Thursday, February 01, 2007

Roger Powell Jr. Resurfaces in Arkansas

I have written earlier about Roger Powell making the Utah Jazz roster. Later, when he was cut, I lamented about what I was going to do with my Utah Jazz T-shirt. Now I know where Roger ended up.

I got this information from a true Illinois fan. Last weekend I was in Greencastle, IN, representing Ozark Christian College at a Missions Conference. Ed Nichols, long-time friend, former missionary to Africa, and representative of ACM International was also present. On Saturday afternoon, while I was participating in a scavenger hunt around Greencastle, IN titled The Amazing Race (my team came in 6th, out of 6 teams!), Ed Nichols hid in the church office with a radio so he could listen to the Illinois-Purdue game (Purdue slaughtered the Illini). Finding a kindred spirit, I talked to Ed about how happy I had been that Roger made the opening season roster of the Jazz, but that I was saddened by his release. I told him that I had not been able to find any information about what happened to him. Ed provided the information that he was playing in the NBA's Developmental League. He could not tell me which team, but that he had heard that he was playing in that league.

I made a trip to the website (linked above), and found out that Roger is now a member of the Arkansas RimRockers. A visit to the transaction page says the RimRockers acquired Roger on January 19. So far he has played in only three games (they play tomorrow night), but is averaging 16.7 ppg.

As an aside, the RimRockers play in North Little Rock, AR. I considered going to the Illinois game vs. Arkansas on December 4, 2004. OCC basketball player, Marcus Moeller was there, watching his friend, Steven Hill, play. I had been in Little Rock the week before, as my brother-in-law, Mike Gage, underwent surgery on a brain stem tumor. On that trip, as I drove past the Alltel Arena (where the RimRockers play their home games), I saw the promo for the then-upcoming game with the Fighting Illini. I chose not to make the trip. Illinois won 72-60. Roger led the Illini in both scoring and rebounding, with 19 points, 11 rebounds. Steven Hill (who played for College Hts. Christian School in Jr. High) scored 1 point, had 4 rebounds and 6 blocks.

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