What If? Basketball Games that Were and Might Have Been
Not long ago, the folks at the Richmond Times-Dispatch ran a week-long series on the “What-If Games.” What if, they wondered, the best high school basketball players and coaches in Central Virginia over the last four decades could be magically convened in their primes to represent their schools in a winner-take-all tournament?
Fred Jeter, a veteran sportswriter who's been around since the early 1970's, wrote the articles. With some collaboration with his colleagues on the second floor at 300 E. Franklin St., he selected Benedictine, George Wythe, Maggie Walker (in its pre-Governor's School incarnation), Hopewell, Petersburg, John Marshall, Thomas Jefferson, and Highland Springs as his Elite Eight. He also said that if the mythical competition were expanded to 16 teams, the second eight would be Douglas Freeman, Henrico, Hermitage, Huguenot, J.R. Tucker, Manchester, Meadowbrook, and Thomas Dale.
Fred Jeter, a veteran sportswriter who's been around since the early 1970's, wrote the articles. With some collaboration with his colleagues on the second floor at 300 E. Franklin St., he selected Benedictine, George Wythe, Maggie Walker (in its pre-Governor's School incarnation), Hopewell, Petersburg, John Marshall, Thomas Jefferson, and Highland Springs as his Elite Eight. He also said that if the mythical competition were expanded to 16 teams, the second eight would be Douglas Freeman, Henrico, Hermitage, Huguenot, J.R. Tucker, Manchester, Meadowbrook, and Thomas Dale.
For three days, he delivered fictional accounts of the “playoff” action, included box scores including a treasure trove of familiar names, and contrived a title game pitting Benedictine and Petersburg. At the end, he had Moses Malone, the Crimson Wave great who starred for many years in the National Basketball Association, grabbing a rebound and preparing to dunk the game winner, from which point he left the conclusion to the reader's imagination.
As one who has seen literally hundreds of high school basketball games, I thoroughly enjoyed the nostalgic, albeit imaginary, trip through yesteryear and have no problem with Jeter's selections. Nevertheless, I have one question. How 'bout the Cougars?
No, we aren't one of the high-profile Group AAA programs. No, we're not ranked regularly in the T-D Top 10. No, we don't often have players who achieve athletic fame in college. Over the years, though, Collegiate has had some excellent players, excellent teams, and excellent coaches, and, on any given night, history has shown that we've competed nose-to-nose with the best teams around.
Some cases in point.
The Cougars of 1969-1970 won 18 straight and finished 28-2. Their only losses came in Christmas tournaments to St. Anthony's of Washington, DC, (coached by John Thompson, who later led Georgetown to a NCAA championship) and Brother Rice, a perennial Chicago powerhouse. They were undefeated in-state and dispatched Benedictine 64-49 and 68-50. Three of Coach Petey Jacobs' starters - Gus Collier (Richmond), David Lester (VMI), and Gray Eubank (VMI, then Old Dominion) - earned Division I scholarships.
During Bill Chambers' 27 years as head coach, the Cougars won five Prep League titles. Two games during his tenure stand out. The first was a 70-62 victory in the 1985 Prep League tournament semifinals over Norfolk Academy, which entered the contest 29-2 and was one of the best teams in the state, classification notwithstanding. Brian Justice (28 points including 6-for-6 from the foul line in the last 27 seconds), Michael Brost, and Trip Featherston, all current or past members of the basketball staff at Collegiate, played integral roles that memorable night.
The second came two seasons later, Featherston's senior year, when the Cougars upset Franklin High School, unbeaten and the top-ranked team in Group AA, in the semifinal round of the Meadowbrook Tournament. The Broncos had a 6-7 center named Ronnie Reese who went on to play at Tennessee. Chambers, a master defensive strategist whose tallest starter was 6-3, concocted a scheme where the Cougars sandwiched Reese and played a triangle against the other four players. The result was a 60-55 triumph.
From 1996-1999, Brost's first three years as head coach, the Cougars went 70-16 and were consistently ranked in the area. Guards Joey Rackley and Philip Janney were the linchpins of those teams that earned two league titles and reached the state finals in 1999. Their signature achievement, however, came Dec. 22, 1998, when they stunned undefeated Highland Springs 63-53 before a crowd of 6,000 at the Robins Center in the championship game of the inSync Holiday Hoops Tournament.
“That was one of the most disciplined teams of any we ever played,” said George Lancaster, who has coached the Springers for 27 years. “Collegiate has been known through the years as playing the right type of ball. You always see a cerebral game. They're always well coached.”
So who have been the best players? Any of those mentioned above are certainly worthy of inclusion on the Cougars' hypothetical dream team. Add to that list Sanford Boisseau, a '68 graduate and charter inductee in the Collegiate Athletic Hall of Fame, and perhaps Lucky Jacobs, who starred for his father in the early to mid 1960's. Definitely, you could include Chris Cook, class of 1989, who, smooth as silk, averaged a shade over 30 points per game his senior year and is arguably the most talented individual ever to wear the green and gold. But who knows?
The success of our program - not just boys' basketball but all sports -- hasn't been determined so much by talented individuals, though we've certainly had our share, as by teams whose chemistry enabled the total to be greater than the sum of the parts. Could the best of our past have defeated the best of Benedictine's, of Maggie Walker's, of Petersburg's, or any of the other's?
Game in, game out, maybe not.
On a given night? Absolutely. The evidence shows that we've been doing just that for years.—Weldon Bradshaw
Back
As one who has seen literally hundreds of high school basketball games, I thoroughly enjoyed the nostalgic, albeit imaginary, trip through yesteryear and have no problem with Jeter's selections. Nevertheless, I have one question. How 'bout the Cougars?
No, we aren't one of the high-profile Group AAA programs. No, we're not ranked regularly in the T-D Top 10. No, we don't often have players who achieve athletic fame in college. Over the years, though, Collegiate has had some excellent players, excellent teams, and excellent coaches, and, on any given night, history has shown that we've competed nose-to-nose with the best teams around.
Some cases in point.
The Cougars of 1969-1970 won 18 straight and finished 28-2. Their only losses came in Christmas tournaments to St. Anthony's of Washington, DC, (coached by John Thompson, who later led Georgetown to a NCAA championship) and Brother Rice, a perennial Chicago powerhouse. They were undefeated in-state and dispatched Benedictine 64-49 and 68-50. Three of Coach Petey Jacobs' starters - Gus Collier (Richmond), David Lester (VMI), and Gray Eubank (VMI, then Old Dominion) - earned Division I scholarships.
During Bill Chambers' 27 years as head coach, the Cougars won five Prep League titles. Two games during his tenure stand out. The first was a 70-62 victory in the 1985 Prep League tournament semifinals over Norfolk Academy, which entered the contest 29-2 and was one of the best teams in the state, classification notwithstanding. Brian Justice (28 points including 6-for-6 from the foul line in the last 27 seconds), Michael Brost, and Trip Featherston, all current or past members of the basketball staff at Collegiate, played integral roles that memorable night.
The second came two seasons later, Featherston's senior year, when the Cougars upset Franklin High School, unbeaten and the top-ranked team in Group AA, in the semifinal round of the Meadowbrook Tournament. The Broncos had a 6-7 center named Ronnie Reese who went on to play at Tennessee. Chambers, a master defensive strategist whose tallest starter was 6-3, concocted a scheme where the Cougars sandwiched Reese and played a triangle against the other four players. The result was a 60-55 triumph.
From 1996-1999, Brost's first three years as head coach, the Cougars went 70-16 and were consistently ranked in the area. Guards Joey Rackley and Philip Janney were the linchpins of those teams that earned two league titles and reached the state finals in 1999. Their signature achievement, however, came Dec. 22, 1998, when they stunned undefeated Highland Springs 63-53 before a crowd of 6,000 at the Robins Center in the championship game of the inSync Holiday Hoops Tournament.
“That was one of the most disciplined teams of any we ever played,” said George Lancaster, who has coached the Springers for 27 years. “Collegiate has been known through the years as playing the right type of ball. You always see a cerebral game. They're always well coached.”
So who have been the best players? Any of those mentioned above are certainly worthy of inclusion on the Cougars' hypothetical dream team. Add to that list Sanford Boisseau, a '68 graduate and charter inductee in the Collegiate Athletic Hall of Fame, and perhaps Lucky Jacobs, who starred for his father in the early to mid 1960's. Definitely, you could include Chris Cook, class of 1989, who, smooth as silk, averaged a shade over 30 points per game his senior year and is arguably the most talented individual ever to wear the green and gold. But who knows?
The success of our program - not just boys' basketball but all sports -- hasn't been determined so much by talented individuals, though we've certainly had our share, as by teams whose chemistry enabled the total to be greater than the sum of the parts. Could the best of our past have defeated the best of Benedictine's, of Maggie Walker's, of Petersburg's, or any of the other's?
Game in, game out, maybe not.
On a given night? Absolutely. The evidence shows that we've been doing just that for years.—Weldon Bradshaw
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