John Gilchrist (basketball)

John Gilchrist
Personal information
Born	June 29, 1985 (age 38); North Dallas Vandals
2014–2015	Darkhan Garid
Career highlights and awards
	All-NBL Third Team (2010); Third-team All-ACC (2004); ACC tournament MVP (2004);

John Henry Gilchrist III, (born June 29, 1985) is an American former professional basketball player. He is a former Maryland Terrapins point guard.

College

Arriving in College Park for the 2002–03 season, Gilchrist had a freshman campaign as a backup to then-Terp guards Drew Nicholas and Steve Blake. Following Blake's graduation, Gilchrist inherited the starting point guard position as a sophomore, leading the team in assists (5.0 pg), scoring (15.4 pg), minutes (34.0 pg), and steals (1.8 pg), while starting 30 of 32 games. For his efforts, Gilchrist was named the Terps' Co-Player of the Year.

However, Gilchrist's true coming-out party would be the 2004

NC State (2), and Duke

(1), to win their first ACC Tournament title in 20 years.

During this run, Gilchrist dazzled as the Terps' primary offensive option. First, Gilchrist hit the game-winning free throw against a

Final Four

.

But Gilchrist was saving his best for last. In the tournament final against Duke—a team bound for the 2004

2004 NCAA tournament; though the Terps ultimately lost by a few points to Syracuse

in the second round, the team was seen as an up-and-coming squad that had overachieved, despite its youth.

However, Gilchrist's career at Maryland—and fans' and NBA scouts' glowing opinion of him—would never reach these heights again. Led by their junior point guard, the Terps entered the 2004–2005 season ranked in the top 15 in the nation, but would succumb to road struggles and a late season collapse to again finish 7–9 in the conference. Nor could the team summon 2004's magic in the 2005 ACC Tournament; the Terps lost in the first round to

NCAA tournament for the first time in 13 years and accepted a consolation trip to the NIT, where they lost in the semifinals to South Carolina

.

Professional

Despite having the physical tools (6 ft 3 in 194 lb.) of a solid NBA point guard and skills and athleticism that drew comparisons to an early Stephon Marbury, Gilchrist went undrafted, as most felt his mental maturity lagged far behind his physical maturity. He was invited to play in the Cleveland Cavaliers' summer league, but was not picked up by the team.

Maccabi Rishon LeZion, 2005–2006

In October 2005, he signed with the Maccabi Rishon Letzion, an Israeli pro team, he helped in leading his team to the Israeli Final Four where they finished in the 3rd place.

Pau-Ortez, Ironi Nahariya and NBDL, 2006–2007

In the summer of 2006 Gilchrist signed with the

Ironi Naharia

. Gilchrist remained inconsistent during the season, and was again released in January 2007.

Gilchrist was picked up as the 66th pick in the 5th round by the Los Angeles D-Fenders in the NBDL (NBA development league) in February 2007. John Gilchrist played for the D-Fenders through March, then moved to the Idaho Stampede (another NBDL team) in April.

Latvia and return to Ironi Nahariya, 2007–2008

In August 2007 Gilchrist signed one-year contract with Latvian runners-up BK Ventspils, but in November 2007 was released. After a few weeks, Gilchrist returned to play for Israel's Ironi Naharya.^[1]

Adelaide 36ers, 2009–2010

In July 2009 it was reported he would be joining the

NBL. In his first game, against the Cairns Taipans, Gilchrist scored 20 points and added 10 rebounds and 6 assists. On October 29, 2009, Gilchrist scored an NBL career-high 26 points in a 99–91 loss to the New Zealand Breakers.^[2] He suffered a serious knee injury towards the end of the season.^[3]