4. 1993 Simon Gratz (Philadelphia, Pa.)Philadelphia is as fertile a ground for basketball as any other city in the United States. Its list of hoops alumni reads like an NBA All-Star weekend program. It also includes two basketball immortals, Wilt Chamberlain and Kobe Bryant.
It comes as no surprise that Philadelphia's high schools have produced some outstanding teams. Aside from the great Overbook teams of the 1950s, no Philadelphia team would have had more success making it through the first round of the NCAA tournament than the 1993 Simon Gratz team.
Rasheed Wallace, pictured with fellow Philadelphia legend Wilt Chamberlain, was the focal point of an unstoppable 1993 Simon Gratz team.
Photo courtesy of Ted Silary
A 31-0 record and a Public League championship only begin to tell the story of the greatness of head coach Bill Ellerbee's Bulldogs.
Not only did Gratz have a slew of Division I guards and forwards, it had a centerpiece (figuratively and literally) that made it truly dominant: 6-11 center Rasheed Wallace.
Wallace was a man amongst boys. He averaged 16 points, 15 rebounds, and seven blocks per game, despite spending many fourth quarters on the bench with the game's outcome already decided.
If Wallace's talent wasn't enough to intimidate opposing teams, the nascent reputation of his temper was. Wallace remains the only player to ever have been ejected from the McDonald's All-American game.
With constantly being double-teamed, Wallace unselfishly got his teammates involved — and they rose to the occasion. Second team all-city selection Rondell Turner actually led the team in scoring. Fellow forward Jamahal Redmond was also a key cog in the Gratz attack. Lynard Stewart (6-10), who went to Temple, also saw some minutes.
The team's guard play was almost equally impressive. Junior Shawn "Reds" Smith was a second team all-city selection who played at LaSalle. Sophomore Terrel Stokes would later head to Maryland. Alem Watson, who started at guard, could certainly hit a big 3-pointer in a pressure situation.
All of the Gratz's players jelled beautifully, especially in the playoffs, winning the city semifinals and finals by a combined 38 points.
Even against many college teams, Wallace would have controlled the middle — on both ends. He averaged nearly 10 points and seven rebounds playing less than 20 minutes in the ACC a game as a freshman at UNC.
Believe it or not, the 1993 Gratz team would've sent a mid-major team home, perhaps even Penn, a 14 seed that year.
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