A midseason update to SI.com's college hoops style archive |
Story Highlights
Coach Buzz Williams' "sofa plaid" blazer isn't his first noteworthy style selectionGreg Echenique wears pink sneakers in support of breast cancer awarenessThe double and triple-headband look is a trademark of Arkansas' Michael Sanchez |
SI.com's compendium of college hoops style is back with its second update from the 2011-12 season. (Past Style Archives: 2006-07 | '07-08 | '08-09 | '09-10 | '10-11 Part 1, 2 and 3)
![]() Photo Credits: US Presswire |
1. Mascot Mimicry Deniz Kilicli // Jr. forward, West Virginia Kilicli hails from Istanbul, Turkey, but his beard has an Appalachian flavor -- so much so that he could step right in for the Mountaineers' mascot (seen at right) if needed. It took until the New Year for Kilicli's beard to reach full steam, but there were warning signs of it back in November, particularly a Daily Mail blog post entitled, "Deniz Kilicli is letting himself go and it's rather awesome." |
![]() Photo Credit: US Presswire |
2. Sofa Plaid Buzz Williams // Head coach, Marquette Williams went the extra mile on "Al's Night," Marquette's now-annual tribute to late coach Al McGuire, by sporting a sideline blazer straight out of the '70s. "Sofa plaid," is what Williams called it. This isn't his first time in a Style Archive-worthy blazer, either; in December at the Jimmy V Classic, he wore a mustard yellow jacket in exchange for a $5,000 donation to the V Foundation. |
![]() Photo Credit: Troy Machir |
3. Big Pink Greg Echenique // Jr. center, Creighton The Bluejays broke out these pink shoes for a Creighton vs. Cancer game in 2011, and Echenique, their 6-foot-9 center, has been wearing them on a regular basis during the '11-12 season, as a walking (running?) billboard for breast cancer awareness. In a recent pink-jersey auction the school held to benefit cancer research, Echenique's double-zero shirt sold for more than Doug McDermott's. (Thanks to Ballin' is a Habit for sending in this photo from their epic road trip.) |
![]() Photo Credit: US Presswire |
4. Native Blue Joe Burton // Jr. forward, Oregon State Burton wears these turquoise kicks for a cause. In part because Burton grew up on the Soboba Reservation in Southern California and is a member of Soboba Band of Luiseno Indians, Nike chose Oregon State to be the flagship program of its N7 initiative, which promotes athletics among Native American youths. For the past two years, the Beavers have worn turquoise jerseys and limited-edition Nikes in their N7 game, but Burton has kept the shoes on for the bulk of the season. |
![]() Photo Credit: US Presswire |
5. Vintage Vol Skylar McBee // Jr. guard, Tennessee This YouTube clip includes some general fawning over McBee's '70s mustache and covers its inspiration: "My dad used to rock a mustache, so ... I wanted to check it out, and see what it's all about." The Vols' Tennessee-bred shooting guard says coach Cuonzo Martin, who used to rock a mustache as a player at Purdue, approves. The Style Archive would approve if McBee adjusted his haircut a bit and went for a Full Wooderson. |
![]() Photo Credit: US Presswire |
6. Double Sanchez Michael Sanchez // Sr. forward, Arkansas Sanchez is the only player we've seen with the double (or even triple?)-headband look this season -- one to keep the sweat off his face, and others to keep his massive mop of hair under control. He's actually growing that map for a good cause, with plans to donate it to Locks for Love once he has the requisite eight inches. |
![]() Photo Credit: Northwestern University |
7. A Carmody Christmas Bill Carmody // Head coach, Northwestern The notoriously casual Carmody only wears a tie around Christmastime, and his taste in Christmas ties is impeccable. (Just look at that snowman!) We'd like to see some coaches take this a step further and do an Awful Christmas Sweater game next year. It doesn't have to be for charity. It would benefit everyone. (Thanks to the @NUMensBBall Twitter for the scoop and the photo.) |
![]() Photo Credit: Nike/US Presswire |
8. Shabazz Navidad Shabazz Napier // Soph. guard, UConn Napier did not want to get out-Christmas'd by the likes of Bill Carmody, so the UConn guard broke out a pair of Nike Air Max Sweep Thru "Christmas" PEs for the Huskies' game against West Virginia on Jan. 9. These custom Amar'e Stoudemire models were released as part of Nike's "Christmas Pack" and worn by Amar'e in the Knicks' opening-day game. |
![]() Photo Credit: US Presswire |
9. Twin City Tat Royce White // Soph. forward, Iowa State White may have left his home state on uncomfortable terms -- he never played a game for Minnesota, had multiple brushes with the law, and announced he was quitting the Gophers on YouTube -- but he still represents his birthplace on his arm. Now the star of an Iowa State program on the rise, he wears the Twins' old logo on his left bicep. |
![]() Photo Credit: US Presswire |
10. Wavebacks Pepperdine Waves As part of the Pepperdine's 75th anniversary celebration, the hoops team broke out throwback jerseys from the '70s complete with an excellent cursive font, a la Memphis' throwbacks from earlier this season. College hoops is suffering from a serious cursive drought -- far too many jersey fronts are overstuffed with bad, block lettering -- and we thank the Waves for combating it, even if it was just for one game. |
![]() Photo Credit: Dan Fenner/Patch.com |
11. Grey Solidarity Greg Kampe // Head coach, Oakland The grey craze has swept through college hoops like mad -- it seems like every Nike or Jordan team now has a grey option -- but Kampe is the only coach, to our knowledge, that has matched his gameday suit with his team's jersey hue. Kampe made the Style Archive last year for sweatervesting, but this should be considered his greater contribution. (Thanks to Cory Schmidt of @SummitMadness for passing this along.) |
![]() Photo Credit: US Presswire |
12. Lemonheads Truck Bryant // Sr. guard, West Virginia Just as Echenique is known for pink, and Burton for turquoise, Bryant has made full-yellow kicks his signature look at West Virginia. These are Kevin Durant Christmas 2010 models known as Lemonheads, for obvious reasons. They've long been out of Durant's personal rotation, but Truck is keeping them in style in the Big East. |
![]() Photo Credit: US Presswire |
13. The Nonconformist Gary Franklin // Soph. guard, Baylor These bright-yellow Adidas have been spotted on a college court before -- when Michigan was wearing them, in unison -- but Franklin tends to stick out when he sports them at Baylor. In Saturday's loss to Missouri, every Bears player was color-coordinated in dark green shoes, until Franklin made his way off the bench. It is, one guesses, an easy way for his parents to pick him out on television. |
![]() Photo Credit: US Presswire |
15. Movember Gaels Randy Bennett & Matthew Dellavedova // St. Mary's Aussies Dellavedova and Mitchell Young sold their team on Movember, a mustache-driven prostate cancer awareness campaign, and sported full 'staches for their November games. The players were outdone by their coach, however; Bennett's salt-and-pepper effort was outstanding, and should be maintained for the remainder of the season. |
![]() Photo Credit: Porter Binks/SI |
16. Gradience Dion Waiters // Soph. guard, Syracuse Waiters' game-shoe curation skills were second only to UConn's Kemba Walker last season, and with Walker gone to the NBA, the Syracuse sophomore may just be college hoops' footwear king. In the NIT Season Tip-Off final, Waiters wore NikeiD-customized Zoom Kobe VIs, topped off with "S"-emblazoned socks. The whole team should get on board with the orange-socks look, but Waiters may not let them. He prefers to stand out. |
![]() Photo Credit: US Presswire |
17. Drapes Laval Lucas-Perry // Sr. guard, Oakland Hoop shorts have been trending longer, and larger, for quite some time, but Perry's trunks take it to an absurd level -- just look at where his left knee hits them in that layup photo. They appear to be constructed of enough drift fabric to make two jersey tops, an arm sleeve, a headband, and a new vest for coach Greg Kampe. |
![]() Photo Credit: Icon SMI |
18. Dreadsert Storm Jesse Perry // Sr. forward, Arizona Perry's dreadlocks have a long way to go to match Davis' unibrow in popularity; the Facebook page devoted to the Arizona starter's hair only has seven likes. Renardo Sidney is not one of the "likes," although he seems to have entered a blissful state upon getting a nearly-up-the-nostril whiff of Perry's hair. |
![]() Photo Credit: US Presswire |
19. Khemtrail Khem Birch // Fr. forward, Pitt Chemtrails are the imaginary chemical agents that conspiracy theorists believe are released into the sky by jets, who are actually just producing contrails; a Khemtrail is a very real, Gremlin-like stripe in the hair of Canadian freshman Khem Birch, who chose to transfer away from Pitt during his first semester. |
![]() Photo Credit: US Presswire |
20. Hyphen-Nation Michael Kidd-Gilchrist // Fr. guard, Kentucky Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson // Jr. forward, Temple Name expansion was big this offseason, with the Wildcats' Gilchrist growing to Kidd-Gilchrist to honor his late uncle, Darrin Kidd, and the Owls' Jefferson going to Hollis-Jefferson to add his mother's name into his own. Worthy tributes; awkward fits on the back of jerseys. |
![]() Photo Credit: Porter Binks/SI |
21. Oostbeard Andrew Zimmerman // Sr. forward, Stanford Zimmerman's road to Stanford began in the hoops hotbed of Oostburg, Wis.; he later moved through Santa Clara and Foothills College before arriving in Palo Alto. The 6-8 forward is considered a bargain value for the Cardinal, as his scholarship does not have to include room and board. He sleeps in the woods, and his diet consists only of fresh game killed with his black-powder musket.* * Unconfirmed biographical detail |
![]() Photo Credits: US Presswire |
22. Tbilisleeve Levan Shengelia // Soph. forward, Rhode Island Sheneglia, the pride of Tbilisi, Georgia, and the son of a former Georgian women's national team player, is a much-feared post presence in the Atlantic 10 due to his razor-tattoo sleeve. He's averaging 10.0 minutes per game as a sophomore, but was the unluckiest player in D-I last year, getting on the court for just one minute of an early loss to Pittsburgh ... and then sustaining a season-ending knee injury. |
![]() Photo Credit: US Presswire |
23. Rat Tail Shabazz Napier // Soph. guard, UConn Shabazz Napier has been sporting a single braid in the back -- some might call it the street version of a rat tail -- as a way to honor a fallen friend who had braids. Napier is getting a bit testy about the tribute, though, saying, "Teams try to make fun of it. Knowing myself, I might get ticked off one day and get in someone's face about it. It's something real deep, and I don't appreciate a lot of people talking bad about it." |
![]() Photo Credit: US Presswire |
24. The Stainbrook Matt Stainbrook // Soph. center, Western Michigan As a freshman, Stainbrook was just your average, unassuming, 6-9, 290-pound, doughy mid-major forward. This year he's added better (longer, floppier) hair and killer rec-specs, and is shooting 63.3 percent from the field while averaging 14.8 points per game -- well up from the 8.8 he scored as a freshman. In terms of size and cult-figure potential, Stainbrook is the New Big Lumber. |
![]() Photo Credit: US Presswire |
25. End of an Era Blaine Taylor // Coach, Old Dominion The head Monarch went anti-Movember and killed off the greatest coaching-stache in the college game, shaving the iconic animal pelt from his upper lip for the 2011-12 season. It was a big enough deal to inspire full newspaper articles in Virginia -- not just Style Archive mention -- because Taylor has had facial hair since the 1970s. ODU is off to a 4-3 start, mostly because there is no 'stache left for opponents to fear. |
![]() Photo Credit: US Presswire |
26. Hobbits of the A-10 Kyle Cassity & Cody Ellis // St. Louis The Rise of the Billikens (this week's loss to Loyola Marymount aside) has been one of the nation's biggest stories in November, and they've been powered by the sharpshooting of hobbit-headed wings Cassity (13-of-25 from long range) and Ellis (16-of-33). As a team, they rank 15th in the nation in three-point percentage, at 43.9. |
![]() Photo Credit: US Presswire |
27. Neapolitans Florida Gators Billy Donovan's boys made some nice, subtle tweaks to their Knicks-ified jerseys for '11-12, ditching the white outline on "Florida" on the road blues and alternate tangerine alternates (thank God), switching to "Gators" on the home whites, and getting ride of solid side panels, with thin striping in its place. All edits get the Style Archive seal of approval. |
(If you'd like to make a nomination for a future edition of the Style Archive -- and get credit for it on SI.com -- send it here.)
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