Damon Bailey

No. 22
Point guard
Personal information
Born	(1971-10-21) October 21, 1971 (age 40) Heltonville, Indiana
Nationality	American
High school	Bedford North Lawrence High School
Listed height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Listed weight	200 lb (91 kg)
Career information
College	Indiana (1990-1994)
NBA Draft	1994 / Round: 2 / Pick: 17th overall
Selected by the Indiana Pacers
Pro career	1994–2004
Career history
1994–1996	Indiana Pacers
Career highlights and awards
Mr. Basketball USA (1990) Naismith Prep Player of the Year Award (1990) USA Today High School Player of the Year (1990) Associated Press Indiana All-Century high school basketball team Big Ten Freshman of the Year (1991) NCAA All-American Third Team (1994)
Medals Men's Basketball Competitor for the  United States Pan American Games Silver 1999 Winnipeg National team

Damon Bailey (born October 21, 1971 in Heltonville, Indiana) is a retired American basketball player. Bailey shot to national prominence after being recruited by Indiana coach Bob Knight as an 8th grader, an unusual event at the time. Bailey went on to become Indiana's all-time high school leading scorer and would earn All-America honors playing for the Indiana Hoosiers. He became a cult figure during the late '80′s and early '90′s in Indiana.^[1]

Prep career[link]

In early 1986, when Bailey was a 14-year-old eighth-grader, Indiana coach Bob Knight watched a game featuring Bailey's team. At the time, Knight and his 1985-86 team were being covered by author John Feinstein for his book A Season on the Brink, which would later go on to be a major best-seller. After taking in the game, Knight went back to his team and said, "Damon Bailey is better than any guard we have right now. I don't mean potentially better, I mean better today."^[1] According to Feinstein, Knight's remarks about Bailey were largely intended to motivate Indiana's starting guard Steve Alford. However, due to the national and state-wide popularity of Feinstein's book, Bailey's legend took off.

In 1986, as Bailey was entering Bedford North Lawrence High School (BNL) and a year before publication of Feinstein's book, the acclaimed basketball movie Hoosiers was released. Comparison's between the movie and Bailey's career were frequently made. He told Sports Illustrated, "BNL had a lot in common with Hickory. Not because we're a small school. We're one of the biggest in the state. But we had nobody over 6-3, and no one thought we could win it."^[2]

In November of 1986, as his freshman year of high school was in swing, Sports Illustrated tabbed him the country's best ninth-grade hoopster.^[3] That freshman year he led BNL to the state Final Four, averaging over 23 points a game in the process.^[3] His team's tournament run ended to two-time defending champion Marion in the semifinals. Bailey scored 20 points in that game and BNL trailed 47-46 after three quarters, but he fouled out with 2:06 to go and the opposing team – led by Lyndon Jones and Jay Edwards – prevailed 70-61 en route to their third straight state title.^[2] Bailey was named First Team Indiana All-State that year, and every other year of his high school career.

The next season, with Bailey as a sophomore, BNL again qualified for the final four, this time facing Muncie Central. Bailey totaled 25 points, 10 rebounds and four assists, but it was not enough as Marion went on to post a 60-53 victory.^[2]

As a senior Bailey led his team to the 1990 Indiana state championship. Their opponent was undefeated, and none of Bailey's teammates were taller than 6'3". Before a crowd of more than 41,000 people at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis - the most people to ever attend a high school basketball game - Bailey scored 30 points, including his team's final 11, in a 63-60 come-from-behind win. Bailey told Sports Illustrated, "The greatest thrill in winning was proving to people that we could. We didn't walk out on the floor and scare anybody. We just had a lot of heart."^[2]

Bailey finished his high school career having appeared in three state titles and scoring a state-record 3,134 points. He played in 110 varsity games and reached double figures in all of them, including a career high of 51 against Jeffersonville as a sophomore. He averaged 28.4 points per game. Bailey was named Indiana Mr. Basketball, earned McDonald's All-American honors, and was tabbed the 1990 consensus National Player of the Year.^[2] Bailey elected to play college basketball for Bob Knight's Indiana Hoosiers. After winning the state championship, Bailey told reporters, "Now, I'm his boy."^[3]

College career[link]

Bailey was a four year starter for Bob Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers from 1990-1994. In Bailey's first three seasons (1990-93), he and the Hoosiers posted 87 victories, the most by any Big Ten team in a three-year span, breaking the mark of 86 set by Knight's Indiana teams of 1974-76. Teams from these three seasons spent all but two of the 53 poll weeks in the top 10, and 38 of them in the top 5. They captured two Big Ten crowns in 1990-91 and 1992-93, and during the 1991-92 season reached the Final Four. During the 1992-93 season, the 31-4 Hoosiers finished the season at the top of the AP Poll, but were defeated by Kansas in the Elite Eight.

Teams from this era included Greg Graham, Pat Graham, All-American Alan Henderson, and National Player of the Year Calbert Cheaney. With such talented teammates around him, Bailey largely served as a role player, averaging 11.3 points per game his first three years. Nevertheless, Indiana's athletic offices got more requests for paraphernalia and autographs for Bailey than any of the team's other stars, including national Player of the Year Calbert Cheaney.^[3]

In his senior season, 1993-94, with many of the team's previous stars having graduated, Bailey served as the team's leader. In a game on December 4, 1993 in the Indiana–Kentucky rivalry, Kentucky was ranked number one in the nation, but Indiana upset the Wildcats and earned their first of two wins over a top-ranked UK team. Bailey hit 16-of-19 free throws (record for a single game) to score 29 points.^[4] Bailey's performance in the upset earned him a spot on the cover of Sports Illustrated, which has since become an iconic image among Indiana fans.^{[5] [6]} The Hoosiers finished the season 21–9 overall, 12-6 in the Big Ten (3rd), and advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16.

Bailey finished sixth on Indiana's all-time scoring list with 1,741 points. He averaged 13.2 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game. He also garnered a third-team All-American award and a first-team All-Big Ten award.

Professional basketball career[link]

Bailey was selected with the 44th overall pick in the 1994 NBA Draft by his hometown Indiana Pacers. Bailey was cut after one season on the team's injured list and a series of pre-season games the following year.^[7] Briefly in January of 1999 he signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers, but was soon let go.

Bailey played in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) for a number of years. He was selected to the 1997-98 All-CBA First Team, while ranking 3rd in the CBA with 7.3 apg. He was named American Conference Player of the Week three times in his CBA career. On November 1, 2003 he retired from professional basketball.

Life after pro-basketball[link]

After retiring from professional basketball, Bailey returned to Indiana to start a series of basketball camps for children. He was later employed as the boys' basketball coach for his alma mater, Bedford North Lawrence High School. The team finished 11–10 in Bailey's first coaching year. The Times-Mail in Bedford, Indiana reported on March 1, 2007 that Bailey had resigned as coach of BNL after two seasons.^[8]

He currently owns Hawkins Bailey Warehouse in Bedford, Indiana.

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Krider, Dave (2007), "Damon Bailey: Fairy-Tale Career", Indiana High School Basketball's 20 Most Dominant Players, Bloomington, IN: Rooftop, pp. 15–32, ISBN 978-1-60008-028-9 .

Deshaun Thomas (born 1991) is an American college basketball player for the Ohio State University Buckeyes men's basketball team. He graduated from high school as a highly-regarded five-star player who verbally committed to play for the Buckeyes when he was still a high school freshman.^[1] Thomas was also recruited by in-state powers Indiana University and Purdue University.^{[citation needed]} As a junior on November 11, 2008, Thomas formalized his decision by signing a letter of intent with the Buckeyes.^[2] With a love for the game that matches his tremendous talents, Thomas hopes one day to attain his dreams of playing in the NBA.^[3]

Early life[link]

Even as a young man, the basketball prospects of Thomas were apparent to those who knew him. As a 5th-grade student at Northcrest Elementary School in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Thomas's height had already surpassed many of his teachers. As a middle-schooler at Northwood Middle School, Thomas led the school's basketball team to back-to-back Fort Wayne middle school championships.^[4][5]

High school career[link]

Thomas attended Bishop Luers High School in Fort Wayne, where he was ranked as one of the top basketball players in the nation for the class of 2010. As a sophomore and then again as a junior, he led the Bishop Luers Knights to back-to-back Class 2A Indiana state championships.^[6] His 34 points and 15 rebounds in 2009 each stand as the second best ever in the class 2A state championship game.^[7]

Prior to Thomas, the Knights had never won a Summit Athletic Conference Holiday Basketball Tournament, and their overall history in the tournament still stands as the worst record of all-time. However, in 2007-2009, Thomas led the Knights to back-to-back-to-back three-peat tournament titles as a sophomore, junior and senior.^[8]

Thomas was a prolific scorer throughout his high school career. Thomas finished his career ranked 3rd best all-time among all Indiana high school boys' basketball players and 4th best all-time when considering both boys and girls.

As a freshman, Thomas orally committed to play for coach Thad Matta at the Ohio State University. For the season, Thomas averaged 28.95 points per game, finishing second in the state behind the 28.96 average of former Indiana Hoosier Eric Gordon.

As a senior, Thomas and his Luers teammates traveled to Columbus, Ohio to participate in the 2010 Ohio Scholastic Play-by-Play Classic, a seven-game showcase featuring high school teams of players recruited by Ohio State and other Division I universities. Luers draw in the program was the feature game of the year’s classic, against the nation's #1-rated high school team, Columbus Northland High School, coincidentally from the Buckeyes' home town. Northland featured two Buckeye recruits - Jared Sullinger, the previous year's Ohio Mr. Basketball and the #1 high school recruit in the nation; and J.D. Weatherspoon. A fourth OSU recruit, Jordan Sibert, also played in the classic. This four-man coupe are key reasons the Buckeyes had what some say was the #1 recruiting class for 2010.^[9][10] Although Northland won the game 88-67, Thomas led all scorers with 36 points. Sullinger contributed 24 points to Northland's total, and Weatherspoon added 8 points with output stunted due to foul trouble.^[11][12][13]

On February 11, 2010, Thomas played his last home basketball game for Bishop Luers. At that Senior Night game, it was announced to the fans that Thomas had been selected to the roster of the 2010 McDonald's All-American Boys Game. The game was be played March 31, 2010 at the Jerome Schottenstein Center, home court of the Ohio State Buckeyes.^[14][15] Joining Thomas on the game's roster were Sullinger and Ray McCallum Jr, a star guard from Detroit Country Day. Bishop Luers had played the McCallum-led Country Day earlier in Thomas' senior season.

On February 18, 2010, Thomas was named as a participant in Nike's 2010 Jordan Brand Classic, to be played April 17, 2010 at Madison Square Garden in New York City.^[16]

On February 24, 2010, it was announced that Thomas was one of six finalists being considered for the 2010 Naismith Award, a prestigious honor given annually by the Atlanta Tipoff Club to the high school boys' basketball player of the year. The 2010 recipient was future teammate Jared Sullinger.^[17][18]

On March 13, 2010, Thomas and the Bishop Luers Knights lost 70–68 in a stunning upset to the Southwood Knights in the regional tournament opening round. Thomas ended his high school career with 3,018 points, just the third player in Indiana boys' basketball to reach the 3,000 point level. The total fell just one point short of tying second place holder Marion Pierce.

On March 25, 2010, it was announced that Thomas was one of 26 players named to the Associated Press's Indiana All-Century team, a special team selected in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Indiana high school basketball tournament.^[19]

On March 29, 2010, it was announced that Thomas was selected as a first-team member of the 2010 Parade All-American team.^[20]

The culmination of Thomas's career came April 3, 2010 when he was named recipient of the 2010 Indiana Mr. Basketball award.^[21]

On April 9, 2010, the Associated Press announced that Thomas had been named to their 1st-team Indiana high school All-State team. Thomas was the leading vote-getter among all honorees. The award marked the fourth time in his high school career that Thomas had been named a member of the team and the third straight time he was a 1st-team selection.^[22] Days later, Thomas was named as the first three-time winner of the Tiffany Gooden award, given annually to the best basketball player in the Summit Athletic Conference.

On May 21, 2010, in a ceremony at Bishop Luers, Thomas' #1 jersey was retired by the school. This was the first time in school history a jersey of any of its athletes had been retired.^[23]

On June 11–12, 2010, Thomas led the Indiana All-stars in a pair of games against cross-border rivals from Kentucky. Thomas played a significant role in the Indiana sweep of the two game series. He scored 18 points and added 13 rebounds as Indiana won the first game in Kentucky, and he scored a game-high 28 points and picked up 12 rebounds in the following night's victory in Indianapolis.

High school statistics[link]

Source^[24]

Ohio State Career[link]

• 2010/11 - Freshman
  • In his first collegiate game, Thomas came off the bench to score 24 points and grab 8 rebounds against North Carolina A&T. Thomas also made 2-for-3 from three-point range.^[25]
  • 11/29/2010 - Named Big 10 Freshman of the Week^[26]
  • On 1/22/2011, Thomas played a key role to enable a second-half come-from-behind road victory against Illinois. He sank three straight shots, including two 3-pointers, to allow the #1-ranked Buckeyes to remain unbeaten with their 20th win of the season.^[27]
  • On 2/27/2011, Thomas led all scorers with 22 points in a late-season victory over Indiana, including all 14 of his team's points in one 14-3 first half spurt.^[28]
  • For the season's 37 games, Thomas averaged 7.5 pts/game (5th best on the team) while playing an average of 14.0 minutes/game (7th best). He was fourth on the team with an average of 3.5 rebounds/game. Thomas did not start in any game, but he was consistently the first forward off the bench. Thomas' contributions helped the Buckeyes to a 34-3 record, including 16-2 to win the Big 10 regular season championship. In addition, his play helped the Buckeyes win the Big 10 Post-season Tournament and get named as the #1-ranking in the overall field of 68 teams playing in the NCAA post-season tournament. With their 24-0 run to start the season, the Buckeyes were ranked 1st in the nation by most major polls for a significant part of the season.^[29][30]
• 2011/12 - Sophomore
  • Since the team lost three key players from the prior year, Thomas has assumed a bigger role in this year's team strategy. Through the team's first 12 games, Thomas has started each game and averaged 28.8 minutes of playing time.
  • On 12/19/2011, Thomas was named Big 10 Men's Basketball Player of the Week after two solid games. Responding to the absence of injured team leader Jared Sullinger, Thomas scored 23 points and 30 points in the two games played that week. Each game resulted in a victory, at home against South Carolina Upstate and on the road against South Carolina.^[31]
  • On 2/18/2012, Thomas recorded his first career double-double, leading the Buckeyes with 25 points and 13 rebounds in a Big Ten road loss at Michigan.^[32]
  • On 3/5/2012, at the conclusion of the regular season in which Thomas started in all 31 of the Buckeye games, Deshaun was honored by being named to the Coaches' 2nd Team All Big-10. He was also selected to the 3rd Team in a vote by the media.^[33]
  • On 3/15/2012, Thomas had one of the best games of his career. In the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament, Deshaun led the Buckeyes to a 78-59 victory over Loyola (MD). In that game, Thomas was the leading scorer with a career-high 31 points, and he also led the game with 12 rebounds.

College statistics[link]

Source^[34]

Awards and accomplishments[link]

College[link]

• 2011/12 - Sophomore
  • 2nd team, All-Big Ten men's basketball coaches' poll
  • 3rd team, All-Big Ten men's basketball selected by Media Voting Panel

High school[link]

• Career and team accomplishments
  • 3rd best all-time leading scorer, Indiana boys' basketball
  • member, AP Indiana All-Century team^[19]
  • Indiana boys' basketball state champions - Class 2A - 2009, 2008
    • 2nd best all-time, scoring (34 pts) and rebounds (15 reb), state championship game - Class 2A - 2009
  • Indiana boys' basketball sectional champions - Class 2A - 2010
  • SAC Holiday Basketball Tournament champions - 2009, 2008, 2007^[8]
• 2009/10 - Senior
  • Season stats
  • 2010 Indiana Mr. Basketball
  • 2010 finalist, Naismith Award - honoring the nation's high school basketball player of the year
  • 2010 McDonald's All-American
  • 2010 Jordan Brand Classic All-American
  • 1st team, Parade All-American^[20]
  • 1st team, leading vote-getter, AP Indiana All-State^[22]
  • 3rd team, USA Today All-USA high school basketball team^[35]
  • Indiana's NewsCenter Boys' Basketball Player of the Year^[23]
  • News-Sentinel PrepSports Boys' Basketball Player of the Year^[36]
  • Tiffany Gooden award recipient^[37]
  • led state in scoring average (31.8 ppg)^[38]
  • 2nd in state in rebounds (15.3 rpg)^[38]
  • became all-time leading scorer, Allen County, Indiana
• 2008/09 - Junior
  • Season stats
  • 4th team, Parade All-American^[39]
  • 1st team, AP Indiana All-State^[40]
  • Indiana's NewsCenter Boys' Basketball Player of the Year^[41]
  • News-Sentinel PrepSports Boys' Basketball Player of the Year^[42]
  • Tiffany Gooden award recipient^[43]
  • led state in scoring average (31.7 ppg)^[44]
  • 2nd in state in rebounds (15.7 rpg)^[44]
  • 14th in state in blocked shots (2.6 bpg)^[44]
  • became boys' all-time leading scorer, northeast Indiana
  • became boys' all-time leading scorer, Allen County, Indiana
  • became all-time leading scorer, SAC
  • became all-time leading scorer, Bishop Luers High School
• 2007/08 - Sophomore
  • Season stats
  • 1st team, AP Indiana All-State^[45]
  • Indiana's NewsCenter Boys' Basketball Player of the Year^[41]
  • News-Sentinel PrepSports Boys' Basketball Player of the Year^[36]
  • Tiffany Gooden award recipient^[43]
  • became boys' all-time leading scorer, Bishop Luers High School
  • Basketball FortWayne Player of the Year
• 2006/07 - Freshman
  • Season stats
  • 3rd team, AP Indiana All-State^[45]
  • 2nd in state in scoring average (28.95 ppg)^[46]
  • 3rd in state in rebounds (13.3 rpg)^[46]
  • Basketball FortWayne Co-Player of the Year

References[link]