"Coolest" MU Player Ever?

Very difficult to define "coolest." Different strokes for different folks.

Also hard to determine "ever" since even long-time MU fanatics like myself only go back so far.

For me "coolest" has to do not only with the player's game itself but also the player's attitude/demeanor on the court.
From my perspective quite a few names pop into my mind:

Luke is one. His intimidation factor just by his presence was something to see.

Lloyd Walton is another. He just always seemed to have a kind of moxie to his game, kind of like, "I'm in charge. Deal with it."

Earl's game was, at least to me, incredibly cool because he always seemed to be putting no effort into his game, and he just glided around the court.

More recently, I'm sure many will pick Wade. I don't think we ever had a player with his overall athleticism. It was just incredibly cool how many ways he could take over a game.

And I always thought Travis had a definite layer of coolness to his game - kind of similar to Walton's attitude. I guess "assassins" are cool.

But in my mind the coolest of the cool had to be Dean The Dream. It was kind of like he was always toying with the opponent - similar to a cat torturing a mouse or a spider. Kind of playing with it before absolutely destroying it.

I'm sure there are other players posters will come up with. Those are just the ones that immediately come to mind.

By the way, I can't help wondering if five or 10 or 20 or 40 years from now, MU fans will be talking about Markus in the same way I view each of the players mentioned above.

Looking back at the list, I think one common factor is a kind of self-assurance, almost a cockiness bordering on arrogance, whether its laid back like the Dream and Earl or more fiery, like Lloyd and Travis. I think each of the players mentioned above possessed that quality.

But they are also really, really good players; maybe that goes without saying.

On second thought I could and probably would add both Bo and Butch to my list, but Dean would still sit alone at the top.

Edit: Just came up with another MU player who I would definitely put in my Top 10, maybe my Top 5 - Sam Worthen. He made the coolest frickin passes I ever saw at MU - he was a magician with the ball - and he, too, possessed that sort of arrogance on the court. What was weird about Sam was he almost seemed to be sleep-walking - or sleep-dribbling - or sleep-passing...and then bam. Sam just oozed "cool."

I remember seeing Mandy Johnson on the corner of 16th and Wells, wearing a full length mink coat and surrounded by ladies. I thought he was pretty cool.

1. Meminger
2. Butch
3. Bo
4. Luke
You cannot get cooler than that.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gato78

1. Meminger
2. Butch
3. Bo
4. Luke
You cannot get cooler than that.

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Jerome may have been the coolest of cool, IMHO. A little bit of Feddie "Boom Boom" Washington in him.

Terry Reason was cool.

Joe Nethen.

Memminger
Worthen
Wade
For me

Don't remember the year, but the coolest was the entire team back when they had hoods on their warmups and would come out of the locker room wearing the hoods like they were making their way to the ring for a title fight.

That was beyond cool.

Caribou Jim. Wait, you didn't mean "playas" in their own mind? Never mind.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Nukem2

Terry Reason was cool.

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He gets my vote -- if only for his hair

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jim Ganzer, "IWB"

Don't remember the year, but the coolest was the entire team back when they had hoods on their warmups and would come out of the locker room wearing the hoods like they were making their way to the ring for a title fight.

That was beyond cool.

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Jim, that was the very first game with those unis - first game back after X-Mas break in '77 - you're right - beyond cool an into the fearsome mode. Jerome looked so damn intimidating. The same unis they won the championship in.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MayorBeluga

Caribou Jim. Wait, you didn't mean "playas" in their own mind? Never mind.

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The Avalanche Bar 6' and Under team for the '78-'79 and '79-'80 seasons were Connie Hawkins/Archie Clark cool.

Jae Crowder is the list. How he hasn't been mentioned is a travesty. It was his court and everyone else was window dressing.