Who were Tennessee basketball's best junior college transfers? A historic list | Strange

Danny Schultz, one of the first stars of the Ray Mears basketball era at the University of Tennessee, died this month at age 79.

I never saw him play during his two seasons with the Vols in the 1960s. But his stats and legacy stand the test of time.

Coming from Hiwassee Junior College, Schultz made the most of his two seasons at UT. He was a first-team All-SEC guard in both 1962-63 and '63-64. He was second-team All-America as a senior.

Reviewing Schultz’ career led to this question: Who might be UT’s best junior-college transfer?

And that led to another question: Who would be on Tennessee’s all-time juco transfer team?

I offer my picks, dating back to the Mears era.

The candidates for the best juco transfer are Schultz and Austin “Red” Robbins, another 1960s Mears find.

Of my other three first-team picks, there is another Mears signee and one each from Wade Houston and Donnie Tyndall. Several more would get minutes off my bench.

Schultz: The Middlesboro, Kentucky, product came in Mears’ first recruiting class. He averaged 15.9 points as a junior, 18.3 as a senior.

He led the SEC in free-throw accuracy both seasons and at one point sank 39 consecutive attempts, a school record he still shares.

Robbins: He checked in as Schultz checked out. The 6-foot-9 forward from Chipola Junior College in his native Florida averaged 10.2 points as a junior but boomed to 17.1 as a senior in 1965-66 and earned first-team All-America notice.

His last game in Knoxville was the upset of Adolph Rupp’s unbeaten No. 1 Kentucky. Robbins then starred in the old American Basketball Association. He died in 2009.

The third Mears signee is Larry Robinson, the Virginian from Ferrum J.C., who broke the color barrier on the Tennessee roster in the 1971-72 season.

Robinson averaged 10.9 points and 8.8 rebounds, playing for good teams that shared the SEC title in 1972 and tied for second in 1973.

Twenty years later, Corey Allen, a Nashvillian from Aquinas J.C., arrived with a similar game. Allen averaged 13.3 points and 7.0 rebounds on two Wade Houston teams that should have had better results.

Allen’s great moment came in 1993, completing the four-point play to upset No. 2 Kentucky, 78-77. He rebounded Allan Houston’s intentionally missed second free throw, scored, was fouled, and hit the and-one with 1.5 seconds left.

Tyndall was a one-year coaching bridge between Cuonzo Martin and Rick Barnes. But he brought Kevin Punter Jr., from New York, by way of a Missouri junior college.

Punter averaged 10.3 points for Tyndall, then exploded under Barnes in 2015-16 to score 22.2 points a game, second best in the SEC. Barnes credits Punter for initiating the buy-in that led to younger players eventually elevating the Vols to an NCAA tournament regular.

That’s five. Here are three more jucos I’d want in my rotation.

Shane Williams, from Johnson City, started all 56 games he played for Kevin O’Neill from 1994-96. He averaged 8.1 points. The heroic stat is his 37.7 minutes a game. On that roster, there simply was no rest for the weary.

Clarence Swearengen averaged 9.9 points and defended opposing point guards over Don DeVoe’s final two seasons. Trivia note: On Dec. 3, 1987, he scored the first men’s basket in Thompson-Boling Arena.

Bobby Maze averaged 8.8 points for two Bruce Pearl seasons, hit a game-winner at Arkansas in 2009 and helped fire the 2010 Elite Eight run.

Due to their limited tenure, none of the above is a member of the 1,000-point Club. But in every case, two years was better than none.

Mike Strange is a former writer for the News Sentinel. He currently writes a weekly sports column for Shopper News.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee basketball best juco transfers Mike Strange