Thanks for the link -- that's an interesting read. Much respect to Dan for his role as a small business owner and recreation leader in the corrections system -- that's a productive citizen. Cool that his children all played college sports. I remember I saw a son play for Oakland vs. Wright State a few years back.

Those were heady days for the MAC when he played at Ball State. Both Palombizio and Ron Harper of M%^&i averaged a double/double in the 1984-85 season. Dan was one of those guys opposing fans loved to hate because he was physical and talked a bit during games. And, he was a player who could often back it up.

But, in the MAC semis in 1985 he couldn't keep up with Harper who set the tournament single game scoring record that night. I think Harper had 45 points and somewhere around 20 rebounds, too. It was an amazing thing to witness at Savage Hall. You can make a case for Gary Trent and a couple others, but I think Harper is the best overall player I've every seen in person through MACtion-- first to score 2,000+ points and have 1,000+ rebounds.

M#$%i easily won that semi-final, but fell to our Bobcats the next night at Savage Hall. We had barely escaped Kent State in the semis. It was an epic post-game party at the team hotel afterwards - one of the highlights of my time as a fan.

Why should he have any regrets? He said twice in the article “woulda, coulda, shoulda”.

Nice article, thanks for posting. I'll bet he's having a huge impact on those inmates he's working with.

My father-in-law coached him at Rogers, so I've heard plenty of stories about his high school career.

I contemplated the demise of the MAC mentioned above by cbus cat fan while sitting in the Convo Sunday. Alan texted me late in the game, comparing the competition between Ohio and FIU as a glorified middle school game. That might be a bit extreme, but it was definitely not a packed house with 3 former NBA players on the floor as mentioned above by cbus cat fan.

I concluded that a major reason for just how diluted DI hoops has become is due to nearly 350 schools competing for a limited number of DI talent. While this doesn't affect the bluebloods, it has definitely had a negative impact on MAC hoops.

281 teams in the '85/'86, season: 70 more teams today, or 910 players now spread across the D1 spectrum.

One-and-done's play into that as well. The big programs have tons of playing time open in every recruiting class now. In the mid-80s players were just starting to forego their senior seasons. So there were more good players looking at mids so they wouldn't have to sit for two years behind established stars.

I would agree the one and done has affected this but I also think cable and national media has taken away some of local recruiting advantages that Illinois, Indiana and many others had keeping kids at home. Think Magic would have stayed in MI or any of the Illinois kids that ended up at Duke would not have been Illini pre cable?

My opinion on the numbers is swayed a bit when looking at the 80's. Yes, there are more teams but I think with the advent of Summer Ball and the coaching at the HS level and Exposure Camps/Events there are more kids with better skill development playing the game than there ever has been. I almost wonder if this net outcome is not somewhat of a wash.