Watching the games from the 1984 NCAA tournament

[FormerRevMatt]

and have a couple of thoughts:

1.) Blab was much better than I remember him being. He had developed a really nice touch and made some pretty tough turn around jump shots.

2.) Marty Simmons had horrible mobility.

3.) Todd Meier would've had a really good career at IU if he didn't get hurt. He was starting by the end of the season, and in the Richmond game, he guarded their leading scorer. Does anyone know when he got hurt?

 

[4IUSox2]

1. Yes, Uwe Blab got considerably better both touch and defensively. His biggest improvement I recall was his ability to catch the ball. Early on, it seemed 50/50 whether he would or not?

2. Great shooter. RMK loved him early on. Put up 30 at Wisconsin as a frosh. Started most or all of the games. Even in HS at Lawrenceville, playing for Felling iirc, carried too much weight. In "Season on the Brink" Feinstein harkens back to the previous year, Marty's 2nd, when RMK wanted him at 225-230. Made him weigh in. Rang up at 255!! And that's after he started that '84-'85 season pretty well. Hard to believe in season could add that much weight with all the running. He and Winston Morgan were glued to the end of the bench the rest of that year, which started out promising with wins at Iowa St and UM and a home win vs UK. Then the trip to OSU and the season spun out of control In Epic fashion.

3. I couldn't tell you on Todd Meier. I didn't ever remember him playing without a knee brace though.

 

[shooter1977]

Todd Meier was 3rd-team Parade All-American out of high school. Also Mr. Basketball in Kansas. That would put him around a top 20 recruit and five-star in today's recruiting world.

Despite the ranking, he was the last guy in the rotation on the '87 team as a senior. Played about 6-8 mins a game.

 

[Chicago-bound Hoosier]

Marty ate himself out of Bloomington. Has struggled with weight his entire life, got much worse (ballooned to 300+) when he got older. Too bad, he played like a warrior his frosh yr. This subject is heavily covered in Season on the Brink. Had to be an extremely tough year for Marty. I remember a story where RMK had a vest made with 30 lbs of lead weight and had another player wear it and try jumping, just to show Marty how much it was affecting his play and hurting the team.

I thought Todd Meier was born with a knee brace.

Blab did work hard while at IU and was a different player by his senior year. Hands and feet both made of stone but improved enough to see years watching NBA games from the bench.

 

[Birnk403]

Todd Meier was 3rd-team Parade All-American out of high school. Also Mr. Basketball in Kansas. That would put him around a top 20 recruit and five-star in today's recruiting world.

Despite the ranking, he was the last guy in the rotation on the '87 team as a senior. Played about 6-8 mins a game.

Todd was from Oshkosh, Wisconsin. A very good high school player with a bad knee and a tweener game that didn’t translate well to college. Very nice guy and nice family.

Marty could’ve been a great player, especially if he’d had Alford’s dedication to get better. He lied about his weight way too many times and drove Knight and the trainers crazy.

 

[Chicago-bound Hoosier]

Todd was from Oshkosh, Wisconsin. A very good high school player with a bad knee and a tweener game that didn’t translate well to college. Very nice guy and nice family.

Marty could’ve been a great player, especially if he’d had Alford’s dedication to get better. He lied about his weight way too many times and drove Knight and the trainers crazy.

re: Marty--agreed! He had some great games his frosh year.
He actually finished 9th in Natl POY his sr yr at Evansville and scored 25+/game. Still a legend in IL high school ball. Team went 68-0 his jr/sr years.