NCAA Championship: Go Villanova Wildcats - Paul Arizin 2001 Fleer GOTG

Phungo HQ is located less than 5 miles from where the Villanova Pavillion, the building the Schools basketball team calls home.

Tonight the team will try and knock off basketball powerhouse North Carolina for the 2016 NCAA championship. In support of the Wildcats we are posting a 2001 Fleer card of Basketball Hall of Famer Paul Arizin.

2001 Fleer Greats of the Game #61 Paul Arizin

Paul Arizin is a member of the Villanova class of 1950, His senior year he was a consensus All-American and was named Sporting News Player of the Year.

Following graduation he was drafted by the then local Philadelphia Warriors. He played 10 seasons for the club and was a member of the 1956 Championship team. Arizin led the league in scoring twice and made the All-Star squad in each of his 10 seasons.

Arizin is noted as one of the pioneers of the jump shot, a skill that no doubt helped him win those scoring titles and maintain a 22.8 ppg scoring average which still ranks 23rd all-time. 

Post career accolades include his Basketball Hall induction in 1978 and being recognized as one of the NBA's 50 greatest players as part of the league's 50th anniversary celebration in 1996.

The Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame made Paul Arizin a member of their inaugural class in 2004.

2001 Fleer Greats of the Game #61 Paul Arizin (b-side)

The text on the back of Arizin's Fleer card mentions his Sporting News Player of the Year award and notes that his 735 points scored in 1949-50 was just shy of the single season record.

Looking forward to 9:19 PM tonight - Go Wildcats!

Sources and Links
Phungo Philadelphia Sports HoF class of 2004 Index
Philadelphia Sports HoF
NY Times
Google Maps
Basketball-ref

March Madness Opening Rounds - Philadelphia

Posting some Pictures from the opening rounds of the NCAA tournament

Tip off to American U v Villanova.

Philadelphia Hosted six games for the first two rounds of this years NCAA tournament. The participating teams were BYU, Texas A&M, American University, Tennessee-Chattanooga, U Conn, UCLA, VCU and local favorite Villanova.

The always popular Cheerleaders!!!


UConn Monster Big Man Hasheem Thabeet. >>>
















The Head coach to the 1985 Champion Villanova Wild Cats Rollie Massimino.

The NCAA Tournament is always a fun event, if an opening round comes to your area and your a hoop fan I suggest you try and find your way to a session.

Phungo Cards - Scottie Reynolds, Villanova Wildcats

2009 Phungo #23 Scottie Reynolds

Tomorow Villanova plays their first game in the 2009 NCAA tournament. Scottie Reynolds will be leading the Wildcats at the point guard position. Above is the sole basketball card in the Phungo 2009 collection. Scottie Reynolds is the featured player, he is a point gaurd (PG) who has an outside chance of making it into the NBA. I chose Michael Jordan's number 23 as the basketball card number for the Phungo Set. The card is bordered in dark blue to match Villanova's team colors.

The picture was taken during a game at Philadelphia's historic Palestra. The Palestra is the Home for Penn Quaker's basketball and several big five/city six contests between the six Philadelphia college basketball teams; Nova, Penn, Temple, St Joes, La Salle, Drexel. If you're a basketball fan and you have the opportunity to see a game at the Palestra it is truly worth the effort. It is one of the oldest basketball gyms in the world and has been the site of many a great game. The list of notables that have played games there include Dr J, Allen Iverson, Oscar Robertson, Bill Bradley, Rick Barry, Billy Packer, Patrick Ewing, David Robinson, Ralph Sampson, Jerry West, and of course Wilt Chamberlain.