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Who would you pick as the best player to ever play at Kentucky

They didn’t win world championships. They won NATIONAL basketball association titles.
 
He technically won one in 2020.

Derek Anderson, Antoine Walker, Nazr Mohammed, Rick Robey and Cliff Hagan all won NCAAT titles and NBA world championships as well.

Best all around player skill-wise was Mashburn. Most impactful player I’ve seen has been Anthony Davis. He’s easily the best defensive player we’ve ever had and took advantage of teams not being able to defend the auto-lob.
They are not world champions for winning a nba title.
 
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Most important for UK history -Ralph Beard.

Best individual career -Dan Issel.

Best single season — Anthony Davis.

Best Single Game - Goose Givens

Best Team Career -Wayne Turner.

Most influential in the modern era -Jamal Mashburn.

This is my all-Kentucky Basketball team.
 
UK career wise…has to be Issel. But here’s a name that hasn’t been mentioned yet and at times, had my jaw hitting the floor. 2008/2009 Junior Jodie Meeks for one season. He carried that team. Didn’t he put up like 900 points? I know he had some big stats.
 
It's pretty obvious who the best was.
Double figure scorer every single game Junior and Senior years . 47 straight with double figure points.
 
I've never liked calling it "world champs" but it is the best players from around the world.
Granted but how many times have the favorites not won (in any sport)? Games need to be played to determine real winners. A great example is men’s Olympic basketball. The USA hasn’t always won, even with the best team. So, National basketball association champs but not world champs.
 
Clearly it can only be Aminu Timberlake.

Just because no one else is going list him even as a joke.
 
Issel is before my time, but he’s who everyone says is the best. For me it’s Mashburn, then AD. Kenny Walker is up there too.
 
Issel was before my time, so can’t comment on him. But from 1980 on… Mashburn is hard to beat.
 
Overall, probably Dan Issel.
Based on who I've been able to watch over the years, Kenny Walker.
 
Big Dan was made for the modern game; he was one of the original stretch bigs(maybe even the first?).
Strong enough to muscle guys in the post on offense and defense and get the job done on the boards
and with a beautiful shooting stroke.
Oh yeah. I bet in 1970, he was a hoss. And with 22% shooting from downtown, he was a unicorn. I would be OK with him spelling either Carr or Williams before a tv timeout, depending on the matchup.

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Oh yeah. I bet in 1970, he was a hoss. And with 22% shooting from downtown, he was a unicorn. I would be OK with him spelling either Carr or Williams before a tv timeout, depending on the matchup.

s-l400.jpg
Are you serious? He had a Hall of Fame professional career and there was no 3 point shot in when Issel played at UK and his best professional years were behind him when the NBA adopted the 3 point shot. If you're not joking it's possibly the worst basketball take I've ever read on this board. Just FYI the NBA adopted the 3 point shot in Issel's next to last season when he was 37 years old and the NBA 3 point line is almost 24 feet from the basket. When it was worth only two points players with a lick of sense did not practice from that range, since if it wasn't to beat the clock it was just a bad shot when it counted for 2 points and almost any coach in the world would bench any player for shooting from that distance. That's why even Larry Bird wasn't a good 3 point shooter when he came into the NBA the first couple years.

And finally, if you think Issel would be a scrub today because he played in 1970 that logic would lead you to believe that Kareem and Wilt also couldn't play in the modern game since they came along before Issel...so are you sure you don't want to just delete that post?
 
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I can't vote for anyone I've never seen play. So I'm going with Mashburn.
 
UK career wise…has to be Issel. But here’s a name that hasn’t been mentioned yet and at times, had my jaw hitting the floor. 2008/2009 Junior Jodie Meeks for one season. He carried that team. Didn’t he put up like 900 points? I know he had some big stats.
What he did against Tennessee was amazing.
 
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1 Issel (even though never saw him play)
2 Mashburn
3 Spivey (also not see)
4 K.Walker
5 A.Davis

But they are all close
 
The best I can narrow it is to the best player for each coach:
Rupp-Issel (Spivey)
Hall-Givens (Grevey)
Sutton-Walker (Rex)
Pitino-Mashburn (Delk)
Tubby-Prince (Hayes)
BCG-Patterson (Liggins)
Cal-Wall (AD)

Edited to add the (honorable mentions)
I don’t agree with all of these but this is the best way to look at it. There’s just no way to compare Kyle Macy with Demarcus Cousins.

You gotta go with best with each era or coach. It’s also tough to figure in OAD guys into the equation.
 
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That is an impossible question to answer.
Even if you go decade by decade you could put up multiple players. You could put up multiple players by Coach. You could rank by skill set. It is an impossible task.
We have been blessed by many.
 
He technically won one in 2020.

Derek Anderson, Antoine Walker, Nazr Mohammed, Rick Robey and Cliff Hagan all won NCAAT titles and NBA world championships as well.

Best all around player skill-wise was Mashburn. Most impactful player I’ve seen has been Anthony Davis. He’s easily the best defensive player we’ve ever had and took advantage of teams not being able to defend the auto-lob.
What do you mean technically ? he won one. You either did or you didn't. No technically.
 
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