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Jon Rothstein's Top 5 college players in his lifetime - THREE Dookies

Live in Rupp non UK.
David Robinson, benard King, Dominique Wilkins, Charles Barkley, Hakeem Olajuon..

Old memory better than new.
I like the Bernard King pick. That guy was unstoppable vs UK. Who was his running mate? Can't remember his name but the UT teams they were on were tough.
 
My first memories are of the 1977 season (specifically the UNC tournament loss, very painful for a 10 year old). Without question, the best period for college hoops was the early to mid 80s. Best/most dominant player I’ve seen was Ralph Sampson. Only 3 time Naismith winner I think, and did that competing against Jordan etc.
 
Napier? As in Shabazz?

You know, if he said Kemba Walker.. I might be on board that. But not Shabazz.

And if you're going to include single freshman years, it's hard to not include AD. He was more decorated than Carmelo. He might not have scored as much but his effect on the game was insane. If somrone wants to exclude freshman, I get that.. but once you put Melo on there, then AD objectively has to be on there as well.
 
could beat that team using one college season. let’s say 1990.

gary payton vs. j.j. redick
kenny anderson vs. bobby hurley
chris jackson vs. shabazz napier
stacey augmon vs. carmelo anthony
oliver miller vs. christian leattner

i think my team runs them in the ground 7/8 out 10.
 
could beat that team using one college season. let’s say 1990.

gary payton vs. j.j. redick
kenny anderson vs. bobby hurley
chris jackson vs. shabazz napier
stacey augmon vs. carmelo anthony
oliver miller vs. christian leattner

i think my team runs them in the ground 7/8 out 10.
Those guys were great. The 90 AA team though included Lionel Simmons POTY, Mourning, Derrick Coleman and Larry Johnson. There were so many great players that KA was like 3rd team AA that year. College basketball isn’t what it used to be
 
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His list is laughable for the top 5. Good lord is he like 40 yrs old? How can you leave Bird, Magic, MJ and could go back to others like Walton ect:
 
eDepends on what the criteria was. Hurley felt like he was in every Final Four possible. When Jason Kidd and Cal knocked him out, I was elated that he finally wasn’t there. Those Duke teams were a FF fixture, as bad as I hate them.
I was at this game in ‘93 at the Rosemont Horizon when Jason Kidd and Jarred Haase as frosh for Cal took out Hurley, Grant Hill, Cherokee Parks and Chris Collins. Somehow we (my wife, her aunt, my dad and I) snagged tickets in the Duke family section…just a few seats down from legendary sports figures of my youth, Calvin Hill and Doug Collins.
 
Don't know how old Rothstein is, but I am pretty sure he's not old enough to have seen Bird or Magic in college, let alone the greats from earlier than that.
I doubt many saw Bird, unless it was in the Tournament! Dang I loved watching him play in Boston! He was just a special kind of player. He was great from his first season to his last!
 
His list is laughable for the top 5. Good lord is he like 40 yrs old? How can you leave Bird, Magic, MJ and could go back to others like Walton ect:
He is 40 and all those guys played over 40 years ago. So they don’t qualify for during his lifetime. 😂
 
Hurley, Napier, Redick, Carmelo Anthony, and Laettner.

I would have Kemba Walker over Napier.
Snl Fart GIF by Saturday Night Live
 
Chris Jackson, yes.
Chris Jackson is the best freshman I've ever seen.
He was on another level from freshman Jordan.
I'm sure if LeBron had played he would have eclipsed anything Jackson done
LBJ is probably the best 18 yr old basketball player who's ever walked the planet.
 
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He is 40 and all those guys played over 40 years ago. So they don’t qualify for during his lifetime. 😂
I think he is 43. A 2002 article said he was a sophomore at Ithaca College so he'd be roughly 19 then. If you found a birthdate I'd appreciate a link. At any rate, yes, many of the all time greats listed were before his time.

He's still an idiot though. I dont think a single player on his list is appropriate.
 
Chris Jackson is the best freshman I've ever seen.
He was on another level from freshman Jordan.
I'm sure if LeBron had played he would have eclipsed anything Jackson done
LBJ is probably the best 18 yr old basketball player who's ever walked the planet.
I'd guess that Wilt was better but at worst, just as good.
 
1 Pete Maravich
2Lou Alcindor
3 Bill Walton
4 David Thompson
5 Larry Bird
Honorable mention Jamal Mashburn, Christian Lautner
 
I'd guess that Wilt was better but at worst, just as good.
Wilt was a great athlete.
Kinda hard to judge how polished he was skill wise since he was so far advanced from his competition at the time.
48 yr age difference.
There was probably a bigger gap between Wilt and the next best HS player in the class of '55 than there was between LeBron and Luol Deng in 03 but LeBron was more of a "man child" body wise than an 18 yr old Wilt was.
 
It’s very weird to say but when fully healthy Zion Williamson was the best player I’ve ever seen in college. I honestly think we may have had to wade through a few cases of involuntary manslaughter had not many people looked at that and just decided to get out of the way. A true freak among freaks. Fortunately or unfortunately I don’t think he played near 100% very much even in college.
You aren't wrong. To me though Flagg is even more impressive. I'm not sure why some aren't recognizing either of these guys as the best.
Can you imagine either dude playing as a senior, which is what most of the players on this thread were. You have to be able to look past hate and see true talent.
 
The best college player I've ever seen in a college uniform is Cooper Flagg. Laugh if you want. There's never been anyone that can do some of the things I've seen that dude do this year.

In my life..... Chris Jackson, Glen Robinson, Webber, wall, Davis are all up there
Did you not watch Kevin Durant and Michael Beasley?
 
Can't stand him but Jay Williams was a beast at Duke.
The only thing Jay Williams couldn't do in college was shoot free throws. He got to the basket whenever he wanted and was a deadly 3 point shooter as well as a good defender. I didn't like him then and I still don't now but the guy had game.
 
Wilt was a great athlete.
Kinda hard to judge how polished he was skill wise since he was so far advanced from his competition at the time.
48 yr age difference.
There was probably a bigger gap between Wilt and the next best HS player in the class of '55 than there was between LeBron and Luol Deng in 03 but LeBron was more of a "man child" body wise than an 18 yr old Wilt was.
The year Lebron came into the league, Kobe Bryant put on 20 plus pounds to get ready. It hurt his game and he slimmed back down the next year.
 
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