Rollo83 wrote:In 1985, I remember sitting in the then called Centennial Hall in Toledo and watching Harper’s Miami Redskins play Palombizio’s Ball State Cardinals in the MAC tournament semi-finals.dan palombizio, 1981 indiana mr basketball, beating out other indiana seniors including....dan dakich.
Harper had just been named the MAC Player of the Year and he and Palombizio were jumping center to start the game. Palombizio was 6’8” and Harper stood about 6’5”.
As mentioned earlier, Palombizio transferred in from Purdue after his sophomore year. Everyone one at Purdue was stunned because he had two very productive years as a underclassmen for the Boilermakers. I guess he and Purdue coach Gene Keady butted heads.
This story came out in the papers the next morning. Just before the jump ball to start the game, Palombizio turns to Harper and says, “We are going to find out tonight who the real MVP is!” Harper proceeds to go out and drop a MAC Tournament record 45 points on Palombizio and the Cardinals. We never heard much about Palombizio after that.
I was at that came. I remember Harper's performance vividly. It was his junior year. After the game, I predicted that Harper would be a top 10 draft pick. A year, he went 8th.
Yeah, I remember Palambizio being very tuff but having the ego the size of a house.
