This Monday, college basketball will come to an end in Arlington, Texas with the DI national championship game. The Hillsdale College men’s basketball team ended play right before spring break, but the season officially wrapped up last Saturday at the team’s annual banquet.
Among a strong senior class leaving the Chargers stands Tim Dezelski. Known to his teammates as “Deez” and “Timmy D,” and to head coach John Tharp as “that big Polish kid,” the Northville native leaves a most remarkable legacy at Hillsdale.
The post player with prolific threepoint range was awarded First Team AllGLIAC, Daktronics First Team AllRegion, Third Team AllAmerican, and team MVP. The only player in the nation to score over 600 points, snatch over 250 rebounds, and dish out over 100 assists, Dezelski’s outstanding performance earned Coach Tharp’s praise as “the greatest season that I have ever witnessed.”
Dezelski more than deserved the honor of GLIAC Player of the Year, being the only player to rank in the top 10 in 10 separate statistical categories in the conference this season.
Instead, the GLIAC coaches voted to award University of Findlay’s Greg Kahlig, the conference’s leading scorer (due to a threegame stretch in which he scored 121 points), who finished the year with a total of 14 points ahead of Dezelski. Looking at overall consistency, however, Dezelski clearly passed Kahlig’s performance. He scored in the double digits in every game this year and racked up 10 doubledoubles. Not to mention the 6’6” power player led the conference in field goals made.
Dezelski came to Hillsdale as a walkon, but worked hard every single day of his career to improve to the phenomenal season he had this year. The record books will always hold Dezelski in the highest esteem.
Those that played with him will remember a team leader who strove to win every single drill every single day. Those that played against him will remember shaking in their heads in disbelief that “that big Polish kid” just blocked their shot under the basket and turned around to sink a stealthy three. Fans will miss watching the versatility and intensity of Tim Dezelski. No matter what the GLIAC coaches say, he’s player of the year to us.
