What a wonderful player he was at Navy
There are sleepers then there are sleepers. Some guys develop in college and become much better than anyone expected. Think Zach Edey and Donovan Clingan or, closer to home, DJ Burns.
Then you have guys like Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman, both of whom were minor high school talents at best, only to explode in college and become draft-level talents. But perhaps the greatest sleeper of all time, other than maybe Bill Russell, was Navy’s David Robinson.
This may have since changed, but when Navy was recruiting Robinson, they could not sign a player taller than 6-6 due to naval service requirements. Coach Paul Evans saw that Robinson had really big feet and gambled that he would surpass 6-6, which he did. By the time he was a sophomore he was 7-1 and supremely athletic.
By his senior season, Robinson was a phenomenon. In his final game, an NCAA tournament game against Michigan, he racked up 50 points.
He would go on to become a Hall of Fame player with the San Antonio Spurs and years later his son, Justin, would play for Duke.
