Louisville Magazine is Louisville's city magazine, covering Louisville people, lifestyles, politics, sports, restaurants, entertainment and homes. Includes a monthly calendar of events.
Issue link: https://loumag.epubxp.com/i/214077
Photo by GK Photo by GK Preston Knowles (2007-'11) Tony Williams (1996-2000) Larry O'Bannon (2001-'05) In the beginning, Preston Knowles was known as a frenetic defender on a team led by Terrence Williams and Earl Clark. Trouble was, the intense guard tended to take wild shots and thus didn't play a lot early. But as everyone knows, Knowles came into his senior season on an offensive-defensive mission, jacking up 446 shots (more than T-Will, Francisco Garcia or Taquan Dean ever did) while amassing 63 steals. The immortal performance: In January, with Marquette up by 18 with 5:44 left in the game, Knowles went crazy unconscious, nailing a three at 5:11, getting a steal and assist at 4:55, hitting a second three at 3:56, hitting a third at 1:55, throwing in a fourth at 1:23 and dishing the assist for a Kyle Kuric layup at 0:04 to win it. On the threes, hands were in his face. Didn't matter. Knowles now plays basketball in Israel for the team Ironi Nes-Ziona. Following in the footsteps of his uncle Keith (1985-'90; also a southpaw wearing the number 3), Doss High grad Tony Williams kept a low profle and — although a member of the 1,000-point club, as was Keith Williams — didn't often light up the stat sheets. But in a 20game stretch during his junior and senior seasons, he scored 15 or more points 14 times, topped by 28 against Georgia in the 1999 Great Alaska Shootout. As part of a 12-20 team in '97-'98, Williams racked up 16 points and six rebounds while helping lowly U of L upset No. 4 Kentucky ("It was just like we won the national championship!" he said), then scored 14 more (including three of four three-pointers) in the next year's win over UK. Post-U of L, Williams played in Turkey, Italy, France and Lebanon. This past summer he accepted the head-coaching position at Louisville's St. Francis High School. Less than assertive in his freshman year, Male High's Larry O'Bannon actually regressed when he was joined by freshman hot dogs Garcia and Dean in 2002-'03, playing half the minutes and putting up less than half the shots as in '01-'02. Although he remained overshadowed by the two in his junior year, O'Bannon developed into a great free-throw shooter. In his senior year, beginning with the January night he scored 30 points in a win against Marquette, along with seven assists and fve rebounds, No. 34 began to become the go-to guy. On Senior Night against UNC-Charlotte in March, he exploded for 26 points in the frst half, fnishing with 33 on 11-16 shooting and a perfect 6-6 at the line. Two days later it was 24 against DePaul, with fve threes in as many attempts and 7-7 free throws. Before the Final Four loss to Illinois, O'Bannon hung 24 on West Virginia. He now plays in France for the Sharks Antibes Pro-A team. 40 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 12.13