John Stockton on why he 'almost rooted against' Adam Morrison during his time at Gonzaga
Of all the great players who have come through the Gonzaga men's basketball program, the one John Stockton had a hard time warming up to the most was Adam Morrison.
Morrison, a consensus All-American and Wooden Award recipient during his time at Gonzaga, was one of college basketball's most electric players from 2004-06. He had five games of 40 or more points his junior season, some of which stand as classics to this day — the 43 points in a triple-overtime thriller against Michigan State at the Maui Invitational; 42 points at home against Portland, which still stands as a McCarthey Athletic Center record; and of course his career-high 44 points which led a second-half comeback against Loyola Marymount.
But for all that Morrison accomplished, his floppy brown hair and style of play was hard for program legend John Stockton to appreciate at first. Though it wasn't long before Morrison's competitive spirit grew on Stockton.
"I almost rooted against him,” Stockton joked to Morrison on an episode of Talking Zags. “You weren’t my style”
“And then I watched 10 games in a row where you just willed victory and you weren’t afraid of any shot, and you made shots. There was something that your competitive level was so extreme that I had to appreciate you."
(You can watch the full Talking Zags episode in the video above. Stockton's comments on Morrison start at the 43:32 mark.)
Produced by Thomas Gallagher.
