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Because Houston is an NBA city, every coach, general manager, and personnel director in the league has an easy opportunity to see us play in practice in person. When NBA teams and their front office personnel are in town to play the Rockets, they often stop by to see us. Obviously, they are very serious about their business and they understandably make the most of all of their opportunities to get a fair edge on the competition. It's convenient for the pro teams and we get quite a bit more 'NBA traffic' in a week than a lot of schools get all season long. We enjoy our unique relationship with the Rockets and a lot of NBA organizations.

Kenny Austin
Played in seven games for Detroit in 1983-84, averaging 1.7 points and 0.4 assists per game and shooting 46.2 percent from the field.

Alex Bougaieff
Playing professionally in Italy.

Bill Tom Closs
Played six seasons (three NBL, three NBA): two each with Indianapolis (NBL) and Anderson (one NBL, one NBA), and one season each with Philadelphia and Fort Wayne (NBA) in 1946-52. Best season was 1949-0 with Anderson when he averaged 11.9 points per game, shooting 31.5 percent from the field and 71.8 percent from the line in 64 games.

Erik Cooper
Participated in the Houston Rockets training camp in the summer of 2001. Professional in Venezuela.

Yamar Diene
Playing in his first professional season with G.S.C.M. Roanne in France.

Bill Henry
Played two seasons with Fort Wayne/Tri-Cities (1948-50), averaging 6.5 points and 1.1 assists in 95.

David Holmes
Played two seasons in Austria (1994-95)

Shaun Igo
Had looks from the Spurs and the Grizzles, but went to play in Belgium. Was invited to the Sacrament Kings training camp in the summer of 2001.

Robert Johnson
Drafted in the ninth round of the 1999 CBA draft by the Connecticut Pride. Playing in Croatia.

Tommy McGhee
Began the 1997-98 season with the Detroit Pistons. Played with Athletes in Action and in Europe and Russia.

T.J. McKenzie
In National Basketball developmental League in 2002.

Adam Peakes
Played professionally in France after graduation.

Ricky Pierce
Finished his 15th NBA season in 1998 with a return to the Milwaukee Bucks. Also played with Detroit, Los Angeles (Clippers), Milwaukee, Seattle, Golden State, Indiana, Denver and Charlotte. Top season was in 1986-87 with Milwaukee when he won the sixth man of the year award, averaging 19.5 points and 3.3 rebounds in 79 games.

J.J. Polk
Recently entered law school after playing professionally in China and Latvia; competed in the Sacrament Kings camp.

Kendall Rhine
Played two season in the ABA; Kentucky (1967-68) and Houston (1968-69). Complied career averages of 6.3 points and 8.2 rebounds in 125 games, shooting 38.8 percent from the field and 54.8 percent from the line. Fouled out of 18 games.

Jarvis Kelley Sanni
Plays professionally in France

Mick Schuler (Rice head coach, 1977-81)
Assistant coach with the Milwaukee Bucks. Past head coach for Los Angeles Clippers and Portland Trail Blazers. Former assistant coach with Golden State, Milwaukee, Minnesota, New Jersey and Sacramento.

Brent Scott
Spent a season with the Indiana Pacers after playing with the Larissa club team in Greece ad Olitalia in Forli, Italy. Player three season is Spain.

Jason Skaer
Was invited to the Houston Rockers training camp in the summer of 2001. Will play in the National Development League.

James Spruill
Played one game for Indianapolis in 1948-49, scoring two points.

Richard Wehr
Played in nine games for Indianapolis in 1948-49, averaging 1.3 points per game and shooting 23.8 percent from the field. Started his college career at Rice before transferring to Indiana.

Mike Wilks
NBA player since 2002. Signed with the Houston Rockets. Also played for Atlanta and Minnesota. Won the National Basketball Developmental League's Sportsmanship Award in 2002 and is currently on the roster with the San Antonio Spurs.

                  

2005 Willis Wilson. AllCoachNetwork.com, A division of CollegeInsider.com