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Life And Basketball
Created: 8/13/2002 3:48:39 PM
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Oops! This story had cited an incorrect report that the Akron Wingfoots had gone out of business. This is not true! Please visit the Wingfoots website to see how alive and well the team remains. We apologize for the mistake.
For a baseball or hockey player fulfilling his lifelong dreams to make it to the pros, the next step after college is evident.  After being drafted in one of the 50 some odd rounds, these players are shipped off to a minor league farm team in towns like “Medicine Hat” and “Hickory.” They know the road that lies ahead — working up through the system and hopefully making it to the big show one day. However, for collegiate basketball players, the road to the promised land is much different. With over 12 semi-professional leagues in the U.S. (only one, the National Basketball Developmental League, is officially sponsored by the NBA) and thousands of similar leagues in Europe and overseas, the dilemma is much more difficult.
Deciding where and when to play is a huge decision for many players, a decision that sometimes leaves them far away from family and friends. Equally as difficult is locating these players months or even years out of college, a task many times akin to finding a needle in a haystack. However, with the help of EuroBasket.com, we've been able to track nearly 30 former Ivy League players (as of August 13, 2002) who have made the decision to further their careers either overseas or in the developmental leagues, with a handful getting a shot at NBA stardom.
Yale graduate Chris Dudley has been a stalwart in the NBA since 1987, when he was drafted in the fourth round by the Cleveland Cavaliers. Playing with five different NBA teams over his 16-year career, Dudley has pulled down over 5,455 rebounds to go along with his 3,473 career points. Recognized as much for his charity work off the court as his play on it, he is easily the most successful Ivy Leaguer in recent memory in terms of NBA experience. Dudley has had his longest stint with the Portland Trailblazers, from 1993-97 and then again this past year in 2001-2002.
 Four former Ivy Players of the Year continue to pursue their hoop dreams. Jerome Allen, who earned three nods as a first team All-Ivy member and two Ivy League Player of the Year awards in 1993 and 1994, has had his shot at the NBA. From 1995-97, Allen played with Minnesota, Denver and Indiana before finally being released at the end of the ‘97 season. The former Penn Quaker is currently signed with the Italian League’s Virtus Roma, averaging 12.6 points-per-game (ppg) 4.6 rebounds-per-game (rpg) and 3.9 assists-per-game (apg). He was named an Italian League All-Star in 2001.
A 1998 Ivy League Player of the Year and three-time selection as first team All-Ivy, Princeton’s Steve Goodrich has been the most recent Ivy addition to an NBA roster. This past year, Goodrich played nine games for the New Jersey Nets before being released mid-season. The previous year, in 2000-2001, he played 12 games for the Chicago Bulls. Now signed with StadtSport Braunschweig in Germany, where he averaged 14.4 ppg., 5.8 rpg. and 3.1 apg. in 20 games, Goodrich ran with the New York Knicks summer league team at Shaw’s Pro Summer League in Boston, Massachusetts in July.
 TSV Quakenbruck of Germany has acquired the services of 2000 Ivy League Player of the Year Michael Jordan of Pennsylvania for the 2002-2003 season. Jordan had a brief stretch with the Boston Celtics during the 2001 preseason. He has since settled in nicely to the foreign scene, averaging 17.3 ppg. and 3.3 apg., and hitting on 45% of his three-pointers for Spain’s Etosa Murcia in 2001-2002. Jordan also had been with the Venezuelan club team Guaiqueries de Margarita in 2002.
Princeton alumnus Sydney Johnson averaged 7.2 ppg., 3.6 rpg. and 3.3 spg. for De Vizia Scandone Avellino in Italy in 2001-2002. The 1997 Ivy League Player of the Year, who was also an Academic All-Ivy selection, had been affiliated with the Italian circuit for five years since his final season with the Tigers. However, Johnson opted to jump to Spain for 2002-2003,  signing with Casademont Girona.
Three other overseas players who are former first team All-Ivy picks are Matt Langel, James Blackwell, and John McCord. Pennsylvania’s Langel (first team in 2000) is currently playing in the Treviso, Italy summer league while Blackwell, a 1991 Dartmouth graduate showing his longevity, played three games in 2001-2002 with Besiktas Istanbul of Turkey, averaging 15 ppg., 2.7 rpg. and 6.3 apg. before signing with another Turkish club team, Oyak Renault Bursa.
 McCord, a first-teamer in 1997 with Cornell, has blossomed into a virtual superstar on the European scene. Last season he exploded with 22.1 ppg., 7.2 rpg., 4.3 apg. and 1.4 bpg. in 30 games for the Chester Jets in the English BBL League. He has made the BBL All-Star game in 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2002, even earning All-Star MVP honors in 1998. An English League All-Star in 2000 and 2001, McCord won a BBL championship and was named finals MVP in 2002 with the Jets.
In additton to the Ivy elite, many other former Leaguers have found homes overseas and in the developmental leagues. As the number of teams increase, the demand for players is growing, and Ivy Leaguers are happy to oblige.
In the NBA’s sponsored minor league, the NBA Developmental League, there is only one Ivy representative. Jeff Aubry (Cornell ’99) averaged 7.1 ppg., 6.3 rpg. and 1.7 bpg. for the Fayetteville Patriots this past season. The 6-10 center has found an unexpected home in the NBDL, and although he is still listed as a member of the Patriots, he has also signed a contract with Cangrejeros de Santurce of Puerto Rico.
Dartmouth’s Crawford Palmer is currently playing in France. After marrying into French citizenship, Crawford won a silver medal at the 2000 Olympics with the French national team. Traveling to Spain in 2001-2002, he averaged 8.7 ppg. and 4.8 rpg. in 31 games for C.B. Caceres before signing with SIG Strasbourg in France.
Former Penn standout Geoff Owens is finding that the Polish club scene is even more to his liking than the Ivy League. Owens is performing on a stellar level for his team night in and night out. He was signed by ITK Notec Inowroclaw in August of 2001. Playing in 36 games with averages of 12.4 ppg. and 8.7rpg., Owens went down injured that December, but came back averaging 12.4 ppg., 8.8 rpg. and 2.3 bpg. while shooting 64% from the field. Owens led the league in blocks, ranked fifth in rebounding, and ranked sixth in field goal percentage. Owens looks to be on the rise to the NBA after participating in spring workouts with the Philadelphia 76ers.
 Cornell’s Alex Compton is playing with the designation of co-captain for the Batangas Blades in the Phillipines. He averaged 16.8 ppg. on 46% from three-point range in 2002. The 5-11 guard earned Phillipine club championships in 2001 and also in 1999 with the Manila Metro Stars. With the Metro Stars he was named to the 1999 All-Star Game, where he took home MVP honors. Recently, he was also named first team All-League in 2001. His former Big Red teammate, Brent Fisher, is currently on the roster of Elitzur Ramla in Israel.
Daniel Okonkwo of Yale is currently registering 18 ppg., 9.6 rpg. and 3.8 apg. for Al Sadaka, a Lebanese club team, while Ted Smith, also a former Bulldog, is on the roster of the Reading Rockets in England. Last season, Smith was awarded the Margaret Kenderdine "Clubman of the Year" award in recognition of his contribution to the whole Rockets club.
 Often injured Princeton Tiger Mason Rocca is helping Italy’s Sicc Aurora Jesi with his 13.4 ppg., 8.4 rpg. and 3.5 spg. Another Tiger, Chris Doyle, put up 17.9 ppg., 7.8 rpg.and 3.8 apg. for Lobos de la UAC in Mexico in 2001. He is currently showcasing his skills with the Tolka Rovers in Ireland. Rich Barnes, a Brown graduate, was fourth in the the EBA/UBA with 8.0 rpg. during the 2002 season for the Philadelphia Yellow Jackets while dropping in 14.3 ppg. as well. Former Princeton football and basketball player Phil Jackman played in the San Francisco Pro-Am Summer League in 2002.
Other Ivy Leaguers running with foreign teams include Dartmouth’s Greg Buth (Circulo Badajoz, Spain) and Asa Palmer (Vgg Rattersdorf, Germany), Penn’s Oggie Kapetanovic (BBC Nyon, Switzerland), Brown's Michael Kostur (BBC Martigny, Switzerland), Cornell's Ray Mercedes (San Carlos, Dominican Republic) and Princeton’s Norbert Valis (Fribourg Olympic).
While many Ivy Leaguers are associating themselves with successful teams here and abroad, there are those that fall prey to the unfortunate instablitity that is minor league and foreign basketball.
 A classic example involves two former Princeton Tigers. Brian Earl and Gabe Lewullis recently reunited, advancing to the 2000 league championship game in the EBA with the Harrisburg Horizon. The duo led the 1998 Princeton squad that went 27-2 and achieved a national ranking as high as seventh. They joined up again for their run with the Horizon until Earl ambitiously signed with the Manchester Giants in England. However, the Giants left Earl out in the cold in December of 2001, withdrawing from their league because of financial problems. Lewullis is currently testing the market as a free agent for Harrisburg.
Another Princeton grad, C.J. Chapman, had found his home in America with the Akron Wingfoots of the NABL. Penn's Lamar Plummer signed with the Philadelphia Force of the National Rookie League in 2001 and played through the season. However, due to circumstances beyond his control, Plummer was left without a team when the NRL suspended operations for the 2002 season because of underfunding. Plummer was last seen playing in a summer league in Media, Pennsylvania on a team with aforementioned Quaker alums Michael Jordan, Matt Langel and Geoff Owens.
All of those stories were good quality, but Ira Bowman, a graduate of Penn in the late 90s, has one of the League's most memorable journeyman tales in recent memory. After a two-year layoff, he finally got his shot at the NBA, playing with the Portland Trail Blazers FILA Summer League team in 1999. From there he was off and running, as Bowman was called up to the Philadelphia 76ers on February 24, 2000, playing 11 games. In 2000-2001, Bowman played with the Utah Jazz but was waived in October before signing with the Connecticut Pride of the CBA and averaging 13.5 ppg., 4.5 rpg. and 7.4 apg. (fifth-best in the league). Later in 2001, Bowman signed 10-day contract with Atlanta Hawks, but he was released that same month, re-signing with the Connecticut Pride.
That September, Bowman tried out with Italy's Nuovo Basket Record Napoli but was not signed. Finally, he re-signed with the Philadelphia 76ers at the begining of 2001-2002 play, but was abruptly released during the first month of the season after averaging 3.3 ppg. in three games. Although currently not on a professional roster, Bowman is down but not out. After having a shot at the NBA so recently and jumping around from team to team, chances are he will sign with another pro team at some point, if not in the NBA than overseas.
 -- Ben Samara
Editor's Note: A good portion of the information and pictures contained in this article comes courtesy of EuroBasket.com. EuroBasket is a leading global comprehensive basketball information website centrally located in Ontario, Canada. Anyone interested in information on EuroBasket or sponsorship opportunities should contact Advertising Manager Darryl Reshaw in London. John McCord photos courtesy of the Chester Jets.
RELATED LINKS & SOURCES:
EUROBASKET.COM INFORMATIONAL SITES
OTHER LINKS
Ivy League Grads
With Available Professional Stats From Last
Season
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|
Player
(College)
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Last
Team
|
PPG
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RPG
|
APG
|
Other
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Jerome Allen
(Penn)
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Virtus Roma
(Italy)
|
12.6
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4.6
|
3.9
|
2.3
spg
|
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Jeff Aubry Cornell
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Fayetteville Patriots
(NBDL)
|
7.1
|
6.3
|
--
|
1.7
bpg
|
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James Blackwell
(Dartmouth)
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Oyak Renault Bursa
(Turkey)
|
15.0
|
2.7
|
6.3
|
--
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Alex Compton (Cornell)
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Batangas Blades (Phillipeans)
|
16.8
|
3.4
|
4.7
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46.0 3pt%
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Chris Doyle
(Princeton)
|
Lobos de la UAC
(Mexico)
|
17.9
|
7.8
|
3.8
|
--
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|
Chris Dudley
(Yale)
|
Portland Trailblazers
(NBA)
|
1.1
|
1.9
|
0.3
|
0.33
bpg
|
|
Steve Goodrich
(Princeton)
|
StadtSport Braunschweig
(Germany)
|
14.4
|
5.8
|
3.1
|
--
|
|
Sydney Johnson
(Princeton)
|
Scandone Avellino
(Italy)
|
7.2
|
3.6
|
2.2
|
3.3
spg
|
|
Michael Jordan
(Penn)
|
Etosa Murcia
(Spain)
|
17.3
|
--
|
3.3
|
45.0
3pt%
|
|
John McCord
(Cornell)
|
Chester Jets
(England)
|
22.1
|
7.2
|
4.3
|
1.4
bpg
|
|
Daniel Okonkwo
(Yale)
|
Al Sadaka
(Lebanon)
|
18.0
|
9.6
|
3.8
|
--
|
|
Geoff Owens
(Penn)
|
ITK Notec Inowroclaw
(Poland)
|
12.4
|
8.8
|
1.0
|
2.3
bpg
|
|
Crawford Palmer
(Dartmouth)
|
C.B. Caceres
(Spain)
|
8.7
|
4.8
|
--
|
--
|
|
Mason Rocca
(Princeton)
|
Sicc Aurora Jesi
(Italy)
|
13.4
|
8.4
|
--
|
3.5
spg
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Related Schools: No Associated School
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Related Sports: Basketball
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*This Article has been archived.*
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