One of the greatest collegiate hoops players ever, former University of Michigan wing Glen Rice, also managed to pull off a pretty terrific NBA career, too. Rice helped the Miami Heat make their first two playoff appearances ever, was a three-time All-Star and two-time All-NBA Teamer while leading the Charlotte Hornets, and served as the third guy on a champion Los Angeles Lakers club next to immortals Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant.
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In Miami on Jan. 30 and Feb. 1, Rice was one of the special guests during AT&T's launch of its fresh Dunk Bus experience. Beyond NBA star meet-and-greets, the Dunk Bus event also comprises NBA 2K contests and a roving robot dunking hoop, along with several prizes.
"What the AT&T Dunk Bus is allowing a lot of fans to do is be able to stay connected to the game," Rice told The Sporting News, adding that the Dunk Bus "keeps you connected to the game and allows the fans to continue to keep enjoying the game. That's what it's all about: having an opportunity to enjoy the best game in the world."
Glen Rice's College Hoops Legend
Next up for the Dunk Bus is an appearance during All-Star Weekend (and a bit beyond) in Los Angeles, from Feb. 13-17.
The Bus will next travel to Dallas, then return to L.A., and finally venture forth to wrap up the regular season in Chicago.
Courtesy of AT&T
Rice's 184 points scored during Michigan's run to the 1989 NCAA championship remain a college postseason scoring record. Can any of the big college players this season — led by the top three projected 2026 NBA Draft picks, AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson and Cameron Boozer — match or better his record?
Can anyone else coming up topple that tally any time soon? It's stood the test of time for 36 years so far. Can it survive for a 37th this spring?
"I look forward to it, because we always say records are made to be broken, and it's going to take a special talent and team for that to be achieved," Rice says. "The guys you mentioned, their teams, I don't know if they're going to allow them to be able to have the freedom to shoot the ball and to score like I did. But it'll be interesting, and I look forward to it each year when guys get close. You just hope the guys that have the talent to break that record, or to be in the position to break that record, that their team is good enough to continue to keep playing in the NCAA tournament. So we'll see. Good luck to them all. It'll be hard, I'm telling you!"
In his six NCAA Tournament games that fateful spring, Rice averaged 22.5 points on .573/.551/1.000 shooting splits, 6.5 rebounds, 2.0 dishes and 1.2 swipes. During his 37 contests for Michigan in 1988-89 overall, the All-American Second Teamer and two-time All-Big Ten honoree averaged a college career-most 25.6 points while slashing .577/.516/.832, along with 6.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.1 steals per.
Rice connected on an absurdly good 48 percent of his 2.8 triple tries throughout his NCAA career, better than later college sharpshooters Stephen Curry (who made 41.2 percent of his 9.7 takes from deep) or JJ Redick (40.6 percent on 8.1 long range looks).
Courtesy of AT&T