Interesting matchup here. Two great basketball players from their own era. 3 seeded Lamond Murray taking on 14 seeded Alexis Gray-Lawson. Do not be fooled by Gray-Lawson's lower seed, she is a very popular Cal athlete and this could very easily be a upset.
This is in the Pappy Waldorf Region. The winner here will take on either Stu Gordon or Michelle Granger. Voting ends this Friday at noon, so go and vote!
(3) Lamond Murray
As for Murray, his nomination is all LeonPowe.
The best scorer I've ever seen at Cal - and I saw Ed Gray, Sean Lampley and ‘Reef play. Effortless, smooth jump shots, making 3s from all over, Mid range. Also had to play out of position at power forward due to Al Grigsby's (multiple) injuries. Buttery smooth left handed jumper. Led the Pac-10 in scoring (and maybe rebounding) one year. Of course, wasn't Pac 10 Player of the year due to another Cal player (um, Jason Kidd)Couldn't find any clips of Murray at Cal on his own, mostly of him finishing off Kidd lobs. Enjoy some of his power finishes (it's scattered in here, he's Number 21)
He did have a productive NBA career, but was unfortunate to be drafted by the Clippers and hence spend most of his pro time in relative obscurity. It would not be a huge stretch to consider him one of the top ten Clippers ever. Nice tidbit: Teamed up with Kidd in New Jersey in his final season in the league.
And check out this unbelievable alley oop dunk from Jason Kidd:
(14) Alexis Gray-Lawson
Alexis Gray-Lawson will be forever linked to Ashley Walker and Devanei Hampton, as those three together were the core of Cal's most successful stretch in the program's history. Walker and Hampton definitely had the star power as two of the premier post players in the Pac-10. Gray-Lawson was the team's quarterback-and its heart and soul.
norcalnick explains why she should be a Hall of Famer.
When she's on, one of the most dominating offensive players in Cal history. Holds the single game record for points (47, in double OT). Played arguably the single greatest offensive game in Cal history when she scored 37 of Cal's 54 points to defeat top 10 Stanford. Also a great defender and was named to the Pac-10's all defense team. Leads Cal in career games played. 3rd most career points in Cal history. Most 3 pointers made in Cal history.
There were plenty more stories like that [in 2010]. She started Pac-10 play on a hot streak.
Maybe playing a brutal schedule that included 4 teams ranked in the current AP top 10 prepared the Bears for the rest of the Pac-10. Maybe 12 games was enough time for the freshmen to get comfortable enough in the offense to allow Lexi to play to the level she was always capable of. Maybe this is just the mother of all hot streaks (though I doubt it). Whatever the reason, her performances speak for themselves.
In particular, norcalnick pointed to this epic 6-game stretch during the 2010 Pac-10 season:
|
FGs |
3 pt. FG |
FTs |
Pts |
Rbds |
Asts |
TOs |
|
|
vs. UCLA |
6-16 |
3-5 |
5-11 |
20 |
8 |
1 |
4 |
|
vs. USC |
8-14 |
2-5 |
2-2 |
20 |
8 |
1 |
2 |
|
vs. Washington |
7-14 |
0-4 |
5-7 |
19 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
|
vs. Washington St. |
11-22 |
3-7 |
4-6 |
29 |
6 |
1 |
2 |
|
vs. Oregon |
7-17 |
1-5 |
4-4 |
19 |
4 |
0 |
3 |
|
vs. Oregon St. |
13-31 |
4-7 |
17-20 |
47 |
3 |
2 |
4 |
|
Percentage/Average |
46% |
39% |
74% |
25.67 |
5.33 |
1 |
2.67 |
Q McCall of Swish Appeal (the women's hoops SBN blog) talks about her abilities.
Gray-Lawson has had the ability to take over games for periods of time in previous seasons, but she was rarely the first scoring option when Ashley Walker emerged as an elite player when Gray-Lawson injured her knee in the 2006-07 season. With Walker leading Cal in scoring Gray-Lawson became more of a distributor to Cal's successful low-post players and recorded nearly a 2-1 assist to turnover ratio in 2008-09. With Walker and Devanei Hampton graduating, the offensive burden fell to Gray-Lawson. At times the transition was difficult this year as Gray-Lawson adjusted to playing with five freshman and to being the clear number one threat on the Golden Bears. But when Pac-10 play started Gray-Lawson took over, combining her outside shooting talent with a hard nosed ability to drive the ball and draw fouls, and she led the conference in scoring during the Pac-10 schedule. I would attribute the scoring explosion to Gray-Lawson getting comfortable in her new role and more cohesion with the aforementioned freshmen.