Maybe not the best to everyone but at least Top 3 undoubtedly to most Kentucky fans in our history. Great article that I agree with. AD may be the most under appreciated Superstar of his era.
Here is a great read on our best player ever AD23!
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He scores 40 pts and 9 rebounds last night and people still hating on him because of the trade. He didn’t ask for the trade and now he will forever be linked to this shitshow, especially if the Lakers win a championship this year or next season.
Exactly he single handily kept them from being blown out by 30+ but had no help because everyone is hurt besides him and PJ.
Definitely the best UK player ever. No question.
He saved his healthy season for us! I'll always appreciate that on top of some of the best lob catches I've ever seen in one of the least stressful tourneys i can remember watching
He's the most accomplished UK player ever as far as max success during his tenure. Player of the year and more importantly final four and title and UK record 38 wins n a season. He then won Olympic gold and has had a great nba career and won a title there too.
Lakers will not pass the Timberwolves. Randle, Edwards &co will take of the Lakers primadona…
He’s the most talented player to wear the blue and white and it’s not that close. Better has a lot of company.
There is alot of question. I'd take Issel or Mashburn over him while at UK
Agree. We've had people who were far more polished scorers when they played at UK, but non more impactful in any game he was in. His offense began to come around late in the season, but his shot blocking, overall defense and rebounding were almost extraterrestrial. We never would have gotten to the FF, let alone won No 8 without him. Issel was no doubt better offensively, but he played 3 years of varsity ball. Oscar might have been as good a rebounder, but he weighed 40 pounds more than AD. And which freshman do you ever recall being a consensus First Team AA, NPOY, winner of the John Wooden award, the best player on a NC team and the No 1 pick in the NBA draft. I can't recall ANY player who did all that, and as a freshman no less.
Issel and Mashburn have a couple things missing on their resumes: winning NPOY and a Natty. AD did it when neither Issel or Mashburn could play varsity ball as freshmen. AD never played beyond his freshman year, but those two never did it as upperclassman either. I loved Mashburn, but he got stuffed way too much at the rim. Issel didn't get stuffed that much in college ball, but he did a fair bit in the NBA, especially when he was up against Dave Dubuchere.
AD was the best player when he played AT Kentucky ever. Shai may end up being our Jordan.
Title is "click bait". lol
@arenk Mashburn did get to play as a freshman.
I still give the nod to some players that played multiple years. I know, different era. But, that's the way I see it. I debate it in my mind often and Davis is one of the best along with a handful of others. I wish I could have seen some of the greats that were before my time.
@arenk Mashburn did get to play as a freshman.
I still give the nod to some players that played multiple years. I know, different era. But, that's the way I see it. I debate it in my mind often and Davis is one of the best along with a handful of others. I wish I could have seen some of the greats that were before my time.
Really fine player. Best EVER?????
That gets into a Lotta subjectives: rules of the game, style of the coaches...yadda yadda...
But he certainly was (and is) a great talent!
That gets into a Lotta subjectives: rules of the game, style of the coaches...yadda yadda...
But he certainly was (and is) a great talent!
And tell me what any of them accomplished in their three to four years compared to AD’s one.
This isn’t a Kevin Durant situation. Where he put up gaudy numbers, won player of the year and then got bounced in the second round.
Mavs should have started Gafford next to AD instead of Lively. AD/Gafford together have been dominant in what little time together they have had on the court. They had no answer for Ja Morant. PJ was garbage Friday night against Memphis, one of the worst games I've ever seen him play. The Mavs need a PG in free agency, to let Kyrie play the SG when he returns. AD needs to just rest all summer, whatever the problem with that abductor is needs to fully heal. It's amazing he still put up 40 playing with that.
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They are going to tank the Mavericks and move the team to Vegas if the Texas Legislature doesn’t give the Adelsons what they want in terms of gaming.
I still think they’re going to do it anyway because not only did they trade Luka they alienated Dirk completely and Cuban has no power anymore even though in his purchasing agreement he was supposed to be involved with all basketball decisions. That’s just monumentally stupid.
Some of my favorites won 2 titles and a runner up. But, none of those I would consider in the running for the "best". Lots of variables to be in consideration for the best at UK. One of mine is total career, with AD still in contention. No worries.
Until Kentucky has another Hall of Famer it has to be Dan Issel,
Issel is the Wildcats' all-time leading scorer with 2,138 points . All-American twice a school-record 25.7 points per game. As a senior Issel averaged 33.9 points per game. Issel's career at Kentucky coincided with that of Pete Maravich at SEC rival LSU, who scored an NCAA-record 3,667 points (44.2 per game). Maravich and Issel finished 1–2 in SEC Player of the Year voting in each of their three seasons. Voted ABA Rookie of the Year in 1971, he was a 7x-time All-Star. He is the second-leading scorer of all time for the NBA's Denver Nuggets, and the second-leading scorer of all time for the ABA itself. When Issel retired from the NBA in 1985, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Julius Erving were the only professional basketball players to have scored more career points. In 1993, Issel was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Issel was inducted into the University of Kentucky Athletics Hall of Fame in 2005. In 2006, Issel was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame.
Issel is the Wildcats' all-time leading scorer with 2,138 points . All-American twice a school-record 25.7 points per game. As a senior Issel averaged 33.9 points per game. Issel's career at Kentucky coincided with that of Pete Maravich at SEC rival LSU, who scored an NCAA-record 3,667 points (44.2 per game). Maravich and Issel finished 1–2 in SEC Player of the Year voting in each of their three seasons. Voted ABA Rookie of the Year in 1971, he was a 7x-time All-Star. He is the second-leading scorer of all time for the NBA's Denver Nuggets, and the second-leading scorer of all time for the ABA itself. When Issel retired from the NBA in 1985, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Julius Erving were the only professional basketball players to have scored more career points. In 1993, Issel was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Issel was inducted into the University of Kentucky Athletics Hall of Fame in 2005. In 2006, Issel was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame.
And even then Kevin Durant is objectively one of the top 3 Texas players of all time minimum. Probably the best.
I don't know if it's the right answer, but Jamal Mashburn was the most talented all around player I've ever seen wear a Kentucky jersey, and my memories go back to the early 80s. Feel free to disagree, just my opinion. Not talking about Kentucky or career resumes. Strictly all around talent.
I was at the game. I believe it was 1971 and Issel couldn't get a shot off against Dave. I yelled out to Dubuchere in the warm-up, 'Can you handle Issel' and he looked at me and smiled. True story.
The “and it’s not that close” phrase always comes up in these greatest ever debates, always makes me smile. Of course it’s close!
Agree AD is the most accomplished of all UK greats. Was he the best? No idea. Issel was pretty good, good enough to be I think a top 5 all time scorer in pro basketball history when he retired. Mashburn was really good. Not sure how you pick. As always, depends on what is meant by “greatest”.
Agree AD is the most accomplished of all UK greats. Was he the best? No idea. Issel was pretty good, good enough to be I think a top 5 all time scorer in pro basketball history when he retired. Mashburn was really good. Not sure how you pick. As always, depends on what is meant by “greatest”.
I said I thought 1971, but it could have been another year. DeBuchere's face was priceless when I yelled that out to him. After he stuffed Issel and basically shut him down, I understood why he was smiling. In fairness to Issel, Debuchere was one of the best defensive players in that era.
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Issel and Mash didn't have an impact like Anthony Davis. They were both great, but Davis on booth sides of the floor was wild. Every player was scared to drive, ive never seen anything like it.
Mash burn had a HUGE impact. He pretty much brought UK back from the dead after the probation era. He also did so with a markedly weaker supporting cast than AD had.
Yeah I had originally seen that he was supposed to control basketball operations but the very next year he was like “I have no decision making power.”
yeah they were and we had another great defender in T Jones right beside him.
I love AD and all but that's stretching calling him the best player ever at UK there have been so many great players come and go. Even though he was before my time and probably your time Dan Issel for one off of the top of my head says hold my beer....
I listened to a podcast a couple of months ago where he went over his decision to sell. He said the two factors were that the direction of professional sports ownership was shifting towards real estate development (ie where they were going to maximize revenue streams) and it wasn’t something he was interested in and he didn’t want to leave it to his children to deal with and wanted them to be free of an obligation to own an NBA team.
However you want to slice it, Davis is a special category and a unique superlative in his own right within this program's storied history.
A lot of jerseys hanging in the rafters don't have national championships, and among those that do, AD is clearly the best individual player.
A lot of jerseys hanging in the rafters don't have national championships, and among those that do, AD is clearly the best individual player.
Dan Issel was great for his time. Anthony Davis would've swatted his jumpers into the uppers. It's a different type of athlete these days. Even if you want to compare dominance, Davis was much more feared and impacted the game more.