Former Big Green basketball player Walter Palmer '90 said he had no idea just how good he was when he was invited to the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament in Florida for spring break of his senior year, and he certainly did not have the National Basketball Association in mind, he said.
But looking back at his career -- a three-year stint in the NBA, playing for the Utah Jazz for two years and the Dallas Mavericks for one, followed by 10 years of pro basketball in Europe, he said his uncertainty and hesitancy to play professionally seem unfounded.
For today's senior athletes, the decision to enter the professional ranks is more clear, as Alex Barnett '09 and Koren Schram '09 are both planning to play basketball professionally next season.
Barnett has found representation, and although it remains unclear which league he will play in, he is currently considering several contractual agreements, according to men's basketball head coach Terry Dunn.
As this year's Ivy League men's basketball Player of the Year, Barnett led the Big Green on the court, averaging 20.3 points per conference game and finishing the season with 542 points, the eighth highest total in Dartmouth history. His talent has earned him an All American honorable mention by the Associated Press and a place on the Division I All-District 13 first team, selected by the National Association of Basketball Coaches.
Barnett will have the chance to play in a few NBA summer leagues after graduation, Dunn said.
"A big role of mine is to lead him in the right direction, and give guidance to where I think he will do well," Dunn said. "He is a bright young man as all our students here are, and I've had opportunity to be on the coaching staff that has coached NBA players, so I have a pretty good idea of what it takes to play at any level."
As for Schram, despite coming off of a great season -- in which she helped lead the Big Green to the Ivy League championship and the first round of the NCAA Tournament -- the options to play professionally are a bit more limited, according to women's basketball head coach Chris Wielgus.
"There's not a lot of money in the professional league for women, and you barely make ends meet," Wielgussaid.
Although the WNBA draft has finished, a popular path to take for women is the European leagues, Wielgus said, adding that it is still very early on in the process.
Darcy Rose '09 once contemplated the option of playing after college, but for now has decided against it.
"I was thinking about it, but I got a job as an English teaching assistant in France, so I'm going to go with that for now," she said. "If I have some spare time, I may look for a way to play a little bit while I'm there."
Rose said that Schram plans to play in either Europe or Australia next year.
As someone who has played in both the NBA and in Europe, Palmer said that, regardless of where one goes to play basketball after college, a Dartmouth education will help at any professional level.
As a history major, Palmer said he came to Dartmouth with no intention of playing professional basketball -- in fact, after being cut from his eighth grade team and never being named an All American, he said he never seriously considered his chances to play at a high level after college.
"A lot of scouts at Portsmouth from a lot of different teams were watching players, and this tournament was meant for the next 40 or so guys who maybe could enter the second round [of the NBA draft]," Palmer said. "I played well and had a good tournament, and had some interviews with a couple different teams."
The Utah Jazz selected Palmer with the sixth pick in the second round of the 1990 NBA draft.
Palmer said the transition to playing professionally was difficult, partly because he had to change positions, from center for the Big Green to small forward on the perimeter for the Jazz. Palmer was part of a team that included legends John Stockton and Karl Malone, and had what he said was an excellent coaching staff.
After retiring in 2003, Palmer is now the General Secretary of the European Players Basketball Association. When he has the time, he said he still returns to Dartmouth games.
"I went to a Harvard game [last year], and I saw Alex play as a junior. I saw he has the talent to play next season, and I hope if it's something he wants to do, he will pursue it," Palmer said.
Barnett and Schram could not be reached for comment for this article.
