Pick 1 player from any school, in the history of college basketball to build your college team around. Who would you choose?
- Thread starter TopCatCal
- Start date
The right answers imo have already been mentioned.
Alcinder
Walton
Bird
I hate to say it, but college Christian Laettner is worth conversation.
Alcinder
Walton
Bird
I hate to say it, but college Christian Laettner is worth conversation.
I hadn’t even considered including the no college guys in this debate …but, yes, you’re absolutely right.
I think LeBron was the most well developed and dominant 18 to 20 year-old we’ve ever seen.. Can’t even imagine what he would’ve done if his early NBA years had instead been against college kid competition.
The game has progressed to the three point shooting style, which says that is the most efficient style. Shouldn't you be picking guys that can shoot it from 25 ft? Especially in college.
Larry is the correct answer.
Hard to argue with Kareem. But, Larry led Indiana freaking State to the national championship game, with a 33-0 record, in a loaded era. Give him a 3-point line & a typical top 25 cast around him & he might be unbeatable at the college level.
Below: multiple Youtube links of Wilt footage:
Huge athletic freak? yeah, sure
Real strong? Yeah, but so is everyone else today
But many people are still stubbornly ignorant of just his skill-set. “Well, he played a real long time-ago, so he couldn’t compete today.”
If he was anything, he was competitive. And what if he’d been born in recent times/decades with the benefits of modern strength & fitness training?
Trashtalking and long-range hook shots
Frequent, masterful fade-away shot
Reach/Dunking with head behind backboard
Standing next to Ewing & Shaq
Standing next to Walton, Shaq, Russell, Kareem, Wooden
An athlete
Kobe on Wilt
lifts, picks up a guy
Listen, I get that maybe a good portion of all these eyewitness stories are tall tales (like Paul Bunyon), and that’s unfortunate.
Many people exaggerated because no one had ever seen anything like him, and they were just trying to convey how in awe they were. But still…these videos show skill, competitiveness, power, and athleticism — a combination that commands respect. And these maybe-inflated witness accounts are at least entertaining.
…as were his own self-exaggerations…
Plus, the way-too-fast pace of basketball, back then, allowed super-fast-and-long Wilt to pad his numbers. But, he played smart, under control, and wanted challenges.
EDIT: Wilt’s blocking ability: Larry Brown story: 43 year-old Wilt + 4 Ucla freshmen vs Magic, Worthy, Bernard King, Byron Scott & AC Green
—
Most 50-point NBA games:
115: Wilt
31: Jordan
25: Kobe
—-
Wilt’s stats, one game, in 1968:
53 points
32 rebounds
14 assists
24 blocks
11 steals
—-
Charles Barkley repeatedly contradicting Shaq, when Shaq told him (on air) that he was a better player than Wilt.
Wilt exercised/kept in shape his whole life, up until his passing.
Comparing the physiques and athleticism of Shaq & Wilt, when they were both age 50.
Multiple sources say that Wilt benched about 600 lbs, and there’s a claim that, at age 59, Wilt could still bench 465 lbs…plus a claim that Shaq’s best bench-press, ever, was 460.
Multiple 225-to-275-pound NBA players have said that Wilt’s strength scared them — that they would talk trash to Wilt but then suddenly stop, and that Wilt easily lifted various larger players off the ground or threw them around with ease. 6’8” Phil Jackson, who played against Wilt, and later coached Shaq, is one of those who’s said Wilt easily lifted him off the ground when he tried to stop a Wilt dunk by hanging onto him, and said he admired how Wilt usually played every single minute of every single game. In NBA history, only Allen Iverson’s career minutes-per-game numbers rival Wilt’s. Arnold Schwarzennegar said Wilt had unbelievable strength — (and, in at least some respects) more than the top body-builders of the ‘70’s & ‘80s.
Huge athletic freak? yeah, sure
Real strong? Yeah, but so is everyone else today
But many people are still stubbornly ignorant of just his skill-set. “Well, he played a real long time-ago, so he couldn’t compete today.”
If he was anything, he was competitive. And what if he’d been born in recent times/decades with the benefits of modern strength & fitness training?
Trashtalking and long-range hook shots
Frequent, masterful fade-away shot
Reach/Dunking with head behind backboard
Standing next to Ewing & Shaq
Standing next to Walton, Shaq, Russell, Kareem, Wooden
An athlete
Kobe on Wilt
lifts, picks up a guy
Listen, I get that maybe a good portion of all these eyewitness stories are tall tales (like Paul Bunyon), and that’s unfortunate.
Many people exaggerated because no one had ever seen anything like him, and they were just trying to convey how in awe they were. But still…these videos show skill, competitiveness, power, and athleticism — a combination that commands respect. And these maybe-inflated witness accounts are at least entertaining.
…as were his own self-exaggerations…
Plus, the way-too-fast pace of basketball, back then, allowed super-fast-and-long Wilt to pad his numbers. But, he played smart, under control, and wanted challenges.
EDIT: Wilt’s blocking ability: Larry Brown story: 43 year-old Wilt + 4 Ucla freshmen vs Magic, Worthy, Bernard King, Byron Scott & AC Green
—
Most 50-point NBA games:
115: Wilt
31: Jordan
25: Kobe
—-
Wilt’s stats, one game, in 1968:
53 points
32 rebounds
14 assists
24 blocks
11 steals
—-
Charles Barkley repeatedly contradicting Shaq, when Shaq told him (on air) that he was a better player than Wilt.
Wilt exercised/kept in shape his whole life, up until his passing.
Comparing the physiques and athleticism of Shaq & Wilt, when they were both age 50.
Multiple sources say that Wilt benched about 600 lbs, and there’s a claim that, at age 59, Wilt could still bench 465 lbs…plus a claim that Shaq’s best bench-press, ever, was 460.
Multiple 225-to-275-pound NBA players have said that Wilt’s strength scared them — that they would talk trash to Wilt but then suddenly stop, and that Wilt easily lifted various larger players off the ground or threw them around with ease. 6’8” Phil Jackson, who played against Wilt, and later coached Shaq, is one of those who’s said Wilt easily lifted him off the ground when he tried to stop a Wilt dunk by hanging onto him, and said he admired how Wilt usually played every single minute of every single game. In NBA history, only Allen Iverson’s career minutes-per-game numbers rival Wilt’s. Arnold Schwarzennegar said Wilt had unbelievable strength — (and, in at least some respects) more than the top body-builders of the ‘70’s & ‘80s.
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Call me biased but going with Anthony Davis. What he did in 1 season at UK, imagine that over the span of 3-4 years in the NCAA!!
He was a blur. I can't imagine what players thought of him in the early 1950's when he was the fastest player and over 7 ft tall. Some of those small town country kids probably thought he was something from outer space. At that time you still had flat handed dribblers
I've haven't looked but I'll pick Kareem. They had to outlaw the dunk because of him and he still dominated. Akeem, as he was known as at time,. Houston is a good bet.
I don't think there is any doubt...Lou Alcindor.
But, Walton, Wilt, Oscar, and Bird wouldn't be bad either.
But, Walton, Wilt, Oscar, and Bird wouldn't be bad either.
I’m taking Bird because I think he would be unstoppable in this day and age. A 6’9 guy that can handle and pass and score at will.
Put him at the 4 spot in a 4 out or 5 out system.
Unstoppable.
Put him at the 4 spot in a 4 out or 5 out system.
Unstoppable.
We’d play him at the 2 spot and expose his lack of speed. Or have him as a spot minute bench player.
