Andy Katz got some conversation going today by ranking
the ten best players Rick Pitino coached in college. It is an interesting discussion, brought on by Pitino's induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Andy listed them this way:
1. Tony Delk
2. Jamal Mashburn
3. Antoine Walker
4. Reece Gaines
5. Ron Mercer
6. Billy Donovan
7. Peyton Siva
8. Derek Anderson
9. Francisco Garcia
10. Walter McCarty
Not a terrible list, but also not one that I can totally subscribe to...especially at the top. So I revised it for my own purposes.
MATT's LIST:
1. Mashburn
2. Delk
3. Walker
4. Garcia
5. Mercer
6. Gaines
7. Anderson
8. McCarty
9. Donovan
10. T-Will
You will never convince me that Mashburn is not the best player of the modern era of Kentucky basketball. In his prime, he was completely dominant and considering his three year career, I put him on the Mount Rushmore of UK hoops. Delk should be #2 as he probably has the best 4 year career of any UK player of my lifetime. I put Garcia #4 because of the Louisville guys of the past 15 years, he was the one that always scared me the most when playing well. I have Donovan much lower (great story, only good player) and I replace Siva with Terrence Williams, who I believe was a better player. Honorable mention would go to Wayne Turner and Siva, who both just miss the list.
Now on the other side,
I created a list of Calipari's best players. We will add that he has to have recruited the player (thus meaning that he doesn't get Patrick Patterson, who otherwise probably makes the list). Here would be my Calipari list:
1. Derrick Rose
2. Anthony Davis
3. Marcus Camby
4. John Wall
5. Demarcus Cousins
6. Brandon Knight
7. MKG
8. Tyreke Evans
9. Chris Douglas-Roberts
10. Nerlens Noel
My list is tough at the top as Rose and Davis probably had two of the best three college seasons of the last decade. I put Rose slightly ahead (and we are only looking at college here, not the pros), because I think his near perfect season on a much less talented team is worthy of praise. Davis had more honors than any player in college basketball ever for one year and is a stud. Camby was a college beast and Wall/Cousins are easy. Some object to Brandon Knight at #6 but I think for his college year, he was amazing. He lived in Wall's shadow but still took a team to a Final Four and actually had better stats than Wall. MKG is MKG, Tyreke lived in Rose's shadow and people forget how good Douglas-Roberts was at time. Noel is #10 and could have been higher without the energy. Honorable mention goes to Bledsoe whose production increased in the NBA and would be a top 7 on the list had he just not been on a team so loaded.
That's my list...what is yours:
Andy Katz got some conversation going today by ranking the ten best players Rick Pitino coached in college. It is an interesting discussion, brought on by Pitino's induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Andy listed them this way:
1. Tony Delk
2. Jamal Mashburn
3. Antoine Walker
4. Reece Gaines
5. Ron Mercer
6. Billy Donovan
7. Peyton Siva
8. Derek Anderson
9. Francisco Garcia
10. Walter McCarty
Not a terrible list, but also not one that I can totally subscribe to...especially at the top. So I revised it for my own purposes. MATT's LIST:
1. Mashburn
2. Delk
3. Walker
4. Garcia
5. Mercer
6. Gaines
7. Anderson
8. McCarty
9. Donovan
10. T-Will
You will never convince me that Mashburn is not the best player of the modern era of Kentucky basketball. In his prime, he was completely dominant and considering his three year career, I put him on the Mount Rushmore of UK hoops. Delk should be #2 as he probably has the best 4 year career of any UK player of my lifetime. I put Garcia #4 because of the Louisville guys of the past 15 years, he was the one that always scared me the most when playing well. I have Donovan much lower (great story, only good player) and I replace Siva with Terrence Williams, who I believe was a better player. Honorable mention would go to Wayne Turner and Siva, who both just miss the list.
Now on the other side, I created a list of Calipari's best players. We will add that he has to have recruited the player (thus meaning that he doesn't get Patrick Patterson, who otherwise probably makes the list). Here would be my Calipari list:
1. Derrick Rose
2. Anthony Davis
3. Marcus Camby
4. John Wall
5. Demarcus Cousins
6. Brandon Knight
7. MKG
8. Tyreke Evans
9. Chris Douglas-Roberts
10. Nerlens Noel
My list is tough at the top as Rose and Davis probably had two of the best three college seasons of the last decade. I put Rose slightly ahead (and we are only looking at college here, not the pros), because I think his near perfect season on a much less talented team is worthy of praise. Davis had more honors than any player in college basketball ever for one year and is a stud. Camby was a college beast and Wall/Cousins are easy. Some object to Brandon Knight at #6 but I think for his college year, he was amazing. He lived in Wall's shadow but still took a team to a Final Four and actually had better stats than Wall. MKG is MKG, Tyreke lived in Rose's shadow and people forget how good Douglas-Roberts was at time. Noel is #10 and could have been higher without the energy. Honorable mention goes to Bledsoe whose production increased in the NBA and would be a top 7 on the list had he just not been on a team so loaded.
That's my list...what is yours:
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