If you have followed the Big Ten long enough, many player names eventually get lost in the doldrums of your brain, similar to the names of high school classmates, middle school teachers, etc. Stars like Hardaway and Oladipo are fun to recall, but they definitely don’t warrant the same reaction as dropping names like Anthony Clemmons (6’1 role player for Iowa from 2012/13-2015/16) or Davide Curletti (Northwestern’s fixture at the center position from 2008/09-2011/12).

Last night, I got a text from a friend reminding me of a player in between the Hardaway/Oladipo threshold and Clemmons/Curletti one: Will Sheehey. We had previously thrown out classic names of old Big Ten basketball players, and Sheehey popped up. Much to my surprise, Indiana’s former sixth man went for 4 points on 2-for-7 shooting in the first half against the Portland Trailblazers. Sheehey’s team (Toronto Raptors) was eliminated last night with the loss.

If he makes it onto an NBA squad in the future, that would be awesome. But right now, I want to marvel in his journey. My first memory of Will Sheehey is a massive dunk he threw down against Iowa as a freshman. This was actually a finalist for Papa John’s Dunk of the Year.

This monstrous dunk was thrown down on Melsahn Basabe, which is also quite the name to remember.

Anyway, I was running through Sheehey’s Wikipedia page and stumbled upon gold for his last two seasons.

The Rothstein quote perfectly epitomizes Sheehey, who perfectly epitomizes the forgotten Big Ten player. At the end of 2013-14, he dropped 49 points on 21-for-32 shooting against ranked Iowa and Ohio State, which was completely out of the blue. Sheehey had scored 20 points in a game just twice that season. His career history is also a jackpot find.

Sheehey probably has some great stories to tell. Keep your eyes peeled for a future podcast guest.