In the year prior to former NBA legend Julius Erving’s departure from the University of Massachusetts, Al Skinner was reminded day-in and day-out of what Erving was accomplishing on the court at Curry Hicks Cage.

Skinner, like Erving, a tall, talented kid from New York City, was repeatedly poked and prodded about what many believed could happen, but wondered if it ever would.

Al Skinner was being groomed to be the next Dr. J.

Pushed closer to the limit with each passing practice, Skinner was confident in his abilities, but didn’t feel as if he should be compared with the greatest player to ever walk the campus of the University of Massachusetts.

“I can’t fill Julius’ shoes,” Skinner said at the time. “He wears 15’s and I wear 13’s.”

And with that, the Al Skinner era at UMass began.

“What Al brought to the table was that he had a bit of an edginess about him, had a high intellect to blend with better than average talent,” Erving said. “He didn’t have the greatest talent, but had a tremendous upside, blended with his skill and his intellect made him a great player.”

“Al just refused to go away. His playing style on a day-to-day basis, a lot of it doesn’t show up in the stat sheet. Even though he posted very good stats in college, he wasn’t the type of guy who approached the game as if he needed to go out and score 40 points every night.”

However, on a night designed to celebrate the accolades of one of this University’s greatest student-athletes, the question of “what-if” was one that couldn’t be ignored.

“I can only imagine, ‘what if Al had played with Julius,'” current UMass radio analyst and Skinner’s former coach Jack Leaman said. “Coach Skinner was a heck of a player, and if he had played one year here with Julius we would have been tough.”

“He just worked so hard at his game and got the absolute most out of his potential. He was always a pleasure to coach and you just knew there were great things in store for him.”

Erving recalled when he and Skinner actually did have the chance to play together.

“We played together and won a championship with the Nets, we played together in Philadelphia, and so the things that we weren’t able to do on an amateur level outside of pickup games, which were very intense, we got a chance to do as pros,” he said.

“I think it was that time in which we extended and enhanced our friendship because we were roommates on the road, and there were many times I thought of what could have happened if we had been on the same team, me, Al and Rick [Pitino].”

Nonetheless, Skinner’s time at UMass is not remembered for what could have been, but rather for what did occur. With three Yankee Conference First Team selections and a pair of conference championships under his belt, Skinner certainly built his own legacy in the Pioneer Valley – one that not only still rings true around these parts to this day, but one that allows him to remain interconnected with the close-knit UMass family that helped create the Al Skinner known today.

“Oh there’s no question there’s a lot of memories that stay with me,” Skinner said. “Most importantly, I can still call upon [former UMass coaches and teammates] for help today. There’s a lot that goes into this game, and its not always about X’s and O’s…its about understanding people and knowing people.

“There are times that I need to bounce things off of someone and get another view, so its helpful to have people who are well grounded, who have a history, my history, and right now their biggest impact is that they are there for me and accessible for me.”

Al Skinner surely created his own legacy as a basketball player and as a student at the University of Massachusetts, and the fact that he was able to do so in the shadows of the school’s biggest legend is simply remarkable.

However, he would be the first to tell you that he credits that to his mentor, Leaman, his teammates and those within and around the basketball program that pushed him to be better than he ever thought he could.

There is no denying that No. 30 was as talented with a basketball in his hand as many of the great players who have ever donned the maroon and white, however. The legacy he created for himself was built around his desire to succeed for himself, as well as the University, and the special night celebrated in his honor accentuates the fact that his legacy that lives today began because Al Skinner refused to be anyone other than himself.

“I remember his first press conference,” Leaman said. “He was asked, ‘Are you going to be the second Julius Erving?’ and he said, ‘I’m going to be the first Al Skinner.'”