As a new spider fan of only four years and reading these boards I am unfamiliar with the history of the program except remembering them beating the Deacs a few times. While on these boards one name keeps popping up...Kevin Anderson. The esteem felt by the posters here runneth deep, I could tell. I researched him and watched some YouTube videos and can see why there is such admiration. What an amazing player. Deacon fans feel a similar admiration for "the chill" Randolph Childress (even more so than Duncan). Did his jersey get retired? Did he dominate games? Any spider we can compare him to over the past four years?
Kevin Anderson
- Thread starter fatherspider
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Plus the number 14 bobblehead Anderson sits on my shelf along with other Spider greats Justin Harper and Johnny Newman. I would rank Johnny Newman as the best Spider player in the modern era.
KA was probably the second best player in UR history behind John Newman. KA was a 2000+ point scorer, and had a winner's drive and mentality like I have never seen in a college athlete. When things were tight near the end of a big game, it was always "KA Time". He had a major chip on his shoulder about how his size kept him from going to a higher profile program, and really seemed to have something to prove to everyone about his game. When WF came to Richmond in KA's freshman season, we had several Wake fans tell us what a fantastic player he was (I believe the Deacs had their own all ACC-caliber point guard at that time, Ish Smith), and the unanimous opinion of the Wake fans was that Anderson was better that night.
I taught a few Marketing class sessions at the ECRSOB back then, and Anderson was in one of my classes. I had an opportunity to talk to him for a few minutes after class. He was an intelligent, level-headed, well-spoken young man who convinced me that he was going to do exceptionally well in life whether he played basketball or not. When I asked him what led him to be a Business major, he told me that he really liked money, that he may not play basketball after college, and if he did, it wasn't going to pay his bills forever.
Truly one of the all-time greats, and my favorite Spider player ever.
I taught a few Marketing class sessions at the ECRSOB back then, and Anderson was in one of my classes. I had an opportunity to talk to him for a few minutes after class. He was an intelligent, level-headed, well-spoken young man who convinced me that he was going to do exceptionally well in life whether he played basketball or not. When I asked him what led him to be a Business major, he told me that he really liked money, that he may not play basketball after college, and if he did, it wasn't going to pay his bills forever.
Truly one of the all-time greats, and my favorite Spider player ever.
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BTW, Newman went by "John" when he played for UR, he didn't get the "Johnny" moniker until he was in the NBA with the Knicks. I feel very fortunate to have watched both JN and KA play at the RC in person during their tenures as Spiders. Totally different players, different eras, both fantastic dominant basketball players.
Back in the 80's (1984 or 1985), the Spiders played in a tournament sponsored by Apple in the SF Bay area (which we won by the way) which featured Richmond, Stanford (led by Todd Lichti), Saint Mary's and Yale. Newman was tourney MVP. My sister was dating one of the Saint Mary's players back then. When she asked him about the Spiders, he exclaimed "I had no idea who he was before the game, but that Newman m*********er wore us out!".
It will be a long time (hopefully not as long as I think it will be) before we have two players like KA and JN gracing the RC hardwood.
Back in the 80's (1984 or 1985), the Spiders played in a tournament sponsored by Apple in the SF Bay area (which we won by the way) which featured Richmond, Stanford (led by Todd Lichti), Saint Mary's and Yale. Newman was tourney MVP. My sister was dating one of the Saint Mary's players back then. When she asked him about the Spiders, he exclaimed "I had no idea who he was before the game, but that Newman m*********er wore us out!".
It will be a long time (hopefully not as long as I think it will be) before we have two players like KA and JN gracing the RC hardwood.
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Newman is by far the best we have had, but KA, KO, and Kenny Atkinson were my favorites. All had the winning instinct. Brothers could have been a great one, pure shooter, but was never used correctly. I only saw him get one screen in his entire career and that was by KO to tie VDU. Which by the way will always be my favorite shot in UR basket ball the past 45 years that I have been attending.
There was another KA, Ken Atkinson, that led us to our first sweet 16. He also refused to lose and always wanted the ball with the game on the line. Great history with KA point guards, I would rate them Anderson, Atkinson, Anthony. Without debate, Newman is best all time spider.
KA was the best player we've had in the last 20+ years. Fun to watch. You could tell that he was way talented even as an underclassman. Newman is the best overall, but KA was the best in the Mooney era, and probably better than any player in the Wainwright, Beilein and Dooley eras, too.
KA was a player who relished being in crunch time. He wanted to be the "go-to guy" in crunch time. Haven't had a player like him since, need a player with his mentality if we want to get to the NCAAs.
KA making a fall away jumper against Vandy in the NCAA game at crunch time is one of my favorites.
That's for all the info. I wish I watched him play. It sounds like other mooney guards have tried to follow in his steps. Lindsey comes to mind. He tried to take over games as it seems Anderson did.
If you mean the one where Phil Stinnie's expression changed during a celebration, then yes.
Spiders have had a long line of good point guards with all different skill sets. Kevin A may have been best around pg, but
Greg Beckwith was a shifty lefty that rarely shot but got the ball to the right places. Kevin Eastman from the 70s was not the
best shooter, but maybe the toughest and most physical pg. Scott Ungerer had to play pg for a while at 6'7" and was left handed
and his shot looked like a knuckle ball but went in a lot, plus a good passer. Ken Atkinson and Kevin Anderson were very similar in
size and toughness, and willing to carry the team on their back.
My wife of 32 years who is an avid Duke fan but keeps up with UR, said last week that she really misses not watching Kendell Anthony
cause she admired his fearlessness and huge heart. It all honesty Kevin Anderson would get my vote just on fact he was a 2000 point scorer.
This discussion brings up a lot of great memories.
And Father, Randolph Childress was the "assassin" for he could take down any team for the game was never over so long as he had the ball
in his hand.
Greg Beckwith was a shifty lefty that rarely shot but got the ball to the right places. Kevin Eastman from the 70s was not the
best shooter, but maybe the toughest and most physical pg. Scott Ungerer had to play pg for a while at 6'7" and was left handed
and his shot looked like a knuckle ball but went in a lot, plus a good passer. Ken Atkinson and Kevin Anderson were very similar in
size and toughness, and willing to carry the team on their back.
My wife of 32 years who is an avid Duke fan but keeps up with UR, said last week that she really misses not watching Kendell Anthony
cause she admired his fearlessness and huge heart. It all honesty Kevin Anderson would get my vote just on fact he was a 2000 point scorer.
This discussion brings up a lot of great memories.
And Father, Randolph Childress was the "assassin" for he could take down any team for the game was never over so long as he had the ball
in his hand.
Two other names to mention are Greg Stevenson from the Beilein era, who would come to mind quicker if he had been here more than two years and David Gonzalvez, the other great Mooney player.
My three favorite Spider shots of all time:
1.) Atkinson hitting a half-court shot at the buzzer to down VCU and Kendrick Warren at the Coliseum.
2.) Anderson hitting the game winner against Vandy during our Sweet 16 run.
3.) Smitty's first half alley-oop dunk from KA versus VCU at home when we demolished them in 2010.
On the player side, I think Greg Beckwith was our best "pure" point guard from an assists and steals standpoint, and was one the quickest human beings I have ever played basketball with. I can't remember who it was against, but I once saw him literally put the ball behind another players head and pull it back before the other guy even knew what had happened. Harlem Globetrotter type-stuff.
Hard to say who had a bigger heart between Atkinson, Anderson, and Anthony, but for smallish players, I would estimate that about 90% of their body weight was heart.
1.) Atkinson hitting a half-court shot at the buzzer to down VCU and Kendrick Warren at the Coliseum.
2.) Anderson hitting the game winner against Vandy during our Sweet 16 run.
3.) Smitty's first half alley-oop dunk from KA versus VCU at home when we demolished them in 2010.
On the player side, I think Greg Beckwith was our best "pure" point guard from an assists and steals standpoint, and was one the quickest human beings I have ever played basketball with. I can't remember who it was against, but I once saw him literally put the ball behind another players head and pull it back before the other guy even knew what had happened. Harlem Globetrotter type-stuff.
Hard to say who had a bigger heart between Atkinson, Anderson, and Anthony, but for smallish players, I would estimate that about 90% of their body weight was heart.
KA was the best player I've seen at Richmond since I started school in '94. I'd say Greg Stevenson might have been in the running had we had 4 years of him. Jarod was very talented too, but Greg had an NBA body.
3:30 in this video is my single favorite KA play.
He was tough as nails and had an amazing ability to take over games in the 2nd half.
Greg Stevensen was an amazing scorer at his size. I think he averaged 19 or so in his 2 years. Gonzo is probably the best 2 way player in the last 20 years, he was tough as nails. Harp was great his senior year.
Ced was playing at a player of the year level his sr year before he got hurt. K0 was a special player too - it sucks he never got to play in a NCAA tourney game.
He was tough as nails and had an amazing ability to take over games in the 2nd half.
Greg Stevensen was an amazing scorer at his size. I think he averaged 19 or so in his 2 years. Gonzo is probably the best 2 way player in the last 20 years, he was tough as nails. Harp was great his senior year.
Ced was playing at a player of the year level his sr year before he got hurt. K0 was a special player too - it sucks he never got to play in a NCAA tourney game.
Funny I saw that video where KA beat Jordan Crawford one minute, and read an article about Crawford scoring 72 in the Chinese League the next. Funny how that works out:
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/1...s-72-points-china-basketball-association-game
But Gonzo matured, got stronger and his senior year was at his best. I remember in A10 tournament he played tough defense on Xavier's Crawford, blocking a 3 attempt near end of game. If he had a clone I would take him back right now.
Yea Childress was the definitio
Chill was the definition of fearless and clutch. Amazing how such players can have such an impact on our memory while only playing such a short time. Glad he is now a coach at Wake.
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