Five for Friday: Iowa Basketball All-Timers

With all the animosity between groups out there, and no I’m not talking Democrats and Republicans, I wanted to try something out where everyone is always correct.

On Fridays, I will throw out a topic asking for your top five in whatever the conversation is that week. I’ll give my opinion and then read your choices in the comment section. We’ll keep this going as long as there is some participation.

As these are your (or my) opinions, we can’t be wrong so just have fun with the topic.

Five for Friday

This week, I want you to name your favorite five Iowa basketball players that you have enjoyed watching. These don’t have to be the five best that you’ve seen, just the five that you enjoyed watching the most.

• You must remember seeing the player (while I’m old enough to have been born in the Ronnie Lester era, I don’t remember him so he’s out for me).
• Try to establish a semblance of a starting lineup. Any combination is ok and you don’t even have to have a traditional center, but at least try to have two or three guards and bigs rather than five bigs or five guards.

My Five for Friday

G B.J. Armstrong (1986-1989): Armstrong was playing back in the day when I thought I could be a good college guard. Unfortunately (or fortunately I guess you could say) during my playing days, I never had to face anyone with the speed and skill of someone like Armstrong so it took a while for my dreams to fade away. After a great career at Iowa, Armstrong went on to play ten seasons in the NBA including winning three titles with the Bulls where he played alongside Michael Jordan.

Photo by Sam Forencich/NBAE via Getty Images

G Chris Kingsbury (1994-1996): I remember Kingsbury for his willful disregard of where the three-point line was and his ability to hit shots from five feet behind the “recommended” line. He was also an incredible passer and combined with Jess Settles to make a pretty formidable duo. Kingsbury basically started the three point shooter chain at Iowa that progressed through Kent McCausland, Dean Oliver, Luke Recker, Brody Boyd, Jeff Horner, Adam Haluska, Matt Gatens, to Jordan Bohannon and hopefully CJ Fredrick.

F Gerry Wright (1985-1987): I was amazed at the dunking power of Wright from the second that “Sir Jam-A-Lot” set foot on campus. Any chance of a steal and a break away would have me on my feet in anticipation. Wright went on to have a career in the navy, law enforcement, and teaching after playing basketball. I can still recall an interview with him where he mentioned that no coach had ever impacted him more than the one year he had with Tom Davis. I couldn’t find any images of Wright that I could add here without copyright issues, but if you go to this link you can get an idea on his sky-walking ways.

F Chris Street (1990-1993): Street was a year younger than me and was the arch-rival against our high school when he was at Indianola. No matter the sport, Street would beat you and prevent you from going to state. While it stunk at the time, it was neat to watch someone you knew play for the Hawkeyes. His heart and passion were evident and it was becoming apparent that he would have a future in the NBA. That is until the horrible, soul crushing night on January 19, 1993.

C Luka Garza (2017-now): Garza is so fun to watch with his footwork and incredible array of shots. He is also one of the toughest Hawks I’ve seen play the game. If there isn’t some toilet paper shoved in his nose, or some stitches on his face, he wasn’t playing hard enough! If Garza would have played in the 80s or 90s, he would be looking at a high draft pick in the NBA back when they valued big men. Now, he will have to keep working on the ability to defend and get off shots to have a chance down the road.

Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

There you have it, my favorite five Hawkeyes that I enjoy(ed) watching. What say you?