Kansas' Moody
a jewel in the rough

Walk-ons have played important roles in college basketball

COMMENTARY

By Mike Miller

College basketball editor

Billy Packer doesn't know it, but he helped me win an argument. Thanks, man.

For the last month, I've been defending Kansas junior Christian Moody as a starter for the Jayhawks to my buddies, Jeff and Casey. My stance? Moody, a former walk-on, is perfect in his role.

Jeff and Casey have hated Moody as a starter because Jayhawks coach Bill Self recruited a crop of four freshmen who were supposed to replace last year's starter, David Padgett, who transferred to Louisville. (A move I still don't understand, but that's a rant that doesn't serve much purpose here.)

But until Wayne Simien got hurt last month, none of the freshmen started because Self preferred to use Moody. He averages 6.8 points and 5.4 rebounds a game, but that's not the whole story. He's 6-9, smart, unselfish, plays good defense, rebounds and is a decent athlete. Even better, he doesn't have an attitude, meaning guys like Simien, Keith Langford and J.R. Giddens are never hurting for some love on offense.

What's not to like?

Jeff and Casey, though, were always worried that Kansas wasn't really championship material if a former walk-on was a starter. No, they're not elitists. Just uncomfortable with the athleticism some teams — North Carolina — present at forward. Every team has walk-ons because they're essential to help practice and prepare. But it's rare that one gets a lot of playing time, let alone start.

Enter Billy Packer. During the Kansas-Kentucky game on Sunday, he declared Moody the "best walk-on of all time." I did not call Jeff or Casey to gloat. But I should have.

Packer's reasoning was that he couldn't think of another walk-on who played such a prominent role on such a highly ranked team. Packer liked Moody for all the reasons I do — hard not to like the guys who do the dirty work and hustle — and his case was given more credence by Moody's performance against the Wildcats, with 11 points and seven boards in the 65-59 victory (a game I  did not think Kansas would win without Simien, but it's clear this team is tougher than anyone thought).

Still, as much as I love Packer's statement, it begs the question: can Christian Moody really be the best walk-on ever?

In a word, no.

He's certainly the best this year, outshining guys like Indiana junior guard Ryan Tapak and Kentucky guard Ravi Moss. The one who's close is Will Conroy, who turned down scholarship offers to walk-on at Washington. Four years later, the point guard is making a run at the school's all-time assists record.

But we're talking all-time and I want to focus on guys who were genuine walk-ons at first and may have received a scholarship later in their career. I'm going to ignore guys like Duke star Trajan Langdon — technically a walk-on his first year at Duke because his contract with the San Diego Padres paid for his first season at the school, but unlike Moody, he was always slated for playing time — and focus on a couple of Kentucky players, Anthony Epps and Cameron Mills.

Mills was a back-up forward on the Wildcats' 1998 team, a 3-point specialist known for instant offense off the bench. His dad, Terry, played at Kentucky, ensuring that Cameron was probably headed to Lexington, too, with or without a scholarship. He did, like Epps and Moody and everyone else in this column, later receive a scholarship, though.

Epps, though, was even better, playing in every game for the '96 title squad and started the '96 title game against Syracuse. That team finished 34-2, featured future NBA players Antoine Walker, Derek Anderson, Ron Mercer, Tony Delk, Walter McCarty and had Nazr Mohammed and Jeff Sheppard sitting on the bench and is usually involved in "all-time great" teams.

If a former walk-on can even sniff the bench, let alone step in as a starter when Anderson was hurt, he's better than Moody.

Unless Simien gets hurt again and Moody leads Kansas to the title. But I'm getting ahead of myself — and having a nice daydream at that thought. There's two more walk-ons who are better than Moody. And these aren't even close.

First, Iowa State's Jeff Hornacek.

Forget about the stellar pro career, Horny was a stud in college. He averaged 13 points a game as a junior and senior, nailed 50 percent of his shots and had nearly seven assists a game as a senior. He was a second-round pick in the '86 draft and still has one of the prettiest jumpers you'll ever see.

Amazingly enough, he's still not the best walk-on ever. Drum roll, please.

I present Southern Illinois graduate Walt Frazier. This was before his "Clyde" days, before making the Knicks the darling of New York hoops in the '70s and before the coolest lambchops ever.

Today, Frazier certainly wouldn't be a walk-on. But in the '60s, when schools and coaches were stupid regarding black recruits, Frazier didn't attract D-I attention. Coming out of Atlanta, he was set to attend Tennessee State when a man named Samuel Johnson told him to walk-on at Southern Illinois.

As he told USA Today in a 2003 story, "When people were looking for basketball players, they didn't come to Georgia," he says of not being recruited by major colleges outside the South. "They hadn't heard of me."

Frazier then led the Salukis to the NIT title in 1967, was the Knicks' fifth overall pick in the NBA Draft, winning a couple NBA titles and playing in four All-Star games.

So maybe Moody's not the best walk-on of all-time. But I'll certainly take him this year. If you'll excuse me, I have some gloating to do.

Mike Miller is NBCSports.com's college basketball editor. E-mail him at [email protected].