The Mount Rushmore of 21st century college basketball players is all white

[Lensanity]

Tyler Hansbrough, Adam Morrison, JJ Redick, Doug McDermott

Honorable Mention: Jimmer Fredette


Very interesting how much different this is compared to the NBA.

[SugarHill]

Durant
Melo
Anthony Davis

???

do they get penalized for staying a single year?

[Lensanity]

Durant
Melo
Anthony Davis

???

do they get penalized for staying a single year?
Yes, and Anthony Davis wasn't THAT good.

[JimmyMcAdocious]

Emeka Okafor over Jimmer, imo. Not sure if you are doing positions.

[Kblaze8855]

How many of those people would have been top three picks after their first season? When you have guys like Durant, Rose, Davis, Wall, Kyrie, Beasley, KAT, Melo and so on looking like future superstars after 10 games or so in college they aren't staying four seasons. What's the point? You go to college to prepare for your professional life. If you can sign a 16 million dollar guaranteed contract with a 30 million dollar shoe deal after playing one year in college you do it.

Its not black and white it's dollars and cents. Going to three more years of college could cost somebody like Durant an extra max contract or near max contract at the end of his career. You swapping 60 or so million dollars to go to college for three more years when every jump can possibly ruin your career?

Durant was signing for 90 million dollars when he would have been a senior in college. Rose was winning mvp and getting 200 million from adidas. Davis just signed for a hundred and forty million when he would have just been starting his rookie contract had he stayed in school. Staying in school under those circumstances just isn't prudent when you don't have something solid at home to fall back on.

That may mean the most talented college athletes don't get on whatever you consider the college Mount Rushmore but it says nothing negative about the players in question.

Even a bust who gets taken top 10 is set for life if he isn't an idiot. I acknowledge that many of them are idiots but even if you were an idiot with a degree you still aren't likely to make $15,000,000 by 25.

taking the money is just common sense.

[SugarHill]

Yes, and Anthony Davis wasn't THAT good.
He was better than all those guys you mentioned in his one season :confusedshrug:

So was Beasley

[Lensanity]

He was better than all those guys you mentioned in his one season :confusedshrug:




You are an idiot

[SugarHill]

You are an idiot
national player of the year
14/10/5blks (35 PER)
final four MVP
DPotY

what makes any of them better?

[HurricaneKid]

Yes, and Anthony Davis wasn't THAT good.

He led the NCAA in ORTG (139) AND DRTG (80.3). Which means when he was on the floor over the course of the season his team outscored opponents by 58.7 points/100 possessions.

PER of 35.1 and TS% of .654. 4.8 blocks a game.

Consensus player of the year, led his team to an NCAA title.


Yes. He was THAT good. Best college prospect since Shaq/David Robinson.

[Lensanity]

He led the NCAA in ORTG (139) AND DRTG (80.3). Which means when he was on the floor over the course of the season his team outscored opponents by 58.7 points/100 possessions.

PER of 35.1 and TS% of .654. 4.8 blocks a game.

Consensus player of the year, led his team to an NCAA title.


Yes. He was THAT good. Best college prospect since Shaq/David Robinson.
Yes, but my point is he was still more of a prospect. He didn't blow up until his 2nd year in the NBA.

[FreezingTsmoove]

Yes, and Anthony Davis wasn't THAT good.

Way to expose yourself as a guy who doesnt watch college basketball

[ralph_i_el]

You are an idiot

I have never seen another college player have as big an impact outside of scoring. He was an absolute animal that season, even though he rarely took a jumper. He was a one man elite defense who finished everything around the basket.


Yes, but my point is he was still more of a prospect. He didn't blow up until his 2nd year in the NBA.

no, he wasn't. He wasn't a great shooter, and obviously you need to have a decent shot to be an elite NBA scorer, so people knew he'd need to make SOME improvements to become an all-star. However, his defense was otherworldly and so were his hands/finishing ability. He was a safe NBA pick. His floor was "he never learns to shoot, and anchors the paint for 15 years, finishes everything on the PnR" and guys like that are $10m+ men in this league.

[ShawkFactory]

He led the NCAA in ORTG (139) AND DRTG (80.3). Which means when he was on the floor over the course of the season his team outscored opponents by 58.7 points/100 possessions.

PER of 35.1 and TS% of .654. 4.8 blocks a game.

Consensus player of the year, led his team to an NCAA title.


Yes. He was THAT good. Best college prospect since Shaq/David Robinson.
Probably Duncan

[sd3035]

include academics and the top 100 all time would be a white sweep

[tmacattack33]

Those dudes stayed longer than usual and gained more popularity than anyone else, but i wouldn't say they were the best

[Lensanity]

I have never seen another college player have as big an impact outside of scoring. He was an absolute animal that season, even though he rarely took a jumper. He was a one man elite defense who finished everything around the basket.



no, he wasn't. He wasn't a great shooter, and obviously you need to have a decent shot to be an elite NBA scorer, so people knew he'd need to make SOME improvements to become an all-star. However, his defense was otherworldly and so were his hands/finishing ability. He was a safe NBA pick. His floor was "he never learns to shoot, and anchors the paint for 15 years, finishes everything on the PnR" and guys like that are $10m+ men in this league.


Well, duh. Obviously he was an elite defender and blocked a flat out unbelievable number of shots every game but he clearly just wasn't that talented of a scorer. He was still mostly potential at that point.

Of course he was very very very good but didn't take over games such as the likes of Morrison and Redick.

[hawksdogsbraves]

national player of the year
14/10/5blks (35 PER)
final four MVP
DPotY

what makes any of them better?

Only that they all stayed for four years. If somebody comes into the league and wins MVP as a rookie and then gets hurt and never plays again he's not going to be considered a top 10 player of all time.

If Davis, (or Durant or Melo or Wall or any other number of guys) had stayed four years they would obviously be on there. Those guys were dominating the NBA when they would have still been in school, we can only imagine how dominant they would have been against college athletes.

[ralph_i_el]

Well, duh. Obviously he was an elite defender and blocked a flat out unbelievable number of shots every game but he clearly just wasn't that talented of a scorer. He was still mostly potential at that point.

Of course he was very very very good but didn't take over games such as the likes of Morrison and Redick.

dude he scored 14ppg on 62% shooting. He played with a decent amount of offensive talent around him, so it's not like he was being fed the ball and asked to make plays. He was an elite finisher at the rim. If he had played on a weaker squad, we would have seen him making more plays from the elbow, and probably would have had 20ppg on 52-55%

Defense is half the game and he's maybe the greatest defensive college basketball player of all time. His squad dominated their way to a championship. You can say he was mostly potential when he was clearly the best player in the country, and led his team to an overwhelming championship win.

[chips93]

He led the NCAA in ORTG (139) AND DRTG (80.3). Which means when he was on the floor over the course of the season his team outscored opponents by 58.7 points/100 possessions.

but when he was on the floor, he shared it with 4 other mcdonalds all americans, so its not really a level playing field.

davis didnt have to do much creating offensively because his squad was so stacked, but that doesnt mean we can assume that he still would have been great offensively had his team needed him to. he was solid offensively, but skill level wise he never jumped out while at uk.

people forget the expectations of him around draft time, people were talking about a rich man's marcus camby. he wasnt the once in a generation type talent people are retrospectively claiming him as. he was a pretty average talent for a number one pick.

[ralph_i_el]

but when he was on the floor, he shared it with 4 other mcdonalds all americans, so its not really a level playing field.

davis didnt have to do much creating offensively because his squad was so stacked, but that doesnt mean we can assume that he still would have been great offensively had his team needed him to. he was solid offensively, but skill level wise he never jumped out while at uk.

people forget the expectations of him around draft time, people were talking about a rich man's marcus camby. he wasnt the once in a generation type talent people are retrospectively claiming him as. he was a pretty average talent for a number one pick.

That's not what I remember. I remember "rich man's marcus camby" being his FLOOR.

[BlazerRed]

That's because the rocks are more white than black.

[HylianNightmare]

No it isn't