Most Surprising MU Freshman - Ever?

There have been quite a few freshmen over the years who have come in and had a significant impact from the get-go, the first one of the so-called "modern era" being Bo Ellis, who averaged 12.2 ppg and 8.5 rpg as a starter in 1973-'74.

Most of those freshmen who became starters right off the bat were highly-ranked coming out of high school like Ellis, Butch Lee, Doc Rivers, right up through Dominic James, Jerel McNeal, Wes Matthews, and most recently, Markus Howard.

Others, however, were not really expected to make a major contribution as frosh, and, in many cases were not consensus Top 100 recruits, even if some of those were viewed as being just outside the "Top 100."

None of our incoming freshmen were consensus Top 100 recruits this past year, though Cain did make a couple of individual listings. Which got me to thinking about those MU players who really surprised us as fans their freshman year.

Five players, in particular, come to mind for me right off the proverbial bat: Terrell Schlundt in 1970-'80, Trevor Powell in 1987-'88, Tony Miller in 1991'92, Roney Eford in 1992-'93, and Odarty Blankson in 2000-'01.

Schlundt, from Antigo, definitely surprised most fans. We had lost out that year on Phil Varner, who ended up at Notre Dame, and Rod Foster, who went to UCLA. MU fans were pretty bummed that Schlundt was our only scholarship recruit that year. But then he came in, earned a starting spot, and proceeded to be a huge surprise. If memory serves, he averaged just a tad under 10.0 ppg (maybe 9.9 ppg). I doubt if Schlundt was even viewed as a Top 200 recruit, but he turned out to be a blessing.

As for Powell, from Washington High School, a lot of locals viewed him as a quality recruit, but he, too, was nowhere near being perceived as among the Top 100 in the country. Granted, he came in when the program was down, and there was not a lot of talent, but I doubt anyone anticipated he would average 11.9 ppg and lead the team in rebounding at 6.0 rpg. He went on to have a really solid career at MU, but his production as a freshman came as a complete surprise.

After O'Neill's recruiting coup in 1990 (Key, McIlvaine, and Logterman), KO knew he needed a point guard, and he got one out of Ohio in Miller. Ironically TM was viewed as a Top 50 player going into his sophomore season of high school, but his status dropped substantially after that. By the time he finished his senior year, he was not viewed as even a Top 200 recruit by the various listings. But he was exactly what the doctor - in this case KO - ordered. All he did as a freshman was dish out 221 assists. But he did more than that. He ran the show on offense, but he also set the tone on defense, even as a frosh. I'm pretty sure no one saw Miller being one of the leaders (Top 3?) nationally in assists his first year at MU, but he also proved to be a solid rebounder and a decent three-point shooter as a freshman (36.4%) just good enough to keep defenses honest.

As for Eford, he joined a roster that had Miller at point and Big Mac, Key, and Logterman, but no one expected him to claim the fifth starting spot - not ahead of sophomore Shannon Smith, who was a Top 100 recruit coming into MU. But Eford not only started; he averaged 11.0 ppg while shooting 42.6% on treys. Not many freshmen have averaged double digits their freshman year at MU, and even fewer on teams that had four veteran returning starters.

Finally, at least for me, there's ODB. Merrit was the only Top 100 recruit in his class, and fans were excited to see what he would bring to the table. And, of course, there was a guy named Dwyane Wade in that class, but he had to sit out his first year. I doubt anyone expected ODB to start as a freshman, let alone be the team's leading rebounder, but he was. He also proved to be a very good defender, a player who brought Chicago toughness to the team. ODB was not a Top 100 recruit, though he was probably perceived as maybe in the Top 125-150 by some. (Rivals did not have him in their Top 150.) But ODB was a major contributor his first year at MU.

Note: I have not included Sam Hauser to this point. I think most fans did not expect him to be as productive as he was last year, and I'm sure no one anticipated he would lead the team in mpg. But I was not all that surprised. In fact, I predicted he would get more mpg at the 4 than any other MU player last year and was likely to average 24-25 mpg. Plus, he was a Top 100 recruit on RSCI, though he was not a consensus Top 100 recruit.

I am sure I'm missing some names here that others will bring up, but these are the five that stuck out for me. Just curious how others view this issue of the most surprising MU freshmen ever.

Maybe Cain or Elliot or John or, for that matter, Eku, will end up on someone's list down the road. I hope so.

I think most fan would have been extremely surprised if you told them last year at this time that Sam Hauser would lead an NCAA tournament team in mpg.

It feels like most of our "freshman surprises" have been in the wrong direction. Thinking that Dameon Mason would pick up where Dwyane Wade left off, thinking Jeronne Maymon would stick around for more than 2 months, expecting [insert name of freshman big] would finally be the answer at center we've been waiting for. I'd agree on ODB being a positive surprise, but he was probably the last "surprisingly" positive freshman in Crean's time here (all his other productive freshmen were highly regarded). For Buzz, it was usually surprising JUCO players, like DJO Here's a few for me that exceeded expectations in recent years:

• Davante Gardner: His conditioning prevented him from being the force he developed into, but you could see the flashes from the first few games. Without him, that Bucknell game would've been a loss, no doubt in my mind. He also played well against quality opponents like Duke, Wisconsin, Georgetown, and North Carolina. The raw numbers weren't there because of minutes, but it was clear he was far better than his ranking.
• Todd Mayo: As a freshman, Mayo definitely had some exciting moments. He was a stalwart in a Sweet 16 team that was ranked pretty much all year long. Off-court issues plagued the rest of his career, but for that first season, he really looked like one for the future.
• Haanif Cheatham: I know he was top-100, but all the talk was about Henry Ellenson, and it looked like Wilson, JJ, and Sandy would be the main wings. Instead Cheatham was second on the team in minutes as a freshman and actually increased his scoring average (12.8 ppg) against Big East opponents. He was an effective scorer at all three levels and even played some point (albeit not very well).
• Traci Carter: PG was the biggest question that year, with Duane, Traci, and HC all getting some mention. Carter made it his position and played with a tenacity and energy that made him fun to watch. I think he would've been a solid Big East PG had he stayed. Obviously he left too soon, but I'll be interested in watching his career at La Salle. Will be especially interesting to see if he ends up playing this year. His plan was to redshirt, but La Salle will likely start 4 seniors this year so this could be his best chance to lead them to the tourney, especially in a weakened A-10.

Here is one for you, Phantom mentions Bo Ellis as the best freshman ever. Know why Bo hates Notre Dame? Sports Illustrated did an entire story on Bo, "Best Freshman in America". Did the whole story, photo shoot - Bo was to be on the freaking cover of SI... then Notre Dame beat UCLA and they dumped the story to feature the upset of UCLA.

IWB,

I didn't actually call Bo the best freshman ever at MU; I just said he was the first in the "modern era" to have a significant impact as a freshman, which he obviously did.

I never heard the story about Bo and SI. I never realized that he was perceived that highly his first year, especially since another played Al tried (and almost succeeded) to recruit to MU that same year- 1973 - actually had a better freshman year statistically than Bo did.

That really would have been something had Al landed this other player along with Bo. Instead we ended up with Jon Bryant as our only other high school recruit in that class, and Bryant stuck around for only a year.

I think it's safe to identify who that other player is. It's 44 years ago, the statute of limitations on protecting state secrets is off for any events that predate Boeheim's and Coach K's current tenures.

That individual ended up being drafted by the Bucks and played for them for a couple of years and, after his playing days, eventually became the g.m. of the Bucks before becoming the Wizards' g.m.

The guy Al actually thought he had a real shot at was Ernie Grunfeld, one half of "The Ernie and Bernie Show" at Tennessee. Imagine Ernie playing with Butch and Bo and Jimmy Boylan and Whitehead on that '77 championship team, or add him to the '76 team - which I still think was MU's best team of all time - along with Lloyd, Butch, Earl, Bo, and Jerome. Not sure who would have been coming off the bench out of that group.