Our next match-up comes out of the Pappy Waldorf Region and features two early 90's stars. Lamond Murray was a basketball scoring machine in his time at Cal while Michelle Granger is simply of, if not the best softballer to come to Berkeley.
Murray advanced to this round by narrowly taking down Alexis Gray-Lawson while Granger upset Stu Gordon in a close vote. This should be another interesting and close vote for both of these stars. The winner will move on to take on Andre Carter. You can take a look at the full bracket here and the write-ups are after the jump. The voting will end on Friday. GO BEARS!
(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:
RARE Jason Kidd to Lamond Murray for unbelievable dunks (via thebruceblitzchennel)
(11) Michelle Granger
On the short list of best softball players ever. 1996 Gold Medalist. This article encapsulates her accomplishments
From 1989-93 Granger amassed 1,640 strikeouts and 94 shutouts in 183 games, both NCAA records.The statistic that perhaps exemplifies Granger's dominance are her 25 no-hitters, five of which were perfect games Granger holds the top four spots in single-season strikeouts at Cal, and her 484 strikeouts during her senior year were a record at the time.
25 no hitters. 25 no hitters.
Her Cal Bears bio states the following:
Granger was the winning pitcher when the USA Softball team that won the sports' first Olympic gold medal in 1996. At the 1996 games, Granger finished with a 2-0 record, a 0.87 ERA and 25 strikeouts. Granger, who now resides in Davis, Calif., compiled a 13-7 record in five U.S. Olympic Festivals, went 4-0 in two ISF World Championships and 9-0 in three Pan American Games. She holds record for most consecutive strikeouts in a Women's Major Fast Pitch National Championship (18).
Granger played for Cal from 1989-93. She is the Golden Bears' all-time career leader in wins (119), games played (183), games started (162), complete games (155), innings pitched (1,202.2), strikeouts (1,640), shutouts (94), no-hitters (25) and perfect games (5).