As the 2015 NBA Draft draws near and Marcus Thornton dreams of a future in the Association, we at the William & Mary Sports Blog thought it would be a great idea to interview W&M's most recent alum to play in the NBA! So who is it?

I'm sure many of you remember him. Times (and especially the NBA Draft) were different back then, but his story is a pretty awesome one. Enjoy the in-depth interview!

Article here! : http://wmsportsblog.com/2015/05/30/wmsb-...eidner-83/

Great interview guys, I knew we had a couple alumni play in the NBA over the years but that was about it. I reposted it to the W&M reddit as well, hopefully it gets some extra views over there

Great piece !!

One of the best interviews of a W&M athlete I've seen. A wonderful piece of writing.

Also great to see that he remains closely attached to W&M and that his two daughters went there. A class act.

(05-30-2015 06:42 PM)Big Tribe Wrote:  One of the best interviews of a W&M athlete I've seen. A wonderful piece of writing.

Also great to see that he remains closely attached to W&M and that his two daughters went there. A class act.

Thank you! We thought the timing for this article was great, seeing that the NBA Draft is coming up. We also wanted to teach other W&Mers that we have produced not one but TWO Tribe NBA players--regardless of how long they played in the league. It also doesn't hurt that Brant happens to be a total class act and great guy.

(05-30-2015 04:56 PM)Ryuzaki51 Wrote:  Great interview guys, I knew we had a couple alumni play in the NBA over the years but that was about it. I reposted it to the W&M reddit as well, hopefully it gets some extra views over there

Thanks for the reddit post! Always appreciated

Wow. That interview exceeded my expectations. Great questions and very insightful responses.

Probably one of the best pieces from the WMSB to date. Keep it up!

Great interview, guys. Lots of good info in there.

Great interview.

Wow, we used to play a bunch of ACC schools and our players got better...

(05-30-2015 08:39 PM)Tribal Wrote:  Great interview.

Wow, we used to play a bunch of ACC schools and our players got better...

Reason #1 that ACC schools didn't want to play us or any mid-major anymore?

(05-30-2015 11:37 PM)TribeInTheBurg Wrote:  

(05-30-2015 08:39 PM)Tribal Wrote:  Great interview.

Wow, we used to play a bunch of ACC schools and our players got better...

Reason #1 that ACC schools didn't want to play us or any mid-major anymore?

Hubris.

.
Nice article. Now, here's the other half of the question posed by the guys at the Sports Blog, how many W&M players have been drafted in the NBA draft?


There have been 8 former W&M players drafted onto NBA rosters (and a couple more drafted in the Development League Draft). The most recent draftee was Keith Cieplicki, 30 years ago this year.

Here's the list:

1950 - Chet Giermak - 4th Round - Rochester
1953 - Bill Chambers - 11th Round - Minneapolis (later LA)
1955 - John Mahoney - 8th Round - Boston
1959 - Don Lange - 5th Round - Boston
1961 - Jeff Cohen - 2nd Round - Chicago
1981 - Scott Whitley - 9th Round - Indiana
1983 - Brant Weidner - 4th Round - San Antonio
1985 - Keith Cieplicki - 7th Round - Los Angeles


While it is true that, other than Brant (I believe that Cieplicki also made the LA roster but never got in a game before being released), the underlying truth is that in the early days of Giermak, Chambers and Cohen, the NBA was very different and the pay was much less than a W&M graduate would make using their degree to get a job.

Let's hope Marcus adds another name to that list of W&M draftees.
.

(05-31-2015 09:59 AM)billymac Wrote:  .
Nice article. Now, here's the other half of the question posed by the guys at the Sports Blog, how many W&M players have been drafted in the NBA draft?


There have been 8 former W&M players drafted onto NBA rosters (and a couple more drafted in the Development League Draft). The most recent draftee was Keith Cieplicki, 30 years ago this year.

Here's the list:

1950 - Chet Giermak - 4th Round - Rochester
1953 - Bill Chambers - 11th Round - Minneapolis (later LA)
1955 - John Mahoney - 8th Round - Boston
1959 - Don Lange - 5th Round - Boston
1961 - Jeff Cohen - 2nd Round - Chicago
1981 - Scott Whitley - 9th Round - Indiana
1983 - Brant Weidner - 4th Round - San Antonio
1985 - Keith Cieplicki - 7th Round - Los Angeles


While it is true that, other than Brant (I believe that Cieplicki also made the LA roster but never got in a game before being released), the underlying truth is that in the early days of Giermak, Chambers and Cohen, the NBA was very different and the pay was much less than a W&M graduate would make using their degree to get a job.

Let's hope Marcus adds another name to that list of W&M draftees.
.

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It is pretty amazing to think that the W&M Indians had two top NBA draft picks playing and on the court at the same time! Roy Lange and Jeff Cohen made the Indians a tough match-up for any team and we were unbeatable in the Blow Gym.