Steve Woodberry was born in Wichita, Kansas, attending Wichita South High School before playing for the University of Kansas where he was a part of two Final Four teams at Kansas in 1991 and 1993.
In 1994 Woodberry won a championship in the Swiss league with Belinzona before signing a deal to play in Australia with the Gold Coast Rollers in 1995.
In his first season in Australia, Woodberry averaged 24.5 points, 7.4 assists and 7.6 rebounds per game. Before suffering an injury at training, forcing him to return to Kansas.
Woodberry would return to Australia the following year to play for the Brisbane Bullets. It was here he played the best basketball of his career, earning a spot on the All-NBL First Team in 1998 and 1999.
Woodberry would win league MVP in 1999 before agreeing to play for the Sydney Kings in 2000. Woodberry would suffer an injury in the NBL pre-season and last only 4 games before having to return to Kansas for rehabilitation.
Woodberry later spent two seasons playing professionally in Lithuania for Zalgiris Kaunas, where won a Lithuanian championship in 2001.
Since retiring in 2006 Woodberry has coached in the US college system for Missouri State, Tulsa and Wake Forest.
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Topics discussed on the podcast include;
What has Steve Woodberry doing since he retired from playing basketball (2:00)
Reaching two NCAA Final Fours while playing at the University of Kansas (12:00)
How being able to play multiple positions helped Woodberry dominate the game (15:00)
Playing for the USA Junior team alongside Steve Smith, Theo Ratliff and Eddie Jones (17:00)
Funny stories about playing alongside former NBL import Adonis Jordan Kansas and (20:30)
NBA interest after college (21.30)
How did he find out about Australia and the NBL (23:30)
Thoughts on the level of competition in the NBL during the time he played (25:00)
Running the triangle offence with the Brisbane Bullets (28:00)
Memories of Bullets teammates like Leroy Loggins, Mark Dalton, Mike Mitchell and Mike McKay (33:00)
Playing against the Melbourne Tigers and trying to stop Andrew Gaze (34:00)
Goals of being a head coach and possibilities of returning to Australia (38:30)
Memories of playing alongside CJ Bruton (42:00)
A short stint playing for the Sydney Kings (43:00)
Favourite players to play against during his time in the NBL (46:00)
Playing basketball in Lithuania and lessons learnt from playing overseas (49:00)
All of this and a whole lot more...
Listen to our previous interviews with the biggest stars in Australian Basketball, head to Aussiehoopla.com. Check out previous podcasts featuring;
Australian Basketball Legends - Luc Longley, Andrew Gaze, Shane Heal, Mark Bradtke, Leroy Loggins, David Andersen, Andrew Vlahov, CJ Bruton, Chris Anstey, Brett Maher, John Rillie, Tony Ronaldson, Brad Newley
Current NBL Stars - Kevin Lisch, Rotnei Clark, AJ Ogilvy, Damian Martin, Daniel Kickert, Thomas Abercrombie, Jason Cadee, Stephen Holt, Bryce Cotton, Chris Goulding, Mitch McCarron, Cam Gliddon
Our Finest Coaching Minds - Brian Goorjian, Joey Wright, Adrian Hurley, Aaron Fearne, Rob Beveridge, Phil Smyth, Ian Stacker, Shawn Dennis, Dean Vickerman, Trevor Gleeson, Lindsey Gaze, Ken Cole
NBA Stars Past & Present - Andrew Bogut, Matthew Dellavedova, Stephen Jackson, Randy Livingston, Torrey Craig, Acie Earl, Josh Childress, Reggie Smith, Todd Lichti
Aussie Basketballers Abroad - Ryan Broekhoff, Brock Motum, Jack White, Ben Madgen, Clint Stiendl, Ater Majok, Rhys Carter, Clint Stiendl
The NBL's Greatest Imports - Darryl McDonald, Ricky Grace, Derek Rucker, Leon Trimmingham, Scott Fisher, Lanard Copeland, Mike Mitchell, Terry Dozier, Isaac Burton, Shawn Redhage, Willie Farley, Al Green, Corey "Homicide" Williams, Andre Moore, Steve Woodberry
And the men who run things - Larry Kestelman, Vince Crivelli, Jeremy Loeliger, Chuck Harmison, Jeff Van Groningen, Bob Turner
All that and much more. Follow @AussieHoopla on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and email at info@aussiehoopla.com
