I believe even John Wooden was more impressed with Walton. When asked about Kareem leaving, he said wait until you see who is coming in...
Agree. This was a foolish exercise. A better use of time would have been to select the top 64 teams, all-time, for both men and women. Then, on the women's side, you might have had the 2016 UConn team facing the 2012 Baylor team or the 1998 Tennessee team in the finals.
Walton was a better all around player, and he was better defensively. But when you needed a basket Kareem was above all else. Now, why was there no mention of the greatest athlete to every play the forward position, Wilt Chamberlain?
I hope cherries jubilee gets a 1-seed.Personally I'd rather do a bracket of top desserts... or sandwiches
The horses are running. Still time to get down on the late Pick 4 at Oaklawn.
How ridiculous it is to pit men vs women.He had the single greatest championship game ever when he was a junior in 1973. He was 21-22 from the field and had 44 points. He also had four baskets disallowed on the basis of the no dunk rule back then ( put into effect because of Alcindor) or he would have been 25-26 plus two free throws for 52 points. When he was healthy in the NBA he led Portland to a title. Then he developed foot problems. What you saw in Boston in his latter years was like watching Jordan when he played for Washington. He was the best college player I ever saw. Yes, even better than Alcindor.
Len Bias was my favorite male college player ever. I don't understand how they took college players who played one year and stick them in ahead of a player like Bias.
He played center but you are right on the money. He was literally the whole track and field team for Kansas. He won the high jump three years in a row, ran the 100 yard dash, won the triple jump and broad jump, and even threw the shot in the Big 12 Championships. His basketball team only made it to the finals one year losing in overtime or double overtime to North Carolina after he fouled out. BTW, he high jumped 6'6" in 8th grade!
You're just so right The problem goes beyond recency bias. Most people today never saw him play. To many he's just a legend. But to those of us who saw this guy he was a marvel. IMHO he was the greatest athlete to ever play in the Association. All you need do is look at the highlights of him running the floor and your eyes pop out of your head. Yes, even The Greek Freak comes in a distant second...and Wilt is not on the list.
If you've never had it you're in for a real treat...said JordyG after having 2 wonderful red velvet cupcakes today.I get phone alerts from ESPN every time something Duke related happens...... got 2 alerts about this poll. One was a matchup pitting JJ Redick vs Sheryl Swoopes... and the other was Grant Hill vs Rebecca Lobo
Never had that... had to google to see what it consists of. I'm not a huge cherry fan... but sounds like it would be tasty on top of a piece of pound cake or chocolate cake.
Every player you mentioned should one day be enshrined in the WBB HOF. One or two may make the Naismith HOF. BTW, I had the pleasure of meeting Holdsclaw about 2 years ago at my local gym of all places. My UConn gear has sparked a conversation on more than one occasion at the gym.Imagine averaging 50 points and 26 rebounds a game for an entire NBA season in 1962! He was also an unbelievable all around player. In 1968 he led the NBA in assists. He was the greatest passing center in basketball history and no one will ever come close.
I think the contenders in women's college basketball are Stewart, Taurasi and Cheryl Miller. Taurasi gets my vote because of who wasn't on her team. I love the Geno story about finding her crying in the locker room because of the pressure she knew was on her. She was at her best in the biggest games, except her last game freshman year. Based on her own statements, you could argue that that one terrible game made her the incredible player she became.
Walton went 21 for 22 in a national championship game. He had 4 dunks disallowed because of a no dunking rule. Ended with 44 point which could have been 50 while only missing 1 shot. He has multiple national titles and I'm not positive if freshmen were able to play back then. I know Freshmen could not play when Jabbar, ok Alcinder was at UCLA. He won 3 titles, and if you don't think he would have won 4 well UCLA won the title when he could not be on the team as a freshman yet he and the other freshmen would beat the national champs in practice. If they playeda real game they would have won. Simply put at 7'2" with a sky hook he was the hardest player to defend ever including Jordan, or Chamberlain. He should best Stewart in the finals of this mock tournament.
Walton could not play as a freshman. The rule allowed freshmen in Division 1 to play for the 1972-1973 season (Division 3 allowed it in 1968-1969). Walton was a freshman in the 1970-1971 season and graduated in 1974, after North Carolina State with David Thompson upset UCLA in the national semis. The Wolfpack went on to win the NC and break the UCLA streak of 7 in a row. The Bruins came back the next year, Wooden's last, to win it again. Incidentally, no one ever said that the UCLA teams were "bad" for college basketball even though they won 10 NCs in 12 years. In fact it was the opposite. The UCLA-Houston game in the Astrodome is long considered to be "The Game of the Century" that made college basketball a national game ( it was blacked out in Houston even though the Dome was sold out and Houstonians drove as much as a hundred miles to watch the game ). It was the first college basketball game broadcast nationally during primetime. Interestingly, The Game was January 20, 1968. Some 27 years later in the same month, on the 16th to be exact, the women's version of The Game took place in Storrs when UCONN beat Tennessee. The UCLA "dynasty" lasted from 1964-1975. UCONN started its own in 1995 and it is still going, The New York Times and other "dissers" notwithstanding. With our recruits and returnees, we should be "bad" for women's basketball for the foreseeable future.
