Ep 99: Randy Kraayenbrink on old school hoops, the Iowa High School Tourney, and playing in YUGOSLAVIA
I came off a lot of screens and took a lot of shots
Episode 99 burns up the nets just in time for the boys Iowa high school state basketball tourney.
Randy Kraayenbrink was a scoring machine in his playing days. After a very successful high school career for the Paulina Panthers, Kraayenbrink went on to become one of the most prolific scorers for the UNI Panthers. Basketball nuts will love how Randy and Tim breakdown how the game changed with the addition of the 3-point shot. In fact, Randy only played one game in his high school or college career with a 3-point line. This week Randy sits down with Tim to talk about playing ball in smalltown and playing in great venues like Vets and the UNI Dome.
We need post players to get rebounds and take the ball out of bounds
Tim and Randy go back in time, 37 years this month, to relive Kraayenbrink’s dominating performance in the 1982 state basketball tournament. Randy put up 114 points in his senior year tournament, which is still the record. In addition to winning the title in 1982, Kraayenbrink and the Paulina Panthers had 1981 state titles in track, football, and basketball. In fact, Randy was recruited to play football by Iowa State, Iowa, and Nebraska. That 1982 state tournament was what locked up a scholarship offer from UNI. Randy Kraayenbrink is one of the Des Moines Register’s 50 greatest high school basketball players.
We never played defense in high school
Tim and Randy discuss his transition to high school. After being the big man on campus at Paulina High School and then having to adapt his game and training when he arrived in Cedar Falls. Kraayenbrink went from 1A to Division I and shares that he had to adjust to the athleticism and defensive scheme of the college level. The adjustment didn’t take long though as he went on to average 17.9 points a game; a total of 2,004 for his career.
There were armed guards with machine guns circling the hotel
Randy did not end his career in Cedar Falls, however. The Moonlight Graham Show has the exclusive story of his brief professional career in Yugoslavia. The opportunity was cut short due to ‘political unrest’ and only lasted a few weeks. In fact, their jerseys, warm ups, and shoes didn’t even show up in Yugoslavia before the trip home.
Episode 99 is one for the recordbooks as Randy Kraayenbrink takes Tim from Paulina, IA to the Soviet Union. Don’t forget to lace ‘em up, grab the stopwatch and see how fast you can get to 114 points for this week’s Moonlight Challenge.