Kenyon Martin – Cincinnati
1996-2000
You never like to see a guy break a bone, especially a college kid. But that’s what happened to Cincinnati’s Kenyon Martin in the 2000 Conference-USA Tournament. He broke his leg. It was excruciating to watch on tv—absolutely horrific.
Had it not been for the nations’ best player’s college career-ending injury, Martin would’ve wound up much higher on this list; and for the life of me, I just couldn’t ignore the feud and leave him off completely.
His imposing physicality bruised Louisville teams for his entire tenure. He was big, brutal, and boy was he talented. In short, he put the “Nasty” in “Nasty Nati”.
At one point in Martin’s college career, Cincy had beaten the Cards seven straight times. His final game vs Louisville came on February 27, 2000. The Bearcats were no. three in the nation and riding high coming into the match-up against the mediocre Cardinals.
Though’s Denny Crum team came within inches of taking the lead more than once in the contest, it was Kenyon Martin (of course) who was the real difference in the game.
“If it wasn’t for Kenyon Martin, we might have gotten the upset,” Crum said postgame.
Martin finished that game with a double-double of 26 points and 12 rebounds.
Though it was tough to watch the kid go down on live television with that level of injury just over a week later, we sure didn’t cry when he put his name in the draft.