As I was checking out videos of my soon-to-be alma mater last night, I stumbled upon this video of Crew midfielder Danny O'Rourke talking with Michelle Beadle (now with ESPN) and Greg Amsinger (now with MLB Network) on CSTV's on "The 1 College Sports Show" following the 2005 MLS SuperDraft:
O'Rourke won back-to-back National Championships with the Hoosiers in 2003 and 2004. The 2003 Indiana team, Jerry Yeagley's final season at the helm, featured nine players that went on to play in MLS: John-Michael Hayden, Ned Grabavoy, Brian Plotkin, Josh Tudela, Drew Moor, Jay Nolly, Jacob Peterson, and Jed Zayner, in addition to O'Rourke.
That leads to this week's poll question: Which is the greatest college team to feature a former Crew player?
The choices:
2003 Indiana Hoosiers- see above.
2005 Maryland Terrapins - In Robbie Rogers only year of collegiate soccer, he teamed with future US Men's National Team and Rangers star Maurice Edu, the LA Galaxy's A.J. DeLaGarza, Seattle Sounders FC's Marc Burch, D.C. United's Stephen King, Sporting KC's Graham Zusi, FC Dallas goalkeeper Chris Seitz, and former Crew forward Jason Garey to win the 2005 College Cup.
2010 Akron Zips - Before transferring to North Carolina to win his second-straight NCAA title, Ben Speas played played a part in Akron's 2010 National Championship team that included eight other players that are currently featured on MLS rosters: D.C. United's Perry Kitchen and Chris Korb, Vancouver Whitcaps FC's Darren Mattocks and Michael Nanchoff, Houston Dynamo's Kofi Sarkodie, Portland Timbers' Darlington Nagbe, Montreal Impact FC's Zarek Valentin, and San Jose Earthquakes' Anthony Ampaipitakwong.
1992 UCLA Bruins- Coached by former Crew boss Sigi Schmid, it's hard to imagine this team featuring freshman Frankie Hejduk and future US National Team members Brad Friedel, Eddie Lewis, Joe-Max Moore, and Anté Razov didn't win a National Championship. The team also featured former MLS players Jorge Salcedo, Tayt Ianni, Zak Ibsen, Chris Snitko and Sean Henderson as well as Stanford University's women's soccer coach Paul Ratcliffe. The Bruins lost in their opening NCAA Tourney match against eventual runner-up San Diego.
