ONE ON ONE with Melvin Ely

This week, TSN associate editor Jeff D'Alessio talks life and Chicago hoops with Fresno State's 240-pound BMOC

TSN: What's the toughest thing about being 6-10?

ME: Clothes. Finding clothes. And then affording to buy the clothes.

TSN: Do you have to shop at those Big & Tall Men's Shops?

ME: Sometimes. And then other times, I order them over the Internet. The Internet's been a blessing. Before, I used to have to wear clothes that fell all over me.

TSN: What are you doing on the Internet--besides ordering clothes?

ME: I check on my fantasy team. I've got a fantasy basketball team. We do it as a team. Everyone's trying to kick each other's butt

TSN: What's the name of your team?

ME: The Chicago All-Stars.... My starting lineup is Rasheed Wallace, and he cost so much it was crazy; (Steve) Nash; Steve Smith; Kobe (Bryant) and (Glen) Rice.

TSN: Anyone ever block your shot?

ME: Oh yeah. A couple of times. My most embarrassing one was against LSU, when I was playing against Stromile Swift and that other big kid, Jabari Smith. I threw a hook shot over Jabari and he couldn't touch it, but I didn't see Swift coming weakside. And he just took it and rubbed it right off the glass--and onto the bench. Our bench. That was pretty bad.

TSN: Name three shot blockers you look up to.

ME: The first one has to be Dikembe Mutombo. Theo Ratliff. And Ken Johnson from Ohio State.

TSN: You may have played on high school teams with more D-I athletes than any in history. Can you name them?

ME: Erik Herring, George Mason. Napoleon Harris, Northwestern (football). Tai Streets, San Francisco 49ers. Antwaan Randle El, Indiana's quarter back. Curtis Randle El, Indiana (football). Chauncey Jones, Alabama. Corey Harris, Ball State.

TSN: Who's on your all-Illinois team in college basketball?

ME: This is a hard one because we have so many players. I'm playing center. (DePaul's) Bobby Simmons has to be my small forward. I'll play (Marquette's) Cordell Henry at the point and (Illinois') Frank Williams at the two. And Michael Wright's my power forward.

TSN: So Marcus Griffin, Illinois' leading scorer, doesn't make your team?

ME: And you know what? He's going to kill me for it.

TSN: What do you miss most about home?

ME: White Castle.

TSN: Are you old enough to remember Jerry Tarkanian's great UNLV teams?

ME: Kind of. My brother played for Wisconsin, and he always used to watch tapes of UNLV, so I knew all of their players. When I was in high school and Coach started recruiting me, he was like, "Yeah, I'm at Fresno State now." I didn't even know where the hell Fresno was. I just knew he was there and that's someone I always wanted to play for. I've got one up on my brother because he always wanted to play for him.

For the complete text to this or other One-on-ones, go to sportingnews.com/cbasketball.

COPYRIGHT 2001 Sporting News Publishing Co.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning