Calbert Nathaniel Cheaney (born July 17, 1971) is an American
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
coach and former player who serves as assistant coach for the
Indiana Pacers
The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The Pacers were first estab ...
of the
National Basketball Association (NBA). He starred as a player for the
Indiana Hoosiers
The Indiana Hoosiers are the intercollegiate sports teams and players of Indiana University Bloomington, named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Indiana. The Hoosiers participate in Division I of the National Collegiate At ...
from 1989–93 under coach
Bob Knight
Robert Montgomery Knight (born October 25, 1940) is an American former basketball coach. Nicknamed "the General", Knight won 902 NCAA Division I men's college basketball games, a record at the time of his retirement, and currently fourth all-ti ...
. Cheaney ended his career as a three-time
All-American and remains the Big Ten's all-time leading scorer with 2,613 career points. He led Indiana to a 105–27 record and the NCAA Tournament all four years, including a Final Four appearance in 1992.
At the conclusion of his collegiate basketball career Cheaney captured virtually every post-season honor available, including National Player of the Year (winning both the
Wooden
Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin th ...
and
Naismith award), a unanimous
All-American, and
Big Ten Player of the Year.
Cheaney spent 13 years in the NBA playing for five different teams.
Early life
Born in
Evansville, Indiana
Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city in ...
, Cheaney played high school ball at
William Henry Harrison High School in Evansville and was selected to the 1989 Indiana All-Star team. Cheaney was a high school stand-out, but a season-ending injury midway through his senior year pushed him off the national radar and left him as a virtual unknown in Indiana University's #1 ranked recruiting class of 1989.
College career
Cheaney played
small forward for the
Indiana University Hoosiers for head coach
Bob Knight
Robert Montgomery Knight (born October 25, 1940) is an American former basketball coach. Nicknamed "the General", Knight won 902 NCAA Division I men's college basketball games, a record at the time of his retirement, and currently fourth all-ti ...
. He was Knight's first left-handed player. Cheaney was known as a smooth leader all four years at Indiana. During the last three of his years at Indiana, the team spent all but two of the 53 poll weeks in the top 10, and 38 of them in the top 5. The Hoosiers were 87–16 (.845) those years and a 46–8 (.852) mark in the
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representat ...
.
Of the four years Cheaney played the Hoosiers went 105-27 and captured two
Big Ten
The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...
crowns ('91 and '93). The 105 games won during Cheaney's four years was the most of any Hoosier to that point.
Freshman year
Cheaney began his career with a flash, scoring 20 points in the season opener of his freshman year (the only Indiana freshman to ever do so). However, the
1989–90 team ran into tougher competition in January after winning all 10 of their pre-conference games. Taken aback by the intensity of play within the Big Ten, the young Hoosier squad went 8–10 in conference play and were upset by California in their NCAA Tournament opening game. Cheaney averaged 17 points a game as a freshman.
“Our freshman year was very, very subpar,” Cheaney said. “We started out excellent and when we got into the Big Ten we were in for a rude awakening. I knew once that season was over and we started working out over the summer, we were going to become a pretty good team. I knew we were going to be a team to be reckoned with the next three years."
Sophomore year
Cheaney averaged 21.6 points per game as a sophomore, with the Hoosiers ending the
1990–91 regular season with an overall record of 29–5 and a conference record of 15–3, finishing 1st in the Big Ten Conference. As conference champions, the Hoosiers were invited to participate in the
1991 NCAA Tournament as a 2-seed, where they advanced to the Sweet Sixteen.
Cheaney noted, “I had a very good sophomore year, but I played a lot of international ball. I played on the Tournament of America team and the World University team. I think I wore myself out a little bit, and when my junior year rolled around, I wasn’t up to par.”
Junior year
As a junior during the
1991–92 season, Cheaney felt he struggled from being worn down by substantial play over the summer. Moreover, with the addition of other talent from players like
Alan Henderson
Alan Lybrooks Henderson (born December 2, 1972) is an American former professional basketball player of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He stands 6'9" (2.06 m) tall. Born in Morgantown, West Virginia, Henderson attended Brebeuf Jesuit ...
, Cheaney "didn’t have to score as much." He regressed to an average of 17.6 points per game and his three-point shooting percentage dropped significantly.
The Hoosiers finished the regular season with an overall record of 27–7 and a conference record of 14–4, finishing 2nd in the Big Ten Conference. The Hoosiers were invited to participate in the
1992 NCAA Tournament as a 2-seed, where they advanced to the Final Four, but fell to
Duke in a foul-plagued game in
Minneapolis.
In the West Regional final while preparing to face UCLA in Albuquerque, just before practice ended, head coach Bob Knight ran the whip across Cheaney`s backside as Cheaney, the team`s leading scorer, was bent over, with his shorts pulled down slightly. On Thursday, both Albuquerque newspapers published photographs of the incident. Cheaney appeared to be laughing in one of the photos.
Senior year
As a senior during the
1992–93 season, Cheaney averaged 22.4 points per game and 6.2 rebounds per game. The Hoosiers finished the regular season with an overall record of 31–4 and a conference record of 17–1, finishing 1st in the Big Ten Conference. As the Big Ten Conference Champions, the Hoosiers were invited to participate in the
1993 NCAA Tournament as a 1-seed, where they advanced to the Elite Eight for the second year in a row, but were defeated by
Kansas.
Over the course of his career at Indiana, Cheaney scored 30 or more points thirteen times and averaged 19.8 points per game, with a high of 22.4 as senior. With 2,613 career points, he is the all-time leading scorer of both Indiana and the Big Ten.
At the conclusion of his collegiate career, Cheaney had captured virtually every post-season honor available. He was the National Player of the Year (winning both the
Wooden
Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin th ...
and
Naismith award), a unanimous
All-America
The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...
, and
Big Ten Player of the Year.
College statistics
, +College statistics
, -
, style="text-align:left;",
1989–90
, style="text-align:left;",
Indiana
, 29 , , 29 , , 32.0 , , .572 , , .490 , , .750 , , 4.6 , , 1.7 , , .8 , , .6 , , 17.1
, -
, style="text-align:left;",
1990–91
, style="text-align:left;",
Indiana
, 34 , , 34 , , 30.3 , , .596 , , .473 , , .801 , , 5.5 , , 1.4 , , .7 , , .4 , , 21.6
, -
, style="text-align:left;",
1991–92
, style="text-align:left;",
Indiana
, 34 , , 32 , , 29.1 , , .522 , , .384 , , .800 , , 4.9 , , 1.4 , , 1.1 , , .2 , , 17.6
, -
, style="text-align:left;",
1992–93
, style="text-align:left;",
Indiana
, 35 , , 35 , , 33.7 , , .549 , , .427 , , .795 , , 6.4 , , 2.4 , , .9, , .3 , , 22.4
, - class="sortbottom"
, style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career
, 132 , , 130 , , 31.3 , , .559 , , .438 , , .790 , , 5.4 , , 1.7 , , .9 , , .3 , , 19.8
Professional career
NBA career
Cheaney was selected 6th overall by the
Washington Bullets in the
1993 NBA draft
The 1993–94 NBA season, 1993 NBA draft took place on June 30, 1993, at The Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The draft had some talented players at the top, but injuries and personal problems hurt many of them. Chris Webber, Penn ...
. His strongest showing as pro came in 1994–1995 when he averaged a career-high 16.6 points for Washington. He spent six years playing for the Bullets/Wizards (including a playoff appearance in 1997). He would go on to play for the
Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...
,
Denver Nuggets
The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team was founded as the D ...
, and
Utah Jazz, before closing his career out with three years with the
Golden State Warriors, retiring after the 2005–06 season.
During his thirteen-year NBA career, Cheaney played for five different teams, averaging 9.5 points and 3.2 rebounds.
Cheaney appeared along with many of his 1997 Bullet teammates (
Juwan Howard
Juwan Antonio Howard (born February 7, 1973) is an American former professional basketball player and current head coach of the Michigan Wolverines men's team.
A one-time All-Star and one-time All-NBA power forward, he began his NBA career ...
,
Ben Wallace, and
Ashraf Amaya
Ashraf Omar Amaya (born November 23, 1971) is an American former professional basketball player.
High school career
Amaya attended Oak Park and River Forest High School for his freshman year, but he transferred to Walther Lutheran High School to ...
) in singer
Crystal Waters
Crystal Waters (born November 19, 1961) is an American house and dance music singer and songwriter, best known for her 1990s dance hits " Gypsy Woman", " 100% Pure Love", and 2007's " Destination Calabria" with Alex Gaudino. All three of her s ...
' 1996 video "Say If You Feel Alright". He also appeared in the 1994 film
Blue Chips
''Blue Chips'' is a 1994 American sports drama film, directed by William Friedkin, written by Ron Shelton and starring Nick Nolte as a college coach trying to recruit a winning team. His players were portrayed by actors as well as real-life ...
as a player for the Indiana University Hoosiers.
Post-NBA
Following his retirement as a player, Cheaney spent two seasons on the staff for the Golden State Warriors. He was a special assistant in the front office in 2009–10, and in 2010–11 he was an assistant coach under fellow Indiana alumnus
Keith Smart
Jonathan Keith Smart (born September 21, 1964) is an American collegiate basketball coach and former player.
Playing career
He is perhaps best remembered for hitting the game-winning shot in the 1987 NCAA championship game that gave the India ...
.
He then returned to Indiana in 2011 and served as Director of Basketball Operations under coach
Tom Crean. The following year he added the title of Director of Internal and External Player Development.
On August 21, 2013, Cheaney announced that he had accepted an assistant coach position at
Saint Louis University under head coach
Jim Crews
James S. Crews (born February 14, 1954) is an American former men's college basketball coach for Saint Louis University. He was promoted to head coach after serving on an interim basis following the health concerns and eventual death of former Bil ...
, a fellow alumnus of Indiana University.
During his first season with St. Louis in 2013–14 the Billikens finished with a 27–7 record and secured an
Atlantic 10 Conference
The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located in states mostly on the United States Easter ...
regular-season title and an NCAA Tournament appearance.
Cheaney left the St. Louis staff in 2016 with the departure of Crews as head coach.
Basketball honors
* 1993: Won all 12 NCAA National Player of the year awards. Unanimous First-Team All America
* All-America 1991, 1992, 1993
* 1993
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representat ...
MVP
* All-Big Ten 1991, 1992, 1993
* Big Ten's All Time Scoring Leader (2,613)
* Indiana University's All-Time leading scorer
* Four time IU team MVP
* Selected to Indiana University's All-Century First Team
* 1993
USBWA College Player of the Year
The Oscar Robertson Trophy is given out annually to the outstanding men's college basketball player by the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA). The trophy is considered to be the oldest of its kind and has been given out since 195 ...
References
External links
NBA.com ProfileOscar Robertson Trophy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheaney, Calbert
1971 births
Living people
20th-century African-American sportspeople
21st-century African-American sportspeople
African-American basketball players
All-American college men's basketball players
American men's basketball players
Basketball coaches from Indiana
Basketball players from Indiana
Boston Celtics players
College Park Skyhawks coaches
Denver Nuggets players
Erie BayHawks (2017–2019) coaches
Golden State Warriors players
Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball players
Medalists at the 1991 Summer Universiade
Saint Louis Billikens men's basketball coaches
Shooting guards
Small forwards
Sportspeople from Evansville, Indiana
Universiade gold medalists for the United States
Universiade medalists in basketball
Utah Jazz players
Washington Bullets draft picks
Washington Bullets players
Washington Wizards players