25) JOHN WALLACE

25. John Wallace: Syracuse – (1992-96) Rochester, NY

Four years: 16.7 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 2.0 apg, 1.6 bpg, 1.1 spg, 53.3% FG, 39% 3FG, 73.8% FT

Second Team Consensus All-American (1996)

A starter for every game of his career, the 6’8” power forward could do a little, and in many cases, a lot, of everything. His career started off as a low post banger, but by the end of his four years, he turned himself into one of the most complete power forwards in Big East history.

As a freshman, Wallace led the team in rebounding with a 7.6 rpg average, plus added 11.1 ppg on 52.6% shooting from the field. As a sophomore, he concentrated even more on dominating down low with a career high 9.0 rpg to go with 15.0 ppg. Beginning to show his great versatility, Wallace also added 1.7 apg and 1.7 bpg, while shooting 76.1% from the line and an excellent 56.6% from the field. As a junior, he made a sky high 58.8% from the field while accumulating season averages of 16.8 ppg and 8.2 rpg. He also started to show off his passing skills with 2.6 apg, along with his defense, as he also averaged 1.3 spg and 1.8 bpg. As a senior Wallace truly showed what kind of talent he was by making Second Team All-American with a gaudy 22.2 ppg average and 8.7 rpg. Maybe the most impressive aspect of his senior season is that after making just 4 of 17 three pointers over the his first three seasons, he made huge strides as an outside shooter, making 37 of 88 threes for a 42.1% success rate. He also made 76.3% of his free throws, and averaged 2.4 apg, 1.2 spg, and 1.7 bpg. Despite not having a huge amount of talent around him as a senior, his college career culminated in a great postseason that ended with the Orange losing in the NCAA Championship Game. In the loss, Wallace came up huge with 29 points and 10 rebounds.

He finished his career with 2,119 points and 1,065 rebounds. His 1,170 Big East points is 10th all-time and his 582 conference rebounds ranks 5th best, while his 436 made field goals rank 4th and his 120 Big East blocks ranks 19th. He was drafted 18th overall by the New York Knicks. He played seven seasons for five different teams, mostly as a reserve, before playing in Italy. He averaged 7.6 ppg in his NBA career.

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