He was the all time leading scorer in ACC history until Tyler Hansborough passed him. Definitely better than Langdon, IMO
Jon Rothstein's Top 5 college players in his lifetime - THREE Dookies
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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.
Greatest college players list is incomplete without Pete Maravich.
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.
Redick was better than Langdon, but he still doesn't belong on the list of all-time top 5.
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.
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.
Danny Manning, Patrick Ewing, Chris Mullin, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson.
I’m way older than Rothstein and PM wouldn’t be on the list of greatest in my lifetime either. Lol
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.
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
Patrick Ewing was the most intimidating player I have ever seen.
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.
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!
He is 40 and all those guys played over 40 years ago. So they don’t qualify for during his lifetime. 😂
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 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.
1 Pete Maravich
2Lou Alcindor
3 Bill Walton
4 David Thompson
5 Larry Bird
Honorable mention Jamal Mashburn, Christian Lautner
2Lou Alcindor
3 Bill Walton
4 David Thompson
5 Larry Bird
Honorable mention Jamal Mashburn, Christian Lautner
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.
If he wore a Kentucky uniform every one of you guys would be saying the same thing.
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.
This is gonna choke me up a bit, but Laettner would handle this dude.
Aren't you supposed to be in PE about now?
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.
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.
We didn't hardly see Georgetown all year in 1982 and then they were in the West for NCAA. For you younger people, that means we did not get to see them until the Elite 8 . It seemed like they were a Godzilla the way they were destroying teams and Ewing was to be feared defensively. More than any college player of my lifetime. He didn't put up big offensive numbers but defensively he was the best player and he made them unreal.
He is very good.
I saw Larry Bird in college.
Excuse me for not thinking Cooper Flagg is the best.
I wouldn't even put him in my top top 50. If he made it he would be closer to 50 than 40.
I was a little kid when Walton played and remember him dominating. David Thompson was MJ then. I would put him in college above. Jordan. Obviously not in the NBA.
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In his lifetime and Rothsteins looks about 40 so he was 5 or so in the he Hurley laetner days. I don’t know though how you can put 1 and dones on “best college player”.
One of the most underrated players in NCAA history in my opinion. While his team didn't win a title he was infinitely better than Hurly or Napier but then again this isn't who won the most titles or who was on the best team it was who was the best player and Hurly couldn't hold Jackson's jock.
He played for a terrible coach so his teams didn’t win anything but , Shaq was a pretty dominant player from my memory. I would say , if you were picking teams , just about any coach would pick Shaq over some of the guys on his list.
