Jeff Horner Interview

[CVHawkeye]

I came across a fun interview with Jeff Horner on Twitter today that I thought was worth sharing. Horner is pretty loose in the interview and talks a lot about his time growing up, getting recruited by Alford, playing with LeBron on Team USA, and playing for Nick Nurse and the Energy. His former backup, Jack Brownlee, provides some fun insight as the co-host.

Link:

http://traffic.libsyn.com/moonlightgrahamshow/JeffHornerFinal.mp3

 

[Lamoni]

Thanks for sharing. I always thought Horner was a bit of a let down based on the expectations but looking back on his career he had some really solid numbers.

1502 points
613 assists
563 rebounds
166 steals

 

[JG10Hawk]

Thanks for sharing. I always thought Horner was a bit of a let down based on the expectations but looking back on his career he had some really solid numbers.

1502 points
613 assists
563 rebounds
166 steals

It seems like it's been ages since he played. Solid career indeed. 16th all time in scoring, 1st in assists, 8th in steals, and 2nd in 3PM in school history.

 

[DodgerHawki]

It seems like it's been ages since he played. Solid career indeed. 16th all time in scoring, 1st in assists, 8th in steals, and 2nd in 3PM in school history.

And MVP of the 2006 Big Ten Tournament if my memory is correct (it might not be).

 

[L. Wade Childress]

Horner could never quite reign in his decision making enough to be truly appreciated. He took a lot of chances which was fun to watch but resulted in a lot of unnecessary turnovers and missed deep shots.

 

[hooper56]

Horner could never quite reign in his decision making enough to be truly appreciated. He took a lot of chances which was fun to watch but resulted in a lot of unnecessary turnovers and missed deep shots.

And unfortunately he really would not guard anyone.

 

[CP84]

More marketing for the Moonlight Graham podcast. Which Fort Dodge kid are you?

I don't remember Brownlee being his backup. He was more of an Austin Ash type averaging 5 minutes per game as a senior.

 

[CVHawkeye]

More marketing for the Moonlight Graham podcast. Which Fort Dodge kid are you?

I don't remember Brownlee being his backup. He was more of an Austin Ash type averaging 5 minutes per game as a senior.

I was a pre-Brownlee Dodger but always rooted for him with the Hawks. He started getting some decent minutes once the Pierce situation unfolded but never really had the body for a D1 player.

 

[The Deplorable Sleeping Dog]

Jeff was a very good player. Not a terrible defender and a very good scorer and passer. Very much a net positive.

 

[HawkSTL]

Jeff just lacked lateral agility and explosiveness. Limited his shot creation abilities. He was strong pretty much everywhere else.

He’s a high school basketball legend, scoring 20 plus a game since his freshman year in 4A ball.

 

[Herky T Hawk]

Thanks for sharing. I always thought Horner was a bit of a let down based on the expectations but looking back on his career he had some really solid numbers.

1502 points
613 assists
563 rebounds
166 steals

He was the BTT most outstanding player his senior year. Which was a big deal since he didn’t make 1st or 2nd team recognition for the conference regular season even though he led the league in assists.

As for how we look back on him, his career was soured by the NCAA tournament that year. That was his time to shine and establish his “legend”. Instead of being a Ronnie or BJ that led us deep in the tournament, we flamed out in the first game as a 3 seed. If we had made an elite eight like we could have, he’d be looked upon as an all time great. Even playing to our seed and losing in the sweet sixteen would have helped him considerably. But two appearances with zero wins doesn’t help. The BTT doesn’t make “legends” of players, the NCAA does.

 

[icwesthawk]

As for how we look back on him, his career was soured by the NCAA tournament that year.

Wow, I guess.

 

[Herky T Hawk]

Wow, I guess.

Did you read the rest of my post? Maybe soured wasn't the best word, but never even winning a game in the NCAAs means that he was never going to be looked back at as a legend for the university. Which doesn't match with his career rank in all of those statistical categories.

The incident when he came back to Carver as an assistant is the thing that would probably "sour" fan's opinion of him more than his playing career. If Ronnie, BJ, or Andre came back and had an incident like that they would probably be given a pass considering their playing careers and success for us.

 

[HawkSTL]

Did you read the rest of my post? Maybe soured wasn't the best word, but never even winning a game in the NCAAs means that he was never going to be looked back at as a legend for the university. Which doesn't match with his career rank in all of those statistical categories.

The incident when he came back to Carver as an assistant is the thing that would probably "sour" fan's opinion of him more than his playing career. If Ronnie, BJ, or Andre came back and had an incident like that they would probably be given a pass considering their playing careers and success for us.

Fran acted pretty douche in that situation too. One North Dakota kid was pressing hard in the final minute of a 10 or 11 point game. It was hardly egregious misconduct. And Fran flipped his lid, probably in large part because that North Dakota team played him tighter than he expected or would have liked.

 

[Legend12]

He was the BTT most outstanding player his senior year. Which was a big deal since he didn’t make 1st or 2nd team recognition for the conference regular season even though he led the league in assists.

As for how we look back on him, his career was soured by the NCAA tournament that year. That was his time to shine and establish his “legend”. Instead of being a Ronnie or BJ that led us deep in the tournament, we flamed out in the first game as a 3 seed. If we had made an elite eight like we could have, he’d be looked upon as an all time great. Even playing to our seed and losing in the sweet sixteen would have helped him considerably. But two appearances with zero wins doesn’t help. The BTT doesn’t make “legends” of players, the NCAA does.

He was never even 2nd team all Big Ten....he would have had to do a lot more than that get to an Elite Eight for him to be an all time great.

Also....he did not have the most assists in the 2005-2006 Big Ten season...Dee Brown and Drew Neitzel both had 89, Horner had 83.

 

[icwesthawk]

Did you read the rest of my post? Maybe soured wasn't the best word, but never even winning a game in the NCAAs means that he was never going to be looked back at as a legend for the university. Which doesn't match with his career rank in all of those statistical categories.

The incident when he came back to Carver as an assistant is the thing that would probably "sour" fan's opinion of him more than his playing career. If Ronnie, BJ, or Andre came back and had an incident like that they would probably be given a pass considering their playing careers and success for us.

The way to early an exit from the NCAAs definitely soured me on all of those players and Alfraud too, especially Alfraud

 

[The Deplorable Sleeping Dog]

Doesn't everyone think F McC has a pretty low threshold of complete shit flipping? Although I think he's doing about as good a job as can be done at Iowa in 2019 but he's not really lovable. It might be cuz we're the same age but he's a hard guy to really like.

As for Alford, he should have been gibbeted long ago for his crimes against humanity, or at least the only part of it that really matters. At least F McC is kind of fun and personable in a semi-social setting. Alford was so arrogant he failed to grasp the necessity of at least pretending to like at least that part of the fanbase that paid his salary, the BIG DONORS. Never met anyone quite as obviously narcissistic as Alford.

 

[hooper56]

Fran acted pretty douche in that situation too. One North Dakota kid was pressing hard in the final minute of a 10 or 11 point game. It was hardly egregious misconduct. And Fran flipped his lid, probably in large part because that North Dakota team played him tighter than he expected or would have liked.

I was there and I strongly disagree with your characterization of the end of game incident. Those North Dakota players were going after our guys....hard. Lots of cheap shots, and they were being encouraged by their coaches. Tempers were flaring and Fran took his team off the court to avoid a confrontation. Smart move by a savvy coach. Good on him for that.

 

[mphawk]

I was there and I strongly disagree with your characterization of the end of game incident. Those North Dakota players were going after our guys....hard. Lots of cheap shots, and they were being encouraged by their coaches. Tempers were flaring and Fran took his team off the court to avoid a confrontation. Smart move by a savvy coach. Good on him for that.

I was there too behind the visitors bench and totally agree.

 

[IamHawkeye]

Horner could never quite reign in his decision making enough to be truly appreciated. He took a lot of chances which was fun to watch but resulted in a lot of unnecessary turnovers and missed deep shots.

Don't you mean "rein" in?

 

[CVHawkeye]

Jeff just posted on Twitter that he has testicular cancer. It sounds like the prognosis is good but it is always shocking when young, healthy people come down with cancer.

 

[2432Hawk]

Jeff just posted on Twitter that he has testicular cancer. It sounds like the prognosis is good but it is always shocking when young, healthy people come down with cancer.

 

[The Deplorable Sleeping Dog]

Bummer. Pretty treatable so go get 'em Jeff.

 

[Y2KG21]

Prayers for Jeff. I wish him the best during a tough time for him and his family.