KEITH SMART, INDIANA (1987)
time. Sheppard was stuck behind future NBA lottery picks Derek Anderson and Ron Mercer at shooting guard.
“I had a choice,” Sheppard said. “I could battle it out for playing time with those guys or redshirt, let them be the featured players in ‘ 97 and go on to the pros, and then it was my spot to lose in ‘ 98.’’
The wait proved worthwhile. As a fifth-year senior, Sheppard helped that 1997- 98 team win a national title for Tubby Smith, who took over when Pitino left for the Boston Celtics job.
Sheppard scored 27 points in an 86- 85 overtime semifinal victory over Stanford and 16 more in the 78- 69 championship game triumph over Utah.
Staying in school an extra year meant Sheppard entered the draft at the relatively advanced age of 23, though he doesn’t think that played much of a factor in his short pro career.
“A 23- year- old going into the draft (now), it’s almost a disadvantage,” said Sheppard, who also was part of Kentucky’s 1996 championship team. “It wasn’t quite that way back then. You had a lot of guys who were four-year guys going into the NBA. I was a 6- 3, 185-pound shooting guard. I was good in a lot of areas. I don’t know if I was great in any area.”
Some other former Final Four most outstanding players without long NBA track records:
attended Columbia’s dental school instead.
Then his life took a dramatic turn.
Dambrot and the entire starting lineup of that 1950 CCNY team were arrested in 1951 as part of a point- shaving scandal. Dambrot pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor conspiracy charge and didn’t get any jail time.
“They were kings of the town one day, and the next day they were the bums of the town, really, because of the scandal,” said Dambrot’s nephew, Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot.
Keith Dambrot said his uncle went on to a dental career. Irwin Dambrot died at the age of 81 in 2010.
Smart made one of the most memorable shots in NCAA Tournament history when he sank a 16-footer with five seconds remaining to give Indiana a 74-73 victory over Syracuse in the 1987 championship game.
Smart played one more year at Indiana. He was drafted in the second round by the Golden State Warriors in 1988, but his only NBA playing time was a two- game stint with San Antonio in 1988- 89.
He continued to play several seasons internationally and in the CBA. He followed that with a long coaching career that has included head coaching stops with the Cleveland Cavaliers (2002- 03), Golden State (2010-11) and Sacramento Kings (201113).
State Tournament.
“My seniors are texting me on a Monday when all this news broke on a Friday asking if there is any news,” said Squires on his teams itch to get back on the field. “They are hungry for it. That’s what we are trying to build here — year in and year out success. With the roster we have now being so young, it’s certainly set up that way. These guys are hungry.”
In order to have that success right from the jump this season the team will need to be conditioned and ready to go day one. Unfortunately, with the obstacle of social distancing, La Salle, along with the rest of the teams in the section and probably the rest of the teams in the state, are not able to come together for team practices just yet.
“My seniors are texting me asking for things to do. I gave them a wallball routine and i sent out conditioning drills and stuff like that,” said Squires. “Our seniors, albeit only four, have taken it on themselves to keep in touch with the guys and find any sort of work around. They will ask, ‘can they come over to my backyard and practice back there?’ And I have to tell them that it is up to them and their parents, if they think that is okay and if they get the okay to do that, but I have suggested to the guys to work on themselves with everything going on.” Squires continued. “The school is closed and we aren’t allowed in the building and we found it best to suspend practices for now.”
While the La Salle seniors will miss a portion, and possibly their whole, senior season, the sophomores and juniors lose a year of high school play to build their recruiting profile and build a name for themselves in hopes of continuing lacrosse at the collegiate level.
“For us it is extremely important, to build what I and my staff wants to build, of consistent sectional champions and consistent regional play, to have players move on and play collegiality,” said Squires. “I was building a lineup day by day as we tried out and got into practice. Of my ten starters, I have seven that are tenth graders or younger. The building of chemistry between those guys is super important right and to not have that is not a good thing.” Squires continued.
“It’s a good thing these kids are playing lacrosse all year round. We have ninth and tenth graders that I trust to be varsity starters is a great thing and the program is building, but we are losing out on a ton of chemistry time with those guys. That’s the disappointing thing.”
With social distancing being in place for the foreseeable future in hopes of flattening the curve of the coronavirus, La Salle has nothing in place to build that chemistry until they can get on the turf.
“It’ still new. We have nothing in place,” said Squires. “We will have something in place here, it is just a matter of our principal and the AD allowing it. It’s so new and changing so rapidly, they haven’t made a decision yet. As the days progress here I have been in constant contact with the Athletic Director.”
As mentioned, the La Salle team will be youthful. Despite that, no amount of experience can prepare you for finding out that your season will be shortened and realistically, is up in the air entirely.
“There were some watery eyes in the room when I mentioned what was going on,” said Squires. “Some of it may have been from a senior, but also some of it was from a tenth grader who tried out, didn’t know if he was going to make it, and did in fact make it. He was upset too, which is not good to see, but to see that passion and that drive on a tenth grader was a positive for me.”
La Salle is poised for success this year. They are building towards consistent success moving forward. In order to reach that success, they will need to grow with life lessons and experience, which the coronavirus pandemic is in fact offering the Cadets.
“It’s an unprecedented time,” said Squires. “We have got to wait things out before somebody makes a move. I don’t have a lot of answers for them because it is such a crazy, unprecedented time here.”