I posted earlier about the 1993-94 team……which then led me down the rabbit hole of Krugers career. I have to admit…..prior to researching, my thoughts on Kruger was the 93-84 Final Four team was great, the next year we got bounced round 1, and he left and enter Billy. Kinda thought he left us high and dry. But reading about him, what an impressive person. As a player, at Kansas St. he was a two time Big 8 player of the Year in hoops, and was a stud SS on the on the baseball team. He was drafted into both the NBA and MLB……and was offered a tryout by the Dallas Cowboys at QB. Holy cow. He then proceeded to coach 30 seasons at 5 different D1 programs and the Atlanta Hawks, having success at all stops. His son was a stud in college at Arizona St. (I recall him on the bench in 94 loving the UF team)……and is now the head coach of UNLV. And if that isn’t enough, his daughter graduated from UF and is a doctor.
I remember him being our BB coach. Always thought he got the best out of players, and they were always disciplined.
I always thought he was a high caliber person. He did some things at UF that made me proud he was our coach. But it's interesting that one mark of his career was to bolt after a few years. He wasn't interested in being anyone's Billy D, or Bobby Bowden, or Coach K, I guess. He wasn't a job hopper, but he wasn't going to stay around 10+ years.
That '94 team made the Final Four without Final Four talent. That was an awesome coaching job. But as Billy Donovan liked to say, in basketball, there's a fine line between success and failure. We only lost one key player from the '94 team, Craig Brown, but weren't nearly as good the next season. Still good, but that one missing piece made a big difference.
It didn't hurt that UCONN bricked free throws to throw that Gator team into overtime and of course a FF appearance. (I HATE UCONN) so this one was sweet!
We had 4 guys on that team who could play with anyone in the country in Cross, Brown, DeClercq and Da MeatHook. We also had several other players who were pretty solid players. Most importantly, we had several players whose names would be constantly misspelled, which is a requirement for having a good team at UF.
Loved watching those guys play. Da MeatHook was so much fun. If he got position in the blocks there was no moving him out of it and no stopping da meat hook.
He was a recruiting guru, but he saw talent and could coach it. Was in my mid 20s at the time and went to every home game. Craigs clutch shooting was sorely missed the next year and Lon saw his window of opportunity fly away. So he bolted
Lon felt betrayed by Vince Carter going to the Tar Heels. Just two years from a final four appearance, he left the state to help UNC. I am sure Lon knew he was never going to make it happen when agents were steering Vince and others. It was illegal then for this to happen but now it is all legal and the agents, lawyers, parents, rouge teams putting other enticements in front of them makes recruiting unfair. But everyone is happy when the kats get seven of the top all Americans, or Duke.
'94 was one of the most amazing runs at the start of the season, nobody knew or cared about them. You would see Craig Dan and Demeat at bars and just have casual conversations with them etc. By the end of the regular season they were rock stars. Nobody replaced Craig after he left, Jason Anderson didn't develop at all as he was expected. Showed glimpses the 93-94 season, but didn't take it the next level the following season (at this point don't recall if he was injured). I also seem to recall Vince Carter was a must recruit to have, I think he realized he couldn't bring in the big names given the football school perception and needed to move on. Was there live in '94 at the final four, we had the game. Grant Hill took over and dominated the game. We played such a good game. Either way, don't think we beat Arkansas in the finals, that team was so good.
I loved Martti Kuisma, the Flying Finn! Great role player for that team and could provide 3-shooting off the bench. But still, the team was a great TEAM, with every guy understanding the roles and sticking to them; it wasn't a collection of Final Four talent, like Arkansas and Duke brought. Only Andrew DeClercq had an NBA future.
I remember the Vince Carter going to NC episode well. I was at an Orlando Magic game and at halftime Carter was in the high school dunk contest, which he won with an under-the-leg flying dunk. I remember not one person called out his name or encouraged him to go to UF. I was going to holler at him as he walked off the court to silence but my tix were on the top row at the farthest point from the basket they were dunking on. But I did like the Kruger teams. They frequently had to come from behind and it seemed that if they were down 5 with 5 minutes to play, or down 10 with 10 minutes to play, I knew they had a chance, and they delivered...a lot. But also remember being pissed off when LK left. It worked out (grin).
Martti was known as the Thin Finn. He had a lengthy pro career in Europe. I thought that Dan Cross was good enough to play in the NBA, but it didn’t happen.
He left because Floridas commitment to basketball was a joke . From Admin to the crappy fanbase and many factors in between. When he couldn’t get Vince Carter to come , from 2 hours away he had to leave . Went to Illinois and the rest is history. He was a great hire !
Lon is a great guy. I spoke with him a year ago for a column I wrote about his impact on the program. We spoke for a good hour… and at the end, he thanked me for taking the time. Several months later I saw him at gators game. I said hello, and before I could even reintroduce myself … he said, “Hi Brent… yes, I saw you speaking with Bill (Koss). I didn’t want to interrupt, but was hoping we could catch up.” Just a great, down to earth guy. And my column was kinda about that aspect of him… I’ll see if I can find it.
I forgot how candid he was during our talk… He calls Gainesville his favorite stop; speaks of his dad’s health as an unspoken factor… anyway, for those interested: Lon Kruger: Pave the Way, Florida Gators basketball | GatorCountry.com
