#TBT – Daren Queenan (’66 – 1m94 – G/F)
In our #ThrowBackThursday series we take a closer look at the players who have had a significant impact on Belgian basketball throughout the years. This time around we take you back to the ’90s as we take a closer look at a player who will forever be remembered by any Belgian basketball fan who was…
In our #ThrowBackThursday series we take a closer look at the players who have had a significant impact on Belgian basketball throughout the years.
This time around we take you back to the ’90s as we take a closer look at a player who will forever be remembered by any Belgian basketball fan who was lucky enough to see him at work. The athletic swingman with arguably the highest vertical of any player that has ever graced our courts: the one and only Daren Queenan.
From his high-rising mid-range jumpers to his impossible ‘hand in the face’-threes and his spectacular slam dunks, Queenan always found a way to get the fans ecstatic, while at the same time leaving his opponents in complete disarray. After 7 seasons in Belgium he is still considered as one of the best scorers we’ve ever seen on the Belgian courts and he holds a career average of 27.6 ppg.
And yet, ‘Q’ – as he was quickly subbed – came from pretty humbling beginnings.
When he graduated from his local High School in Norristown, Pennsylvania, practically no one was interested in that 1m94 tall kid who had been playing as an undersized Forward/Center throughout his High School career. No one, except the Assistant Coach from the nearby college Lehigh (NCAA) Fran McCaffery who convinced Head Coach Tom Schneider and the rest of the coaching staff to recruit Queenan and convert him into a Guard/Forward.
From then on Q started soaring and in his freshman season he led Lehigh in scoring (18.2 ppg) and rebounding (8.3 rpg) and brought them all the way to the NCAA tournament for the first time in Lehigh’s history, earning him the ECC conference Rookie of the Year award and a selection to the All-ECC First Team along the way. The following three seasons at Lehigh he would continue to improve and add 3 more selections to the All-ECC First Team to his name and was awarded the ECC Player of the Year award in his junior year (1986-’87). In his final year at Lehigh he had upped his stats to a very impressive 28.5 ppg & 9.7 rpg and led the school to their second ever NCAA Tournament, unfortunately again stranding in the first round.
During the course of his 4 year college career Queenan gathered up several school records, including the All-Time Scoring record with 2703 points and the highest score in a single game when he dropped 49 points in a game against Bucknell. Records that are still standing today. It is therefore no surprise that in 1997 he was inducted into the for his outstanding college career.
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