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Post by Kapitan on Mar 26, 2020 16:32:34 GMT
My problem is I have too many guys in my top 5! (Math is hard.) I should have said they would both be in my STARTING five ... but if you're going overall, there are just too many great centers. Top 5 overall is probably:
1. Wilt Chamberlain 2. Bill Russell 3. Michael Jordan 4. Lebron James 5. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (But Magic and Larry are in immediate contention for the next spots.)
My starters?
PG: Magic Johnson SG: Michael Jordan SF: Lebron James PF: Larry Bird C: Wilt Chamberlain
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Mar 26, 2020 16:45:17 GMT
Bill Russell was so great, such a winner, but I think I hold it against him that he was surrounded by so many great players. I mean, they were loaded for most of Russell's years. How many of those Celtics were Hall Of Famers? I sometimes imagine if Wilt and Russell were interchanged, how many championship teams would Wilt have been on?
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 26, 2020 18:32:11 GMT
I get your point for sure, but I also wonder how big the difference is between him and the other greats in that respect--especially at that time, when there were so few teams and so they naturally were deeper.
But did anyone win it all without some other all-stars (if not necessarily HOFers)?
Wilt Chamberlain's '67 Philly team included Hal Greer, Chet Walker, Billy Cunningham, Larry Costello, and Bill Melchionni; his '72 team included Elgin Baylor, Gail Goodrich, Jerry West, Happy Hairston and Jim McMillan.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's title teams included Oscar Robertson and Bob Dandridge (Milwaukee); and Jamaal Wilkes, Magic Johnson, Norm Nixon, Michael Cooper, Spencer Haywood, Bob McAdoo, James Worthy...
And so on.
Maybe the guy who had the fewest great players around him for his titles was Jordan, and he had Scottie frickin Pippen! (As well as Horace Grant, Dennis Rodman, and Toni Kukoc, among other good players.)
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Apr 1, 2020 15:59:09 GMT
35 years ago today, April 1, 1985, Villanova defeated Georgetown to win the NCAA championship, in what has since been described as Villanova playing "the perfect game". I remember it well, a thrilling game, Rollie Massimino so animated, and just a great TV sports-watching experience.
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 1, 2020 16:15:08 GMT
Very early in my fandom (I was not quite 9), but memorable. Georgetown was the behemoth, I think five players from that team eventually at least sniffed NBA action, and several were quite good: Patrick Ewing of course, but Reggie Williams and David Wingate, too.
The only player Villanova had who really was at that level was Ed Pinckney (who went on to a long NBA playing and ongoing coaching career). But they got it done that day!
I was rooting for Villanova because at that time, my favorite team (even above the Gophers) was Syracuse. You could catch those great matchups of Syracuse v Georgetown every year on broadcast TV, two of the real powers of the Big East. Since Syracuse wasn't there, it was Anyone But Georgetown for me!
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 1, 2020 16:20:54 GMT
My unsolicited Minnesota update:
Not only has star sophomore center Daniel Oturu declared for the draft (with nobody expecting him back), but our secondary star, sophomore point guard Marcus Carr, also declared. While he's keeping his options open, he doesn't sound like he's coming back.
I thought we could live through the departure of Oturu based on internal development and our new recruits. The center spot was going to be rough, but we've had good teams without good centers before.
However, Carr was really the engine that made things go this season. Worse, he's the only experienced point guard on the roster. Without him, we return senior-to-be Payton Willlis (who is more an off guard), little-used sophomore-to-be Bryan Greenlee, and Top 100 recruit Jamal Mashburn Jr (also more a combo guard than point guard).
So our strengths are two experienced but inconsistent off guards (Willis and Gabe Kalsheur) and a super talented sophomore-to-be in German wing Isaiah Ihnen. After that, there are some decent, improving role players. Frankly, that might be enough in college basketball to make the dance if you've got a star PG, which we did.
And now we don't. And what's left doesn't look so good.
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 1, 2020 23:44:37 GMT
35 years ago today, April 1, 1985, Villanova defeated Georgetown to win the NCAA championship, in what has since been described as Villanova playing "the perfect game". I remember it well, a thrilling game, Rollie Massimino so animated, and just a great TV sports-watching experience.
YouTube, clever as it is, thought I might like the below. It's a few years old, but I've not yet seen it. I plan to watch tonight.
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 3, 2020 21:58:11 GMT
I'm watching a fabulous college basketball game: February 1991, #1 UNLV (undefeated) at #2 Arkansas (one loss). These were two of the best, and two of my favorite, teams of that era. And honestly watching now, I am more impressed than I was then.
Fun fact, about 13 minutes into the first half when Arkansas takes a 6-point lead over UNLV, it represents the biggest lead anyone had against UNLV to that point of the season!
Stars like Larry Johnson, Stacy Augmon, Greg Anthony; Todd Day, Lee Mayberry, and Oliver Miller. Really good players like Anderson Hunt, George Ackles, Elmore Spencer (eventually); Ron Huery, Roosevelt Wallace, and Isaiah Morris. Really fun.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Apr 3, 2020 22:59:01 GMT
While Tark was a great defensive innovator, he also turned the Runnin' Rebels into an offensive juggernaut. They went on quite a roll.
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 9, 2020 12:22:08 GMT
We were talking yesterday about when and whether things would get back to normal, post-virus. A story in today's Star Tribune said the University of Minnesota is basing its current projections on a "moderate forecast," by which they mean fall sports will start on time but play in front of no fans.
Power-Five conference division I college football played in front of no fans is the moderate forecast. Yikes.
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 27, 2020 15:30:29 GMT
Well, today the Gophers basketball program lost on its final in-state target, #99 national prospect Kerwin Walton (a 6-4 SG), who committed this morning (two days late from his scheduled announcement) to North Carolina.
This means we lost out on all of our in-state Top 100 guys (using 247sports rankings, #8 G Jalen Suggs, #30 F Dawson Garcia, #56 PF Dain Dainja, #87 PF Ben Carlson, #99 SG Kerwin Walton) as well as some other solid in-state targets (SG Gabe Madsen and C Steven Crowl).
Richard Pitino has been terrible with in-state recruits. He had one good in-state class a few years ago--Daniel Oturu, Gabe Kalscheur, and Jarvis Omersa--but has otherwise basically been an oh-fer the past few years, during which he has offered well over 20 local kids.
At least our football program is ascending in that respect, currently with its 2021 class rated #4 in the country!
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Post by Kapitan on May 24, 2020 13:30:05 GMT
Rough week for great coaches. First Jerry Sloan, and now college coaching legend Eddie Sutton died. He was 84 and died of natural causes, according to his family. Coach Sutton had his share of controversies with the NCAA at Kentucky and with alcohol at Oklahoma State, but he was a great coach who recruited and/or coached the likes of star college and future NBA players Ron Brewer, Sidney Moncrief, Winston Bennett, Shawn Kemp, Chris Mills, Rex Chapman, LeRon Ellis, Byron Houston, Bryant Reeves, Randy Rutherford, Brooks Thompson, Desmond Mason, Doug Gottlieb, Joey and Stephen Graham, Tony Allen, and many more.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jun 20, 2020 14:27:21 GMT
It looks like Chip Kelly, who I happened to like when he was the Philadelphia Eagles' head coach, is involved in controversy again:
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 3, 2020 13:53:57 GMT
6-11 frontcourt player Makur Maker, the cousin of NBA forward Thon Maker and the #16 rated player in the class of '20 per ESPN, became the highest rated player to commit to a historically black college in decades by committing to Howard University.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jul 3, 2020 17:04:36 GMT
6-11 frontcourt player Makur Maker, the cousin of NBA forward Thon Maker and the #16 rated player in the class of '20 per ESPN, became the highest rated player to commit to a historically black college in decades by committing to Howard University.
Good for him!
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