Hoosiers Now

Hoosier Favorite No. 33? Picking Favorite Indiana Basketball Players, One Number At a Time

There are no names on the Indiana basketball jerseys, just a number, and those digits mean a lot to all Hoosiers fans. We want to know who your favorites are, resuming with the No. 33 in Indiana basketball history that's meant the most to you. Pick your favorite, and we'll do this every day for the rest of the summer.

Haley Jordan

In this story:

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Welcome back to our summer series where Hoosier basketball fans can vote on their favorite Indiana players to ever wear each number. Today, we resume with all the best to wear No. 33.

Hoosier favorite?

Every day we're going to give you four choices along with a short player bio to pick your favorite Hoosier who wore a certain number.

Here are your four No. 33 jersey choices in alphabetical order so that we're not showing bias. Be sure to take the poll below via Twitter.

(Editor's Note: We'll take results for 24 hours on the poll and then share results on this story the next day, so keep coming back to see the results.)

Tom Abernethy (1972-76)

South Bend, Ind. native Tom Abernethy had a great run with Indiana making it to the NCAA Tournament three out of his four seasons.

In his freshman season, the 6'7" forward advanced with the Hoosiers to the Final Four, former head coach Bobby Knight's first trip in his second year of coaching at Indiana.

Indiana fell to UCLA, but defeated Providence 97-79 for third place. The following 1975 season, Indiana made it to the Elite Eight before running all the way to the NCAA Championship title over Michigan in the 1976 season.

Abernethy scored 654 points for the Hoosiers in his career with a 53.3 field goal percentage and 68.9 free throw percentage. 

He was drafted in the third round of the 1976 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Lakers and spent five total years in the league with the Lakers, Golden State Warriors and the Pacers.

Tom Abernethy
Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame

Uwe Blab (1981-85)

From Munich, Germany, center Uwe Blab ranks 27th on Indiana's all-time leading scorers list with 1,357 total points. He tallied 634 rebounds, 196 blocked shots and 84 assists in his Hoosiers career.

In his sophomore season, Blab helped lead the Hoosiers to a Big Ten regular season championship and Sweet 16 trip, and on an Elite Eight run the following season.

Upon graduation, Blab made the West German men's basketball team that qualified for the Summer Olympics that year. Eight years later in 1992, Blab once again participated in the Summer Olympics, this time for a unified Germany.

Amongst his Olympics career, Blab was drafted 17th overall by the Dallas Mavericks in the 1985 NBA draft where he played for four seasons. Later, he played for the Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs during his final season.

Uwe Blab
© D. Todd Moore/IndyStar

Pat Graham (1989-94)

Floyd Knobs, Ind. guard Pat Graham played high school ball at Floyd Central where he was awarded IndyStar Mr. Basketball, the first in school history.

Graham became a part of Coach Bob Knight's 1989 recruiting class, considered among the greatest classes in history. Graham advanced to the NCAA Tournament with the Hoosiers in all five of his seasons including a First Round, Sweet 16, Final Four versus Duke, Elite Eight and another Sweet 16 trip.

However, Graham was sidelined for the 1991-92 season due to injury.

Graham ended his Hoosiers career with 890 points shooting 50.8 percent from the field, 48 percent from the three-point line and 85.4 percent from the free-throw line.

Pat Graham
IUHoosiers.com

Jerry Memering (1970-73)

Forward/center Jerry Memering from Vincennes, Ind. played under three former coaches Lou Watson, Jerry Oliver and Bob Knight while at Indiana.

Memering was a member of the 1973 team that advanced to the Final Four, but ultimately lost to UCLA and had to play Providence for a third place win. The group also won the Big Ten regular season championship with an 11-3 conference record.

Memering played in 46 games for Indiana, shooting 41.2 percent from the field and 67.7 percent from the free-throw line. He was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005.

Jerry Memering
IU Athletics

Credit: IU Athletics

All-time No. 33's at Indiana

Here are all of the players who have worn No. 33 at Indiana:

  • Jeremy Hollowell — (2012-14)
  • Devan Dumes — (2008-10)
  • Xavier Keeling — (2006-07)
  • Lewis Monroe — (2004-06)
  • Mike Roberts — (2000-05)
  • Rob Hodgson — (1994-95)
  • Pat Graham — (1989-94)
  • Uwe Blab — (1981-85)
  • Eric Kirchner — (1977-79, 1980-81))
  • Trent Smock — (1972-74, 1976-77)
  • Tom Abernethy — (1972-76)
  • Jerry Memering — (1970-73)
  • Ken Johnson — (1967-70)
  • Jack Johnson — (1964-67)
  • Winston Fairfield — (1960-63)
  • Frank Radovich — (1957-60)
  • Archie Dees — (1955-58)
  • Bill Maetschke — (1953-55)
  • Dick Hendricks — (1952-53)
  • Paul Shields — (1943-44)
  • Curly Armstrong — (1939-40)

Vote for your favorite No. 33 on Twitter

You'll be able to vote on Twitter for your favorite player with each number. Here's the link to today's poll for No. 33.

'Hoosier' Favorite Results

Check this story every day to see which players won the vote for each respective number.

'Hoosier' Favorite Results Story CLICK HERE

Related stories on Indiana Basketball:

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Haley Jordan
HALEY JORDAN

Haley Jordan is a Sports Illustrated/FanNation video director, staff writer, host and reporter for Hoosiers Now, Fastball and Fastbreak sites. She is a graduate from Indiana University with degrees in Sports Broadcast Journalism and Spanish.

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