Kevin Michael Rankin (born 26 August 1971) is a retired American/Turkish professional

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 (appro ...

player. He stands tall and played the

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to center (basketball), centers and are typi ...

and

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

positions.

Amateur career

After playing high school basketball in

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

, Rankin played

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

Division I

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

. He attended the university from 1990 to 1994, compiling a distinguished academic and athletic record. Rankin started 111 of the 112 games he played at Northwestern and led the

Wildcats The wildcat is a species complex comprising two small wild cat species: the European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') and the African wildcat (''F. lybica''). The European wildcat inhabits forests in Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, while th ...

in rebounding all four seasons, with a high of 8.4 per game during his junior season of 1992–1993. He remains the school's all-time leader in career blocked shots with 133. He led the team in scoring during his senior season, 1993–1994, with 15.3 points per game, and won the team MVP award in each of his last three seasons (1992, 1993, and 1994). He shared the 1992 award with teammates Todd Leslie and Cedric Neloms. During his senior year, Rankin led the Wildcats to a thrilling 97–93 overtime berth in the

1994 National Invitation Tournament The 1994 National Invitation Tournament was the 1994 edition of the annual NCAA college basketball competition. Of note, in Kansas State's 115–77 victory over Fresno State in the quarterfinals, Askia Jones of Kansas State set the NCAA postse ...

. The bid brought the Wildcats their first taste of postseason play since 1983. Rankin was also an academic standout. He was named to the Academic All-America second team in 1994, and the third team in 1993. He won a spot on the Academic All-Big Ten team each year from 1992 to 1994, and was awarded the Big Ten Medal of Honor for scholastic and athletic excellence in 1994.

References

External links

TBLStat.net Profile
1971 births Living people Alba Berlin players American emigrants to Turkey American expatriate basketball people in Germany American expatriate basketball people in Israel American expatriate basketball people in Spain American expatriate basketball people in Turkey Basketball players from Wisconsin BC Andorra players American expatriate basketball people in Andorra Centers (basketball) Fenerbahçe men's basketball players Liga ACB players Naturalized citizens of Turkey Northwestern Wildcats men's basketball players Pallacanestro Biella players Power forwards Turkish men's basketball players Turkish expatriate basketball people in Germany Turkish expatriate basketball people in Israel Turkish people of American descent Ülker G.S.K. basketball players American men's basketball players Sportspeople from Wheeling, West Virginia 20th-century American sportsmen {{Turkey-basketball-bio-stub