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5 best SEC players

Take a look at Georgia's roster for 82-83. See if you can guess who isn't on it.

Try again. Try harder next time.

1980 and 81 Georgia roster was in no way comparable to Arkansas roster in mid 90's. I saw them both,
Dominique would be my pick. Williamson would be behind R. King, Douglas and Person.
 
Statistically yes but much can be said for intangibles and will to win. Was a true competitor and undisputed leader of back to back titles.
 
Right - and the single biggest reason I wouldn't include Kobe in the Jordan/LeBron/Bird/Magic/Kareem pantheon of greats. He was Robin, to Shaq's Batman, on those Laker teams.....

Same thing could be said about Jordan, what did he win without a supporting cast? Did he win more titles at Washington? Nope Did he win titles before the bulls revamped the roster and brought in Phil Jackson? Nope.

Nobody is going to single handily win a title without a good supporting cast.


Now topic on hand
Chris Jackson
Shaq
Bernard King
Johnny Neumann
Pistol Pete
 
1980 and 81 Georgia roster was in no way comparable to Arkansas roster in mid 90's. I saw them both,
Dominique would be my pick. Williamson would be behind R. King, Douglas and Person.
Who said it was? But it's a fact that Arkansas teams, led by Williamson, won an NCAA title, then played for another, while Georgia teams, led by Wilkins, were a complete non-factor (until they went to FF the year after he left). And that Williamson was far more honored with individual accolades as a college player than Dominique Wilkins was.

Wilkins benefits in this comparison because of his pro career (and because he had a nice, shiny object quality to his game), but I can't see how anyone can argue that he was some transcendent college player. He was a spectacular athlete with huge potential who made some highlight plays on really mediocre teams. So did guys like Mike Mitchell, Ricky Brown, and Jacky Dorsey before Wilkins. What separates Wilkins from them happened in the pros, not college. And actually, the same argument could be made for Charles Barkley, who certainly became something in the pros far beyond what he was in college.

If the subject is "best pros to come out of the SEC", then that's not necessarily the same as "best players in the SEC". Which is really what I'm arguing here.
 
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You guys have done a good job on this topic...

Some names other names that I think of (not top 5 but quality players from a college standpoint)
Devan Downey
Reggie King
Allan Houston
Bobby Lee Hurt
Rudy Macklin
Leon Douglas
 
Same thing could be said about Jordan, what did he win without a supporting cast? Did he win more titles at Washington? Nope Did he win titles before the bulls revamped the roster and brought in Phil Jackson? Nope.

Nobody is going to single handily win a title without a good supporting cast.

agreee with your thought, but the point i was making is you ought to at least be the best player on your title team before bringing out the number of rings you have as evidence of greatness. Jordan, I think, was 1-9 in playoff games prior to Pippen arriving. But there can be no doubt he was the best player on all those Bulls title teams, so the claim that he has 6 titles is more meaningful than it is to say Kobe has 5 (as though he's right on Jordan's heels), when Shaq was the best player and MVP of the first 3 of those rings.

Your note makes me think of an argument I heard yesterday on ESPN, when someone said that until LeBron has 6 rings there should be no mention of him in the same breath with jordan. For that person, number of titles trumps all else. So, I was left to wonder, if Russell had 11, should we likewise never include Jordan in the same breath with BR?
 
Jordan was the best player on the Bulls, no question about that.

I still think Chamberlain was the best to ever lace them up.
 
That I have been around to witness, no certain order.

Shaq - Center
Barkley - Power foward
D. Wilkins - Small forward
D. Ellis - 2 guard
C. Jackson - PG

Bernard King, Sindey Moncrief, Scottie Thurman, Allan Houston, Jason Williams, Derrick Mckey, Robert Horry, Antonio Mcdyess, Rudy Macklin, and several others left out could fill in at a bunch of spots and be a correct answer.
 
With just one year, Anthony Davis will end up in that top 5.... Barring injury... Without an Injury, Sam Bowie would be in the top five too.....
 
I think people are way under estimating Gerald Glass. He went toe to toe with Chris Jackson.
People also overestimate individual scoring average. It's just human nature. If the number is bigger, it looks better, and time removes a lot of the context in which it came.

The 3 point line came in 86-87, and scoring shot up for a few years, for teams and individuals, before college basketball began the long, slow slide into the mud wrestling brickfights that make up the majority of games today. Pitino's first UK team in 89-90 averaged 88.8 ppg, the same year that Loyola Marymount went for over 120 a game. Jackson's freshman year was the same season that Glass went for over 28 ppg, and you had 4 other SEC players average over 20. Just off the top of my head, I know that guys like Glen Rice, Stacey King, Dennis Scott, and Walt Williams all put up huge scoring seasons within a year or 2 (either way) of that 89-90 season. Kenny Anderson joined GTech the year after Jackson went to LSU, and went for 20.7 ppg, 8.1 assists, and 5.4 rebounds (then over 26 ppg as a sophomore).

Not that Jackson wasn't a great player (or any of the guys I mentioned), but it was common for guys at that time to put up scoring numbers that would be nearly impossible today. The game is just too slow for anyone to realistically get up 22.8 shots per game, like Chris Jackson did as a freshman (and while still having a teammate in Rickey Blanton who averaged 20.6 ppg).
 
Who said it was? But it's a fact that Arkansas teams, led by Williamson, won an NCAA title, then played for another, while Georgia teams, led by Wilkins, were a complete non-factor (until they went to FF the year after he left). And that Williamson was far more honored with individual accolades as a college player than Dominique Wilkins was.

Wilkins benefits in this comparison because of his pro career (and because he had a nice, shiny object quality to his game), but I can't see how anyone can argue that he was some transcendent college player. He was a spectacular athlete with huge potential who made some highlight plays on really mediocre teams. So did guys like Mike Mitchell, Ricky Brown, and Jacky Dorsey before Wilkins. What separates Wilkins from them happened in the pros, not college. And actually, the same argument could be made for Charles Barkley, who certainly became something in the pros far beyond what he was in college.

If the subject is "best pros to come out of the SEC", then that's not necessarily the same as "best players in the SEC". Which is really what I'm arguing here.
Who said it was? But it's a fact that Arkansas teams, led by Williamson, won an NCAA title, then played for another, while Georgia teams, led by Wilkins, were a complete non-factor (until they went to FF the year after he left). And that Williamson was far more honored with individual accolades as a college player than Dominique Wilkins was.

Wilkins benefits in this comparison because of his pro career (and because he had a nice, shiny object quality to his game), but I can't see how anyone can argue that he was some transcendent college player. He was a spectacular athlete with huge potential who made some highlight plays on really mediocre teams. So did guys like Mike Mitchell, Ricky Brown, and Jacky Dorsey before Wilkins. What separates Wilkins from them happened in the pros, not college. And actually, the same argument could be made for Charles Barkley, who certainly became something in the pros far beyond what he was in college.

If the subject is "best pros to come out of the SEC", then that's not necessarily the same as "best players in the SEC". Which is really what I'm arguing here.

It was easier to get accolades in 1995 than when Dominique played. No James Worthy in 95. The superstar count was very high in class of 79. Dale Brown was one of the first proponents of Dominique. I remember Georgia at UNC being a huge game and the Carolina fans with their Wilkins isn't Worthy signs.

The player you should question is Barkley not Wilkins. Barkley was very good but probably more like 10th than 5th. Reggie King, Dale Ellis or Williamson should be on first team.
 
With just one year, Anthony Davis will end up in that top 5.... Barring injury... Without an Injury, Sam Bowie would be in the top five too.....

Probably not in this thread,because he played for Kentucky and the op clearly states non Kentucky players.
 
All-time in the SEC, not UK guys, How could Bob Petit not be on any of these lists? Bailey Howell?
John Mengelt? Tommy Hagan? Vern Fleming?
 
Vern Fleming was a pretty good college player, but not a great player - and certainly not in the discussion of the 5 best players in SEC history. The mere fact the Bob Knight put him on the '84 Olympic team didn't make Fleming a great player - Jeff Turner, Leon Wood and 19 year-old Steve Alford were on the '84 team as well.
 
Had Vern Fleming played at a UK, UCLA, Kansas, Duke...and if he had played in a big market NBA franchise for all the years he played, he would have been a household name. He was a great under appreciated player.
 
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