You have one season to rebuild Kentucky, are you taking junior-year Mashburn or freshman-year Davis?

[the nail at the foul line]

AD

 

[Skyguyb27]

No enough information, I need to know the rest of the roster.

I think this is the correct answer. Neither is a wrong answer but the other factors would make a difference to. Not starting a Cal bashing thread don’t take it that way…..…… I would have loved to see AD in the pro offense that Pope runs.

 

[JHannibalSmith]

Does ChatGPT factor in weight of opponent or who else was playing across the nation when Davis and Mashburn were 1st team All-Americans in their respective seasons?

Let's compare guys from the 2012 All-American team: Draymond Green, McDermott, Sullinger, Thomas Robinson, Canaan, Marcus Denmon, Kevin Jones, MKG, and Tyler Zeller to...1993's 1st and 2nd teams: Glenn Robinson, Grant Hill, Vin Baker, Chris Webber, Penny Hardaway, Bobby Hurley, Calbert Cheaney, Eric Montross, J.R. Rider, Terry Dehere, etc.

That 1993 list doesn't even count Jason Kidd, Allan Houston, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, etc.

What AD did here was historically good, but discounting what Mashburn did against historically great teams ('92 Duke, '93 Michigan) should be factored in as much as who he was competing against for All-American honors in 1993. Mashburn was playing in a field that had much better talent. Thus, it only makes sense that he's going to take home less hardware as far as individual awards are concerned.

If Mashburn doesn’t foul out on bs calls in both the Duke & Michigan games, there’s a solid chance that he’s a back to back national champion & this is a non-discussion. I’m really confident that we beat UNC in 93 if we had gotten by UM with Mash in OT.

And, we have at least a solid chance in 92, IMO. I think we would’ve won the Duke game if Mash had been on the floor at the end. Duke beat Indiana in one semifinal & we had beaten that IU team 76-74 in the regular season, on a neutral floor. So, we know that team was at least capable of winning that game & getting to the championship game against the Fab 5, freshmen edition.

Duke blew them out by 20 & UM’s inexperience really showed. We would’ve been a tough matchup for UM bc of our experience, led by the Unforgettables. Our pressure defense would’ve been a tall order for a bunch of FR. And, we were peaking at the time, playing our best basketball of the season.

And, we gave that historically good Duke team all they wanted. We SHOULD’VE won. So, it really isn’t all that far fetched to think we could’ve been repeat champions if Mash hadn’t fouled out on egregiously bad calls in both games. Woulda, coulda, shoulda, I know. But, still, it’s a very legit possibility if two whistles had never happened.

 

[BlueBloodedCat96]

Dad always said Mashburn was the best player he ever seen at Kentucky but how can you go against the one who brought a title when that’s the goal at UK. One year one title. One dominant title where it was really never in question so this one’s easy to me.

 

[KENTUCKY_FLYER]

I’m taking Mashburn. I realize AD led us to a championship as a freshman by absolutely dominating the post like very few who have ever played. But, don’t sleep on what Mash did for his teams. As a FR, he led a team that was on probation the previous season to the SEC regular season championship. Without him, that team is bottom 3 in the league, at best.

Then in 92 as a SO, he led us to a 2 seed & within a miracle shot of beating the eventual national champion & going to the FF in a game that NOBODY gave us a shot to win. I hate them & Laettner too, but, that Duke team is one of the best college teams I’ve seen & Laettner was about as good of a college player as you’ll see.

Mashburn did all that with a less than stellar supporting cast. He was good at everything & had just as big of an impact on his teams as AD, if not bigger. He resurrected the program from probation in one season, which was unheard of at the time. And, by his JR season we were arguably the best team in the country. A juggernaut that decimated nearly every opponent on the schedule in an era that was much harder to win than 2012.

Those early 90s teams were stocked with supremely talented & experienced upperclassmen who had played together 3-4 years & had developed great chemistry. AD’s era was watered down bc most of the best players in college were gone before their JR seasons.

I think Mashburn would have had a similar effect as AD on the 2012 team, whereas, I don’t have the same confidence that FR AD could’ve replicated Mashburn’s impact on those teams, in that era, dominated by upperclassmen. Can’t lose either way. But, Mash affected the game in more ways than AD & was significantly better, offensively. AD was significantly more impactful, defensively, but as a FR he was pretty limited, offensively.

What he said. Excellent take.

 

[jeffky]

You have one year to rebuild Kentucky and as of yet, you have no fully committed players on your roster. You need to add your first piece. You have $25 million in NIL, and you have to make a choice about where to spend it. You can't afford both the soon-to-be freshman Anthony Davis and junior-to-be Mashburn (who has just finished his sophomore year at UK and has told you he will come back for a junior season if the price is right).

Which player are you taking?

Freshman-level Anthony Davis, or junior-to-be Jamal Mashburn?

Very tough choice

 

[CELTICAT]

I tend to like Mashburn more. More games played, more meaningful player. Young people don’t understand how cool Mashburn was. I also don’t think Mashburn had a single teammate his three years as good as MKG, Lamb, or Jones.

I do think, generally speaking, if you’re trying to win a college game, you pick a big that dominates like AD did vs a scoring forward.

 

[zoid1]

Mashburn had a 81-17 record at UK
-frosh led UK best record in SEC not eligable for postseason play
-soph 2nd best SEC record, SEC T title, elite 8
-junior 2nd best SEC record, SEC T title, F4

teammates were
- Ford
- Brown
- Rhodes frosh
- Dent
- Gimel
- Prickett frosh
- Riddick
- Delk frosh
- Brassow
- Braddy
frosh and soph year mainly
- Pelphery
- Feldhaus
- Farmer
- Woods
- Hanson

Davis had a 38-2 record, SEC reg season title, NCAA title

teammates were
- Lamb
- MKG
- Jones
- Teague
- Miller
- Wiltjer
- Vargas

Big difference

 

[JonathanW]

Dad always said Mashburn was the best player he ever seen at Kentucky but how can you go against the one who brought a title when that’s the goal at UK. One year one title. One dominant title where it was really never in question so this one’s easy to me.

That is too simplistic of a way to look at it.
Jones, MKG, Lamb, Teague, Miller, even Wiltjer
was a much better group (not even close) of teammates than
Ford, Brown, Rhodes, Dent, Martinez, Prickett
or
Pelphrey, Feldhaus, Woods, Brown, Farmer, Martinez

 

[TFCats11]

I’m taking a Junior over a Freshman 9/10 times, so I’m taking Mash here. Also, I believe a lot of people are picking AD because of what he became in the NBA, which is a night and day difference from how Calipari utilized him during his Freshman season at UK.

 

[BlueBloodedCat96]

That is too simplistic of a way to look at it.
Jones, MKG, Lamb, Teague, Miller, even Wiltjer
was a much better group (not even close) of teammates than
Ford, Brown, Rhodes, Dent, Martinez, Prickett
or
Pelphrey, Feldhaus, Woods, Brown, Farmer, Martinez

Your right. Can’t go wrong either way but we are rebuilding and have to pick one. I pick the one who won a title where not one game was really in question. Yes the team was better but we don’t know the rest of the team if we are rebuilding. Mashburn could do it all like LeBron but Davis absolutely shut games down without having to score a point. Still to this day nobody has his accolades other than maybe Shai now.

 

[CastleRubric]

Mash

I think he could hurt you in more ways

 

[bbnkat02]

Man, I had to think on that one. I ultimately went with Davis. I love Monster Mash, but Davis was a generational type dude. Just did things on the defensive end that were insanely good for a freshman.

 

[bbnkat02]

Your right. Can’t go wrong either way but we are rebuilding and have to pick one. I pick the one who won a title where not one game was really in question. Yes the team was better but we don’t know the rest of the team if we are rebuilding. Mashburn could do it all like LeBron but Davis absolutely shut games down without having to score a point. Still to this day nobody has his accolades other than maybe Shai now.

This

AD could win you games and not score one basket.

 

[Soupbean]

1A. Mash 93
1B. AD 12
3. Issel 70
4. Delk 96
5. Wall 10

Might have Kenny Walker 86 in there somewhere

 

[Bluegrassking]

Tough choice.

In the end I went Mashburn because he both had less of a supporting cast and faced overall tougher competition too.

 

[Cleatortoises]

ChatGPT also agrees this is the correct answer. Its algorithm actually has Davis rated as the greatest player in school history if counting only one individual season as a sample.

Well then, it must be true.
I mean chat gpt.....sheeeeesh

 

[kywildcat41035]

I took AD but to me they’re a close 1A and 1B it all depends on the pieces that are put around them. I loved both of them as players!

 

[L.O.D.]

Love love Mash but who in right mind would choose over AD. Freshman AD was more impact or equal to Jr. Mash.


Jr. AD would have been insane

 

[nickhorvathsuxazz]

Mash elevated everyone else's game; dragging them to heights they had no business being at. AD was a (very important) piece to a very talented team. Remove Mash from his teams and each one is struggling to reach the tournament; take AD from twenty-twelve and we're still an elite 8/final 4 type team.

Mash is the answer

 

[JimboBBN]

Davis. Not sure there’s a player we’ve had that could affect the game in as many ways as he did. Fourth leading scorer on our team but far and away the best.

 

[JonathanW]

This

AD could win you games and not score one basket.

ONLY if he had scorers around him. Which he did have. Mash didn't so he had to score.

 

[JonathanW]

Mash elevated everyone else's game; dragging them to heights they had no business being at. AD was a (very important) piece to a very talented team. Remove Mash from his teams and each one is struggling to reach the tournament; take AD from twenty-twelve and we're still an elite 8/final 4 type team.

Mash is the answer

Very true. Take Mash off the 92 or 93 teams, and they are NIT at best.
Take Davis off the 12 team, and they are a Sweet 16 team.

Either (Mash or Davis) is a valid answer.
So I go back to my original response, that it depends on that teams needs, the players around who you pick.
But given balanced teams, I'll go with Mashburn.

 

[BlueBloodedCat96]

Mash elevated everyone else's game; dragging them to heights they had no business being at. AD was a (very important) piece to a very talented team. Remove Mash from his teams and each one is struggling to reach the tournament; take AD from twenty-twelve and we're still an elite 8/final 4 type team.

Mash is the answer

I think you could definitely say we win 2012 if we had Mash on there instead of Davis. Hes one of the best ever here. But I have to disagree with 2012 being elite eight or final four without Davis. He was the national player of the year for a reason. Am I remembering wrong that he dominated that whole season?

Seriously am I overhyping the season he had? Is there another championship in the history of UK where you were never really worried about a single tournament game after half time? Maybe the Kansas game for the chip we had a few moments where it could have gotten ugly but at the end of the day it never really did.

He had a good team but let’s not act like it was the 2015 roster. Didn’t they play like 7 deep 8 max?… that team is tied for most wins in a single season. Take Davis off and they lose more than 10 games imo. Who was his backup? Vargas?

He also led that team in minutes. Averaged almost five blocks a game which is video game numbers.

 

[Skyguyb27]

I’m taking Brad Calipari. Everything he has is earned from hard work and dedication nothing else. And I’d have no regerts. Not even a letter.

 

[nickhorvathsuxazz]

I think you could definitely say we win 2012 if we had Mash on there instead of Davis. Hes one of the best ever here. But I have to disagree with 2012 being elite eight or final four without Davis. He was the national player of the year for a reason. Am I remembering wrong that he dominated that whole season?

Seriously am I overhyping the season he had? Is there another championship in the history of UK where you were never really worried about a single tournament game after half time? Maybe the Kansas game for the chip we had a few moments where it could have gotten ugly but at the end of the day it never really did.

He had a good team but let’s not act like it was the 2015 roster. Didn’t they play like 7 deep 8 max?… that team is tied for most wins in a single season. Take Davis off and they lose more than 10 games imo. Who was his backup? Vargas?

He also led that team in minutes. Averaged almost five blocks a game which is video game numbers.

AD played alongside two returning starters and the 6th man from a final 4 team. Mash made the likes of Travis Ford and Jared Prickett look like all-world players