Carl Krauser
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Carl Isaac Krauser is an American basketball player. He was a point guard for the University of Pittsburgh Panthers through 2006. Some nicknames he has while he was living in New York City include "Black Magic." Krauser stands at 6 ft. 2 in. (187.96 cm) and weighs 200 pounds (90.71 kg) . Carl Krauser wore the number 11 for the University of Pittsburgh Panthers.
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[edit] Carl's Background
Carlos Isaac Krauser was born on May 13, 1981 to Joyeria Mays and musician Mario Krauser. Carl started his life living in an old city project in The Bronx, New York, where he lived with over 3,500 other people. By the time he was 13, basketball was a large part of Carl Krauser's life. Carl showed unbelievable drive as he spoke of in a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article about his peers at the time, "when they lost, they went and got an Icee or a juice. When I lost, I wanted to go play again." Carl braved extremely dangerous neighborhoods to play at his Boys and Girls club and Rosedale Park. Carl even played streetball at the legendary Rucker Park.
As streetballer, Carl had such nicknames as "Black Magic". Carl also played with other players who found success in their basketball careers including Seton Hall's Andre Barrett and former Duke star and NBA player Jay (Jason) Williams. Carl's career took another step when he made the New York AAU team, the Broncos. An interesting fact about Carl Krauser was that he was 2-0 as an amateur boxer. Carl was 18 and needed to repeat his junior year of high school, instead of repeating the year at Stevenson High School (where he didn't make his freshmen basketball team). Carl chose to attend St. Thomas More Prep. Krauser left St. Thomas More Prep in Connecticut and switched to Notre Dame Academy in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. After performing better academically, Krauser was heavily recruited by Hofstra and the University of Pittsburgh. Jamie Dixon, then the assistant coach at Pitt, was able to recruit Carl successfully.
[edit] 2001-2003 Seasons
Krauser first came to Pitt for the 2001-2002 basketball season. Carl was redshirted for his actual freshman season by former Pitt coach, now UCLA's head coach, Ben Howland. After spending his first season at Pitt as a redshirt, Carl Krauser came into a stronger Pitt basketball program with several great guards such as Julius Page and Brandin Kinght. In Carl's first playing season, Carl averaged 6 points per game, 2.8 rebounds per game, and 2.9 assists per game. Carl Krauser had 93 assists in this season which was the fourth most all time at the University of Pittsburgh by a freshmen. Carl was also named the Most Improved Player at the team's banquet that year. The Panthers made it into the NCAA Tournament in 2003, going all of the way to the Sweet Sixteen where they fell to Kent State University. Nick names also include Crazy Carl.
[edit] 2003-2004
Carl Krauser had a much more influential season in 2003-2004 statistically then his last season playing as a redshirt freshmen. Carl gained a lot of respect from the basketball community, including an All-American Honorable Mention by the Associated Press, the Big East's Most Improved Player, Big East second team honors, and several more including there team awarded Most Inspirational Player, and best Free Throw Shooter. Carl led the team averaging 15.4 points per game, 4.9 rebounds per game, and 4.5 assists per game. Drastic statistical improvement over his past season. Carl helped to lead the Pitt Panthers to a berth in the NCAA tournament, going all the way to the Sweet Sixteen where the Panthers suffered a tough loss to the Oklahoma State Cowboys.
[edit] 2004-2005
In the 2004 season, Carl was now the leader of the Pittsburgh Panther basketball team. Carl had lost both Jaron Brown and Julius Page after they graduated, and now was the floor general of such players as fellow leader Chevon Troutman and the freshmen Ronald Ramon. That season, Carl hit many statistical highs such as his 31 point performance against the University of Richmond Spiders, his 5 steals against Robert Morris University, his 15 assists against West Virginia University, and his 9 rebounds against the Villanova Wildcats. Again, Carl was rewarded for his strong play with many awards such as the John Wooden Award, Naismith All American, Bob Cousy finalist, 2nd Team All Big East,and was a 2 time Big East Player of the Week. Carl led the Panthers to another NCAA Championship berth as a 9th seed where they lost a close one to 8th seed Pacific University. In the offseason, Krauser entered the 2005 NBA Draft but removed his name without hiring an agent so he could retain his NCAA eligibility and play his fifth and final college season at the University of Pittsburgh. Carl Krauser was actually included in a Sports Illustrated article where he was ranked as one of the top 10 point guards in the nation, and at midseason was predicted to earn a pick in the NBA draft.
[edit] 2005-2006 and the Future
Pitt finished its non-conference season at 11-0 after beating the 22nd ranked Wisconsin Badgers by 9 points. Pitt was one of the final seven teams as of January 3rd to be undefeated. Over the season, Krauser went on to lead Pitt to a 21-6 regular season, good for 6th in the Big East. They would go on to lose the Big East Championship game against Syracuse, after winning three games in three days. Krauser finished the regular season with 15.0 ppg, 4.7 apg, and 4.3 rpg. Pittsburgh lost in an upset to #13 seed Bradley in the second round of the 2006 NCAA Tournament, ending Krauser's long and excellent college career. Though he struggled down the stretch with his shooting touch, he remained the emotional leader on a quickly maturing team. Krauser will play his 2006-2007-Season in Oldenburg, Germany. His new team is the EWE Baskets Oldenburg (German).
