10 best players in NCAA Tournament's Expanded Bracket Era

[partyATkemba]

http://www.sportingnews.com/ncaa-ba...tball-best-players-in-history-ranking/slide/1

I like Mike DeCoury's work, but leaving off Bazz and Kemba is utterly ridiculous. He did mention to me on twitter that he "was so tempted" on Bazz.

Thoughts?

 

[UConnSwag11]

With what bazz and kemba did, with the numbers they put up, and not to have them on the list is ridiculous. Homer or not

 

[CAHUSKY]

Tough to not have at least one of them. Who would you kick out? Dixon? He only went to one final four but scored a ton of points in tourney games.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

"I can't pick both, so I guess I'll pick neither."

 

[SubbaBub]

If it's career then leaving out a one season run is defensible. It is single season, then the list starts with Manning, Kemba, Melo and Bazz in some order. Those are the guys who carried teams to titles after 1984.

Personally, I'd put it Manning, Kemba, Melo and Bazz, 1-4.

 

[UChusky916]

Joke of a list

 

[CTBasketball]

Robinson and Ewing don't belong. Unless you take scoring in losses over championships.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

"I can't pick both, so I guess I'll pick neither."

In the alternative, he Tweets:

So tempted to pick Napier, but remembered Walker was better, tho docked him for only playing 3 years. Couldn't decide & couldn't pick both. Plus, it opened up for Ewing

 

[tzznandrew]

You can't have Mateen Cleaves on that list and NOT Kemba (2 Final Fours, 1 title) or Shabazz (2 Final Fours, 2 titles).

 

[Gringo]

You can't have Mateen Cleaves on that list and NOT Kemba (2 Final Fours, 1 title) or Shabazz (2 Final Fours, 2 titles).

Cleaves was a 3 time all american, won a title, and went to 2 final fours. You can argue Kemba or Shabazz on the list, but Cleaves is not a bad pick either.

 

[Tommyboy]

You can't have Mateen Cleaves on that list and NOT Kemba (2 Final Fours, 1 title) or Shabazz (2 Final Fours, 2 titles).

Seriously. There big selling point on him is 12-2 in tourney games? Well Bazz is 12-1. Bazz lost 1 Friggin tourney game his entire career! And was shut out by the NCAA in one other.

 

[Inyatkin]

You can't have Mateen Cleaves on that list and NOT Kemba (2 Final Fours, 1 title) or Shabazz (2 Final Fours, 2 titles).

Weird how a guy like Cleaves is still lionized all these years later. On no planet was he a better NCAA tournament player than Napier or Kemba.

 

[CTBasketball]

Seriously. There big selling point on him is 12-2 in tourney games? Well Bazz is 12-1. Bazz lost 1 Friggin tourney game his entire career! And was shut out by the NCAA in one other.

Kemba was also 10-1 with a championship and 2 final fours.

 

[tzznandrew]

Cleaves was a 3 time all american, won a title, and went to 2 final fours. You can argue Kemba or Shabazz on the list, but Cleaves is not a bad pick either.

I'm not saying he's bad. But would you rather have a team with Shabazz Napier or Kemba Walker on it on the one hand, or Mateen Cleaves on the other.

Keep in mind their respective rosters, too, when they won their titles. Morris Peterson--who had a solid NBA career--was a senior and second team AA. Charlie Bell was a pro too. Oh, and they had a rookie Jason Richardson that title year too. In terms of NBA talent and experience, I'm not sure 2011 or 2014 quite match up.

In other words, No slight to their teammates, but whether through inexperience (Kemba) or NBA talent (Shabazz), did more with less.

 

[Gringo]

I'm not saying he's bad. But would you rather have a team with Shabazz Napier or Kemba Walker on it on the one hand, or Mateen Cleaves on the other.

Keep in mind their respective rosters, too, when they won their titles. Morris Peterson--who had a solid NBA career--was a senior and second team AA. Charlie Bell was a pro too. Oh, and they had a rookie Jason Richardson that title year too. In terms of NBA talent and experience, I'm not sure 2011 or 2014 quite match up.

In other words, No slight to their teammates, but whether through inexperience (Kemba) or NBA talent (Shabazz), did more with less.

Of course I take Kemba or Shabazz, but I'm betting every Michigan State fan takes Mateen. I'm just saying it's hard to argue against a 3 time all american that went to two final fours and won a championship being included. There's only 10 players on the list, all of which are deserving. You can definitely construct a valid argument that Kemba and / or Shabazz should be included, but I don't see anyone on the list who is undeserving or shouldn't be there.

 

[Kitaman]

Jason Williams was better than Hurley @ dook. The list is subjective but no UConn player is ludicrous. Bazz with a 7th seed team, beat a formidable uk team, and a bunch of top 10s throughout the Tourney, of course Kemba destroyed the Tournament with a bunch of Freshman.

A strong case for Melo could be made along the lines of Kemba. And Melo was only a freshman! Its a tough list no doubt but if you put Cleaves or Hurley on our Championship Teams replacing Bazz/Boat I say we don't win.

By the way Cleaves couldn't beat dook in 99 (FF), and a little known guard named Ricky Moore did. Just sayin . . . . . . . . . .

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Seriously. There big selling point on him is 12-2 in tourney games? Well Bazz is 12-1. Bazz lost 1 Friggin tourney game his entire career! And was shut out by the NCAA in one other.

Kemba was 10-1.

 

[BoatShow]

David Robinson:0 Final 4s 0 Titles...oh fun

 

[Gurleyman]

Not sure Larry Johnson belongs there - he wasn't the MOP of the year he won and then they choked the second time. But there are arguments against Kemba and Bazz. They each really only had one year apiece as non-role players, so the depth of their tournament success is really all about that one season (and they both had bad sophomore years).

If they went with best single-year runs, then Melo, Kemba and Bazz are probably all in there (and Glen Rice - that dude was unguardable for an entire month).

 

[willie99]

at first I thought there might be 10 guys better, who knows

then I saw Dixon & Cleaves and started laughing

Kemba & Bazz both played in 2 final fours, Bazz has two rings while Kemba carried a bunch of freshmen to the promised land

forgetaboutit

 

[caw]

Any argument against Kemba or Napier is nullified by including Ewing. As the article says its about the expanded field and seeing as he only had one year in the expanded field and it wasn't better than either Kemba or Napiers best.

 

[Horatio]

This list is invalid. Next!!!!!

 

[Husky1964]

Cleeves never made much of an NBA career.

 

[Stainmaster]

Cleeves never made much of an NBA career.

That's not what this list is arguing. But that's besides the point.

I don't get why lists like these are even posted here and put up for discussion. We all know that everyone here's list looks like this:

1. Kemba
2. Shabazz
3. The rest can all go to hell

 

[HailUConn]

That's not what this list is arguing. But that's besides the point.

I don't get why lists like these are even posted here and put up for discussion. We all know that everyone here's list looks like this:

1. Kemba
2. Shabazz
3. The rest can all go to hell

Love or Hate him, the player from Dook should be there with Kemba and Bazz.