The McD.L.T Team: McDonalds busts
The names won't roll off the tongue. They'll seem about as familiar as
Sanskrit.
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That's OK. You should look at the names below, pause for a second then hit
your head and say, "Wait, didn't that guy used to play for…?"
Not everyone who plays in the McDonald's High School All-American game turns out to be the next Michael Jordan, Kevin Garnett or LeBron James.
Some turn out to be the next Leonel Marquetti, a member of the East squad
in the very first McDonald's game, played in 1978. He went on to play at
Hampton and was taken in the ninth round of the 1981 NBA Draft by the San
Antonio Spurs, for whom he never played a minute.
The following players are ones you might remember were part of the
McDonald's All-American teams, but who didn't turn out to be Big Macs on
campus.
They're on the Rivals.com McD.L.T. Team. You remember the McD.L.T., don't
you? It's the concept that kept the hot side hot and the cool side cool. It
didn't exactly catch on.
Neither did these guys. Their careers turned out to be on the cool side,
too, for whatever reason.
The McD.L.T Team
Joey Beard, East, 1993 - A consensus top-five player in the country, the
skinny 6-10 Beard signed with Duke but played only 64 minutes his freshman
season and transferred to Boston University. He averaged 11.6 points per
game in his career for the Terriers.
DeAngelo Collins, West, 2002 - The 6-9 power forward was high on
everybody's recruiting lists. He tried to make the jump straight to the NBA
out of high school in California and went undrafted. He suffered a knee
injury playing in Turkey and has bounced around various minor pro leagues.
Taymon Domzalski, East, 1995 - The big man from New Mexico played on some great teams at Duke, but his high-water mark came as a freshman when he
averaged 6.5 points and six rebounds per game. He finished his career with
averages of 4.2 points and 3.4 rebounds.
Lester Earl, East, 1996 - The Louisiana product chose to stay at home and
signed with LSU, but he transferred to Kansas after his freshman year. In a
messy divorce with the Tigers, he told the NCAA he had received illegal
inducements from an assistant coach to attend LSU. To the solace of Bayou
Bengals fans, he didn't do much as a Jayhawk. Earl averaged 5.1 points and
3.9 rebounds for his career in Lawrence.
Ronnie Fields, West, 1996 - A high school teammate of Kevin Garnett, the
"King of Hops" was a Chicagoland legend for his high-flying dunks. He
signed with DePaul but never qualified. He has traversed the globe playing
in various pro leagues.
Neil Fingleton, East, 2000 - This says it all: The North Carolina signee
finished his career as a backup center at Holy Cross. Oh yeah, and he was
7-6.
Omm'A Givens, West, 1994 - He originally signed to play at UCLA but
transferred to Pepperdine after two seasons. He played only 19 games for
the Waves because of various suspensions and eventually quit the team
before his final season.
Casey Sanders, East, 1999 - Sanders, a 6-11 Tampa, Fla., product, signed
with Duke. He averaged 2.7 points and 2.5 rebounds per game for his career
with the Blue Devils. The NBA didn't call.
Winfred Walton, East, 1996 - Walton signed with Syracuse but came up
academically ineligible and never suited up for the Orangemen. He
transferred and played one season at Fresno State under Jerry Tarkanian,
then entered the NBA Draft early. He went undrafted and then played in the
CBA.
Korleone Young, West, 1998 - The Kansas native took a flyer on entering the
NBA Draft out of Hargrave Military Academy and got taken by the Detroit
Pistons in the second round. Alas, his time in the Motor City lasted only
three games at the end of the strike-shortened 1998 season and he has never
appeared again on an NBA roster.