faithful) with one of his thunderous dunks.

 

[Griznationalist]

I attended my first Grizzly game when Sugar Ray was a junior. Over the years, I've seen a lot of special players and a lot of special teams. Stroeder. Pope. Zanon (Craig). Glass. Selvig (Doug). Krystko. Tinkle. Kearney. All the way through to today. Cherry, et. al.

I've loved 'em all. Sugar Ray might not have been the best student or the best citizen. But he was, without a doubt, the best basketball player ever to wear the home jersey in Montana. I'm glad somebody posted the YouTube link above. Take a look at it. Isaiah Thomas f-e-a-r-e-d Sugar. Magic admired him. Bird got left in his dust. Sugar isn't my fave Griz. But he's hands-down the best ever.

 

[LittletonGriz]

MRR had the quickest first step I have ever seen. He played small forward or off guard depending on the year for the griz. It is too bad they didn't let him play the point like he did in the NBA. I remember when he went against one of the highest scorers in NCAA history, Freeman Williams of Portland State (ave 34 or 35 ppg). MRR scored 40 and held Freeman to 6 points. He told the media that he would have held Freeman to 0 if he hadn't had the flu that week. He also said a 100 guys can play offense but only 1 or 2 can play both offense and defense. After Heathcoate won the NCAA tourney, he told the Michigan media that MRR was every bit as good as Magic. It made a lot of people in Michigan mad. What would have he done if he would have had LK's smarts, toughness and determination?

I hope Cherry can rise to the level of a MRR but don't see that happening. MRR would play in a pro-am league every summer in Denver during the UM years. He more than held his own with David Thompson and the other pros. The only two Big Sky guys close to MRR were LK and Stuckey.

MRR was the greatest Griz talent wise. LK was close a a great player but did not have near the talent as MRR. I would say the all-time great Griz line up for me would be MRR and Craig Zanon at the guards. LK and Derrick Pope at the forwards and John Stroder at the Center. Second team Marc Glass and Anthony Johnson at the guards. The kid who played center when they beat Nevada (brain freeze sorry) and Allen Neilson (Maybe put McKenzie out of position) at the forwards. Centers, a toss up between Engellent, Larson and the current guy.

 

[Bluenoser]

Also, I'm glad bluenoser mentioned Derrick Pope. One of my favorite Griz basketball memories is being glued to the radio, listening to Grizzly Bill Schwanke call the game at Moscow in which Pope broke the backboard (as well as the hearts of the Vandal faithful) with one of his thunderous dunks.

That '82/'83 team was probably the most fun team that I've watched at *any* level. Glass, Selvig (I've heard Stockton didn't come here because he wasn't sure he would get any playing time with those two), Hurley, Pope, Larsen, and Krystko off the bench with a couple others. Caler, Burns, Elroy...

And of course some guy that was driven out of town because he couldn't win the big one. Monty or something like that.

I still think that team could have played anyone in the nation tough at home that year. On the road not so much but they were still a pretty good team on the road. I may be merging a couple years together, but some highlights:

- The crap we gave Neil McCarthy. I loved it up until the sign about Aaron McCarthy's mom/Neil's wife (I wasn't involved but the perpetrators later found out she had died of cancer. Oops.)

- The crap we gave George Raveling ordering him a jalapeno and anchovie Dominos pizza which was delivered to the bench during the game. He was a great sport about it.

- The in-game fight against the University of Washington that spilled over into the student section right where the football players were sitting. Years later I played out here in Seattle against one of the players from that game.

- Marc Glass shutting down Leon Wood in the Christmas tourney.

- Hurley punching guys arms down that tried to arm check him.

- I think the statute of limiations are up, me stealing an Idaho State warmup off their bench in the middle of a game, getting a standing O from the student section, being dumb enough to go *back* to the student section, and then high tailing it out of there when the lady I BS'd telling her "It is OK, I know him" when I took it, was pointing me out to the cops. I think I still have it somewhere.

- The crew getting to the Griz/Cat game what we thought was plenty early enough just to see two or three hundred people already in line in front of us. Problem was, this was Griz/Cat and they had a nice orderly two-by-two line that wrapped from (only two of the six) the front turnstiles, around the ticket office, and all they way out the front door. Beside myself that we were not going to get great seats, I finally said "follow me" and we went to the front of the line and I asked the guys running the entrance if they were going to use the four empty turnstiles to let people in, or just use the two (seemed ridiculous that they'd only use two). He gave me a knowing look and said "of course we're going to use all the turnstiles". Sweet! We plopped down first in line at the four empty lines.

We still had an hour and my friend Matt went across the bridge to Buttreys and stuffed a case of Animal Beer in his painter's pants and his army coat, and when he got back he started passing it out like a Shriner passing out candy. Pretty soon in the lobby what was once a nice orderly Noah's Ark convention turned into Animal House. When it came time to let us in, it was the Who concert in Cincy and they weren't even checking for tickets or ID's.

Except for one poor little old lady who was for some reason standing 100 feet inside the Field House behind the entrance trying to hold back a tsunami, spinning like a top. I had my brother with me who was 12 and visting from Libby with coincidentally Matt's younger brother, and with their size the little old lady grabbed my brother trying to check his ticket. Without skipping a beat I reached back and grabbed him from her clutches saying "he's with me" (like I was all that) and we sprinted down to the front & center of the Zoo. They were the coolest kids in Libby the next year as they were both on the front of the Griz pocket program, right behind Krysko shooting a jumper.

- And of course Derrick Pope. My roommate Matt (see above) and I were lucky enough to have a real-life Frank Burns as our RA which as you can guess by now didn't go over well with us. It was a relatively orderly wing of Miller Hall and we were right next door to ol' Frank. One day we had had enough (or maybe we had enough watching MASH) and at about 7:10 right after quiet hours started we decided to time how long it would take Frank to come and visit us if we turned the music up, just barely enough for him to hear it. Honestly it was not that loud, but it was loud enough for someone to barely hear it from the hallway. I had a real stopwatch and Matt had one on his wrist watch, and we turned up the music and started the stopwatches. Soon after we got the expected knock on the door and we cheerily said "come in!". Frank stuck his head in and before he could get a word out we said "27 seconds Frank!". He was so pissed he stammered for 10 seconds and then said "you guys are getting written up!!!"

Next day our "hearing" was with Head RA Craig Zanon (7 am, about 4 hours earlier than I regularly got up) and Frank was still pissed, already down there waiting for us. We sauntered in wearing our bath robes and boxers like we were Trapper and Hawkeye, and Frank was going off on us to Zanon's Col. Henry Blake. I could see that Zanon was biting his lip to keep from laughing and we played along acting apologetic. Sort of.

Our punishment? We were booted out of Miller Hall, second floor North, into a room right next to Derrick Pope and Krysko in Miller, second floor South. Mickey Sutton was our RA who left not long after to go try out for the Rams, so we were basically kids in a candy store living right between Pope & Krysko, Glass, Bruce Burns & DJ Johnson (I was the first kid in Libby to ever hear Purple Rain), and a few other Griz that slip my mind, with absolutely NO supervision. Zanon could have ordered us strippers and had a kegerator installed in our room and our "punishment" couldn't have gotten any worse, er better.

Derrick was like a _God_ on campus and here we were being punished by having to live in a dorm room right next to him. Took me weeks before I even had the courage to say "Hi" to him and about all I got back was a grunt "Hey" for a few weeks after that.

After impressing Derrick with my sweet moves in the Annex and the Miller Court outdoor hoop, we became good enough friends that my wife and I stayed with him, Sheri, and the family 20 years later when we visited England. He nicknamed me "Jay Dub" after James Worthy because I apparently played like him in Derrick's eyes. Or at least that is what he led me to believe.

Great times from back when hoops were King at the UM and most students wouldn't have been known we had a football team if they didn't see the players in the food service.

Derrick could have had a great NBA career but when he didn't catch on with the Blazers he did the smart thing and took care of his family with the guaranteed money over seas, later becoming the "Michael Jordan of France" from what I hear.

When I was cool:

http://www.aircombatlegends.com/personal/griz.pdf

 

[grizonbob]

Also, I'm glad bluenoser mentioned Derrick Pope. One of my favorite Griz basketball memories is being glued to the radio, listening to Grizzly Bill Schwanke call the game at Moscow in which Pope broke the backboard (as well as the hearts of the Vandal faithful) with one of his thunderous dunks.

That '82/'83 team was probably the most fun team that I've watched at *any* level. Glass, Selvig (I've heard Stockton didn't come here because he wasn't sure he would get any playing time with those two), Hurley, Pope, Larsen, and Krystko off the bench with a couple others. Caler, Burns, Elroy...

I read a profile of Stockton once that said he was all set to come to UM but then his father started having health problems, and so he decided to stay close to home at Gonzaga. Wouldn't that have been a hell of a team if he'd come to UM?

 

[grizonbob]

Bluenoser, thanks for sharing your memories. Those were some good times, when the arena was rocking and rolling as much as any in the country.

I would have to say, too, that Pope was probably the 2nd most exciting Griz -- after MRR -- I've ever seen play the game. His breaking of the backboard on a dunk was something else. The way he could elevate and dunk and hustle and rebound was unbelievable. It was a shame he didn't get a shot in the NBA. As you say, I think it was simply a matter of being picked by the wrong team, not a matter of not having the talent.

 

[Griznationalist]

Bluenoser, thanks for sharing your memories. Those were some good times, when the arena was rocking and rolling as much as any in the country.

I would have to say, too, that Pope was probably the 2nd most exciting Griz -- after MRR -- I've ever seen play the game. His breaking of the backboard on a dunk was something else. The way he could elevate and dunk and hustle and rebound was unbelievable. It was a shame he didn't get a shot in the NBA. As you say, I think it was simply a matter of being picked by the wrong team, not a matter of not having the talent.

Agree. There was another exciting player whose life was cut short in an auto accident. Herb Jones. Played as a redshirt freshman in '84-'85. He threw down a couple hard dunks over the top of Reggie Lewis of Northeastern in the holiday classic, and had a monster reverse alley-oop dunk (I think on a pass from Glass) in a conference game a little later in the season. I remember seeing fans from the student section carry a long paper banner on which they'd painted the words, "Krystko is our bread and butter. Herb Jones is our jam."

 

[AllWeatherFan]

Glad you mentioned Herb Jones. He was a special player and would easily have been remembered as one of the greatest Griz players ever had his life not been tragically cut short. You mentioned his tremendous leaping ability...and you are absolutely right...but he also had a great outside shot. I remember his high-arching shots from deep in the corner. They stayed in the air for what seemed like an eternity before they swished through the hoop. Damn, it still bugs me that we didn't get a chance to see Herb play three more years.

 

[Proud Griz Man]

had a monster reverse alley-oop dunk (I think on a pass from Glass) in a conference game a little later in the season. I remember seeing fans from the student section carry a long paper banner on which they'd painted the words, "Krystko is our bread and butter. Herb Jones is our jam."

Nice Dunk. Nice Banner. 1985 versus Weber State. That was the same night the jalepeno pepper Pizza was delivered to Weber coach Neil McCarthy (at the visitor's bench).