Knight Does It Again

Boston, MA – Was it luck or was it planning?  As every game ended, it seemed that the outcome was once more in Team Knight’s favor.  In a tournament absent of shocking upsets, all four #1 seeds making it to the Elite Eight, but only one #1 making it to the Final Four, Team Knight was able to build a big lead and hold on down the stretch to earn the franchise’s 5th Hemcher Cup Championship.

With a total of 645 points, and Nick Collison leading the way, Team Knight was able to hold off late charges by second place Team Poli (604 points) and left-for-dead, third place Team Gannon (582 points).  Lampazzi fell to fourth place during the final game with 562 points, followed by Tonsmeire who climbed out of the basement to fifth place with 535 points. Team Zucker, decimated in the second and third rounds, didn’t score again after the Elite 8 and finished with a respectable 512 points.

In what became a medium-range scoring Championship at 645 points, records were still set and some team aspects earned their places among the best Hemcher Cup teams of all-time.

  • Team Poli 2003 scored 51 team games, becoming just the third team ever to break the 50 mark (Team Knight had 47 team games).
  • Team Zucker scored the 6th highest Points-Per-Player-Per-Game ever at 16.0, but at the same time totaled the second-least total team games ever at 32 (31 is the record, Tonsmeire 1995).
  • Team Knight 2003 ranked only 10th in the All-Time Hemcher Team Scoring and All-Time Power Rankings.
  • Team Knight became the first team to ever win out of the 6th draft position.  The previous best finish for the 6th spot was a 4th place showing in 1998.  Now 4th position is the only slot to never have won The Cup.
  • Jason Gardner moved into 6th place for Career Hemcher Cup scoring with 212 points.  Nick Collison and Keith Bogans also made the top-15 for their Hemcher careers.
  • Four players made All-Franchise teams this year.  Carmelo Anthony for Team Gannon, Nick Collison for Team Knight, Dwayne Wade for Team Lampazzi, and Keith Langford for Team Poli.  Worthy of note, Team Zucker has not had a new All-Franchise player since 1999.

The 2003 All-Hemcher Team

  • Carmelo Anthony    123 pts   Gannon
  • Nick Collison      112 pts        Knight
  • Dwayne Wade     109 pts     Lampazzi
  • Keith Langford    109 pts    Poli
  • Kirk Hinrich     96 pts         Gannon