Xavier McDaniel couldn't be stopped -- all the way to the Hall of Fame

[WstateU]

He had an ability to knock down shots in that range 8-15 feet that is just missing from the game at the college level. And that's not just facing the basket shot, and was pretty good at the turnaround jumper. (do today's high school/college players even know what that is?) Everyone wants to step back. Hit a 3 ball. Get fouled. Other times they post up, head fake, to get to the rim. One of the big differences between then and now is "he took the open shot" a lot of time. That led to a high scoring average. He was strong and intimidating, and more than anything else SPRINGY-BOUNCY. He understood something that is so valuable in the game. Only 30-50% of attempted shots are going in on the first attempt. That leaves a lot of loose balls and he was always looking for the ball. Will always be my favorite Shocker player.

Hands down my favorite player and it's not even close. He's like a 100 year flood... you won't see it again in your lifetime. Can't imagine the great 'gifs' we could have had during those days... era.

[MikeKennedyRulZ]

For all of his toughness and rebounding prowess, I think we forget sometimes about his mid-range game. It was on point.

[ShockTalk]

Hands down my favorite player and it's not even close. He's like a 100 year flood... you won't see it again in your lifetime. Can't imagine the great 'gifs' we could have had during those days... era.

Dave the Rave was before my time in Wichita and not to untrack this thread, as X may have been the best I've seen in a Shocker uniform. Nevertheless, when Cliff abandoned the ship, AC was true to his home town and stayed when he didn't have to. For that, I will be forever grateful to him and why he is my favorite.

Please continue all of X's praise as he certainly deserves it.

[Atxshoxfan]

We had x and a couple other shocks come give lectures and demos to a kids league. X was such a quick jumper ,he did a 1 man tip drill off the backboard for about 30 seconds. I swear, that ball was bouncing straight off the backboard at a 90 degree angle and he never let it bounce off the backboard more than a foot. His second, third, forth and so-on jumps were so quick and every bit as strong as his first. I tried for years to do that drill at 9 ft height off a wall. He did this at about 10.5 ft.. I never came close. It still amazes me.

[Aargh]

Two memorable quotes from the X-Man

First was while I was at work with a country station playing on the radio (KFDI). News segment had this guy with a huge country drawl interviewing McDaniel and asking him how he led the nation in rebounding. McDaniel responded with his baritone Carolina accent, "Well, ah be dere, and when ah see da ball, ah grab it". Then straight back into the country western drawl doing the news. Between the incredible variation in accents between the interviewer and the X-Man, and the simplicity of the answer, I was unable to concentrate on work for some time after that.

I misspelled some words, not to disparage X's speech, but rather to give a better feel to the difference in accents between the interviewer and X.

The other was in the NBA when X punched another player. "I saw that he was going to hit me, so I hit him first in self-defense".

X had a "you don't want to mess with me" attitude that served him well, and he had the game and the means to back that up. I also remember X as one of the first to shave his head. At that time, that seemed to increase his intimidation factor. X was one scary dude.

[another shocker]

Two memorable quotes from the X-Man

First was while I was at work with a country station playing on the radio (KFDI). News segment had this guy with a huge country drawl interviewing McDaniel and asking him how he led the nation in rebounding. McDaniel responded with his baritone Carolina accent, "Well, ah be dere, and when ah see da ball, ah grab it". Then straight back into the country western drawl doing the news. Between the incredible variation in accents between the interviewer and the X-Man, and the simplicity of the answer, I was unable to concentrate on work for some time after that.

I misspelled some words, not to disparage X's speech, but rather to give a better feel to the difference in accents between the interviewer and X.

The other was in the NBA when X punched another player. "I saw that he was going to hit me, so I hit him first in self-defense".

X had a "you don't want to mess with me" attitude that served him well, and he had the game and the means to back that up. I also remember X as one of the first to shave his head. At that time, that seemed to increase his intimidation factor. X was one scary dude.

https://the-boneyard.com/threads/bal...layers.155337/

i saw this thread on the boneyard (uconn hoops). X was THE first to shave his head like that. he started that 'do "style".

[Shocker_Power]

MWC_episode_-_A_Tisket_Basket_ball_peg_al_Xavier_McDaniel.jpg