26. Brian Shorter: Pittsburgh - (1988-91) Philadelphia, PA

Three years: 17.8 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 1.3 apg, 53.8% FG, 71.0% FT

Rookie of the Year (1989)

When talking about Shorter, one has to wonder what could have been had he had four years to work with. A top five prospect coming out of high school, Shorter was one of the first to be ineligible due to the old Prop 48 rule but he quickly made up for lost time. Unfortunately his career ended with him less than full strength.

Since he lost his first year because of Prop 48, his career started as a sophomore. He proved he was a star from the outset, hitting 60% of his shots from the field and averaging 19.6 ppg and 9.6 rpg. That great initial season earned him Rookie of the Year honors over fellow stars Billy Owens and Alonzo Mourning. His junior season was equally impressive as he averaged 20.6 ppg and 9.4 rpg, while making 53.2% of his field goals. Unfortunately for Shorter, the Panthers, and basketball fans everywhere, Shorter’s senior season was marred by a mysterious viral illness than caused him to miss most practices during the year, and sapped enough of his energy that he barely averaged a half of a game throughout the season. The result was a senior season of 13.6 ppg and 6.4 rpg. The respect from the rest of the league was evident as Shorter was named Second Team all-conference after previously receiving back to back First Team honors.

If Shorter had merely matched his junior totals, a very good possibility considering both his past success and the return of Sean Miller, his career averages would be 20.3 ppg and 9.5 rpg. All the more amazing was that the power forward was not highly athletic and was at least an inch shorter than his listed 6’6”.

“I can’t imagine a college player having worse luck,” Mike DeCourcy, national basketball writer of The Sporting News, tells NBE. “You could say his failure to qualify as a freshman was under his control, but he was among the first players affected by the new requirements. Not everybody knew how that rule was going to work, and it bit him first. When he was a junior and still playing well, his team lost its point guard, Sean Miller, to injury. When Miller returned to start feeding Shorter in the post again and Pitt figured to be excellent, Shorter became ill and Pitt stagnated.”

But DeCourcy, who was a Pitt beat writer when Shorter played, knows how good Shorter was, despite the bad luck.

“Brian was the most forceful low-post scorer I’ve ever seen, pound for pound. He didn’t have the most beautiful post moves. He just overwhelmed defenders, and most of them were much taller.”

Even though he basically played less than three full seasons, Shorter still managed to amass 1,633 points, 772 rebounds, and a highly impressive 31 double doubles. His 18.5 ppg conference average is the 18th best in league history and his 8.1 rpg average ranks 20th all-time. A bull in the paint, he was fouled often, resulting in him being 10th all-time in Big East history in made free throws, and 1st all-time for players with a career less than four years.