Here are the 20 greatest Men's College Basketball Players of all-time.
20.
Danny Manning (Kansas, 1984-1988): As a freshman, he seemed overhyped. As
it turns out, he was "accurately hyped." The Jayhawks won the
national title when Manning was a senior, despite a mediocre 21-11 record
during the regular season; had he turned pro as a junior, they might have
missed the NIT.
19. Anthony Davis (Kentucky 2011-2012): This
young star is a shoe in for the first pick of the NBA draft and is widely the
best college recruit in years. Davis was absolutely dominate in his first and
only year at Kentucky; a year in which he accumulated every single player of
the year award on way to his most valuable player award and National Title win
over rival Kansas. He has set numerous records for Division I shot blocking,
out blocking numerous teams all on his own. Davis is not only a double double
guy, his complete control and dominance of both sides of the floor command more
respect from other teams than any player in recent memory. He averaged 14
points, 10 rebounds, 5 blocks, and almost 2 steals a game. We can only imagine
if this young star stayed all 4 years.
18. Freeman Williams (Portland State, 1974-1978): The 6-foot-4 Williams averaged 30.9 as
a sophomore, 38.8 as a junior, and 35.9 as a senior. Just listen to those
numbers. I don’t care if he never won an NCAA title, these numbers are among
the greatest ever. He is second all-time highest Division I scorer behind
Maravich. He never won the title but won back to back scoring titles.
17. J.J. Redick (Duke, 2002-2006): Thousands of Americans despise Redick
including myself. Why? Simply because he played for Duke and hurt my Tarheels
more times than I can count. Redick is arguably the greatest college shooter of
all time. Proof: every modern day college shooter is compared to the former
Blue Devil. He never won a title but won scoring titles, and ended his career
as the all-time three point and ACC scorer ever (subsequently surpassed).
16.
Hank Gathers (Loyola Marymount, 1987-1990): The second man to lead the nation in
both scoring and boards, Gathers was a 6-foot-7 center who outran everybody and
adored offensive rebounding. You may not think he deserves such high ranking
but if you look at his career stats, some say he could have cracked the top 10
had he not collapsed and died from a heart condition in the middle of a game.
One of the worst in-game tragedies this country has ever seen.
15. Walter Berry (San Jacinto Junior College and St. John's
University, 1983-1986): Berry
had a fantastic college career highlighted by a fantastic year at St. John’s. At
St. John's University, Berry won the John Wooden Award and the Big
East Men's Basketball Player of the Year award plus USBWA
College Player of the Year in 1986, averaging 23 points and 11.1 rebounds
per game. That is a a legendary year. Berry, nicknamed "The Truth",
was also the second leading scorer on St. John's 1985 Final Four team.
14.
Jerry West (West Virginia 1957-1960): West a monster late in his college career. As a junior, West
scored 26.6 points and 12.3 rebounds a game. He dominated the NCAA tournament
scoring a record 160 points, 32 points per game, and led all scorers and
rebounders in every game he played. He was the MOP of the final four, an All
American and was named the Athlete of the year. In his final collegiate season (1959–60) West
averaged several career highs, such as scoring 29.3 points per game, a 134
season-assists, 16.5 rebounds per game, and a shooting average of 50.4%
from the field, 76.6% from the free throw line. In his collegiate career, West totaled
2,309 points and 1,240 rebounds. He averaged 24.8 points per
game and 13.3 rebounds.
13. Len
Bias (Maryland, 1982-1986): The
6”8 Guard was one of the most dynamic college players ever. An All American and
All ACC monster, Bias had as much hype as we have ever seen. Many feel he was as
talented as Jordan coming out of college. Though he passed away from a dramatic
and infamous overdose 2 days after being the second overall pick in the draft,
Bias made his mark on the college game. “Everyone
who played against him seems to insist he was the best college athlete they
ever faced, which is one of the complimentary upsides to dying young.”
12.
Tyler Hansbrough (North Carolina, 2005-2009): Hansbrough arguably has one of the
best complete college careers of all time. Though he is out performing his NBA
scouting report, Tyler is often compared to Tim Tebow for dominating the
College game with little Pro level potentional. With every ACC award under his
belt, Hansbrough also won every player of the year award in his senior and
National Title winning senior year in which he became ACC’s all time leading
scorer (passing Duke’s Reddick). He holds the NCAA record for most hit free
throws and has numerous records including most ACC double doubles, 21.1 points
per game for his career, and pretty much every single ACC record you can think
of. He left UNC a legend and brought in a title on his way out, truly one of
the best warriors and hardest working college athletes ever.
11.
Bill Bradley (Princeton 1962-1965): Bradley
was named to The Sporting News All-American first team in early 1963,
in his sophomore year. He was a second team All-American, making him the top
sophomore player in the country. As a
junior, The Sporting News named him player of the year.
Bradley
scored 2,503 points at Princeton, averaging 30.2 points per game. He was
awarded the 1965 James E. Sullivan Award, presented annually to the United
States' top amateur athlete, the first basketball player to win the honor. Bradley
holds numerous Ivy League career records, including total points (1,253) and
free throws made and attempted. Bradley was educated on and off the court,
there is no doubt he has earned a spot as one of the best.
10. Christian
Laettner (Duke, 1988-1992): I have
always strongly felt that Laettner was slightly overrated as a college player
and slightly underrated and underutilized as a pro but there is no doubt he is
one of the best college players ever. He played an insane 23 NCAA tournament
games over his 4 year career. That is only 1 less than possible with a 6 game
maximum each year. He averaged 17 and 8 while at Duke but holds numerous NCAA
tournament records: Most
points scored: 407; Most free throws made: 142; Most free throw
attempts: 167; Most games played: 23. He made and started in 4 consecutive
final fours. If these were not enough, he won player of the year awards and is
perhaps best known for hitting the most memorable basketball shot of all time
in a stunning 104-103 win over rival Kentucky.
9. Bill Russell (San Fransisco, 1953-1956):
The greatest NBA Champion of all time was also a very successful collegiate
player. Russell led San Fran to two NCAA titles in 1955 and 1956 while winning
many player of the year awards. He once blocked 13 shots in a game and for his
career averaged 20.7 points and 20.3 rebounds. That is the definition of the double
double. John Wooden once called him “the
greatest defensive man I’ve even seen.”
8. Wilt Chamberlain (Kansas,
1956-1958): Chamberlain was absolutely dominant in his college career. The 7
footer is known for his pure dominance in the paint as he simply overpowered
everyone in front of him. In his first varsity game ever, Wilt poured in 52
points and 31 rebounds. He was an all-american and brought the Jayhawks to the
finals where they lost in 4 overtimes to UNC. Over his career, Chamberlain
averaged 30 points and 18 rebounds. Along with Lew Alcinder, these two players
changed the way basketball would be played.
7. Oscar Robertson (Cincinnati 1957-1960):
Oscar is more well known for dominance on the pro level but he also had one of
the most amazing collegiate careers. Robertson averaged an amazing 33.8 points
per game for his career; the third highest in NCAA history. In each of his
three years, he won the national scoring title, was named an All-American, and
was chosen College Player of the Year, while setting 14 NCAA and 19 school
records. Robertson led the Cincinnati Bearcats to a 79–9 overall record during
his three varsity seasons, including two Final Four appearances. However, he
was not able to ever win a NCAA title.When Robertson left college he was the
all-time leading NCAA scorer until Pete Maravich topped him in 1970.
6.
Lionel Simmons (La Salle, 1986-1990): The list of players who've scored
2,000 points and snagged 1,000 rebounds is surprisingly long. The list of players
who scored3,000 points
while snagging 1,000 rebounds is not. The L-Train finished with 3,217 and
1,429. His stats alone are quite legendary. Simmons is widely considered one of
the top 5-6 college players ever to grace the courts.
5.
Ralph Sampson (Virginia, 1979-1983): Absolutely the most skilled
7-foot-4 player in college history, Sampson was one of the most recruited athletes
ever, gracing the SI cover 6 times in a short period. A three-time Naismith player of the year, Sampson
led Virginia to an NIT title and a final four appearance though he was never
able to get the title. He is only the second player ever to take home 3
Naismith Awards in his career.
4. David Thompson (North
Carolina State, 1973-1975): David
Thompson was a pure star. The North Carolina State player led his squad to an
undefeated season while winning the National title over the former champion
UCLA Bruins. He had a 48 vertical inch leap and is often credited with creating
the alley-oop. It was Thompson skill and talents which inspired MJ to become
the player he was and we all know how that turned out. Thompson averaged 26-29
points and 8 rebounds for three years straight while dominating the ACC.
3. Bill Walton (UCLA,
1971-1974): Walton
was the corner stone of one the best basketball dynasties ever. Walton and his
Bruins were led by Wooden and went onto win a record 88 straight games while
winning two titles. He was part of two 30-0 winning streaks and had 44 points
in a national title game. Many feel Walton was overrated but there is no
doubting this guy is one of the best college winners of all time. Very few
dominated like he did. Moreover, Walton
had the greatest offensive performance anyone's ever going to see in a
meaningful contest, hitting 21 of 22 against Memphis in the '73 title game.
2. Pete Maravich (LSU, 1967-1970): Let’s get right to the stats.
Pistol Pete averaged 44.2 points a game during his three-season career. In his
first game ever as a freshman he scored 50 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists. I cannot make this up. Maravich
averaged 44.2 points per game while shooting 43.8 percent from the field. His
career scoring average was higher than his career shooting percentage. Obviously,
this is mathematically possible, because it happened. Maravich scored 3,667
points — 1,138 of those in 1968, 1,148 in 1969 and 1,381 in 1970 while
averaging 43.8, 44.2 and 44.5 points per game. In his collegiate career, the 6'
5" guard averaged an incredible 44.2 points per game in 83 contests and
led the NCAA in scoring in each of his three seasons Maravich's longstanding
collegiate scoring record is particularly impressive when two other factors are
taken into account:
First, NCAA rules at the
time of Maravich's collegiate career prohibited freshmen from taking part in
varsity competition, preventing Maravich from adding to his career record for a
full quarter of his time at LSU. During this first year, Maravich scored 741
points in freshman competition.
Second,
Maravich played before the advent of the three-point line. His long-distance
shooting skill thus produced far fewer points than would have been the case in
a later era. Years later, former LSU head basketball coach Dale Brown charted every college game
Maravich played, taking into consideration all shots he took. Brown calculated
that at the NCAA rule of a three-point line at 19-foot (5.8 m), 9-inches
from the rim, Maravich would have averaged thirteen 3-point scores per game,
lifting the player's career average to 57 points per game. Simply insane.
1.
Lew Alcindor (UCLA, 1966-1969): 3
seasons; 3 titles, 2 player of the year awards. Soon to be known as Kareem
Abdul Jabar, Lew Alcindor had an impressive career enough on his own. The star
of the 88-2 UCLA team of the late sixties is the most imposing college athlete
of all-time. In his freshman year, Alcindor had 31 points, 21 boards, and eight
blocks in his first game ever. He averaged 26.4 points a game for his career,
had 943 field goals, and once scored 870 points in a season. To show his true
dominance, keep the following fact in mind. The slam dunk was banned from
college basketball after the 1967 season. Yes, all of college basketball changed
and you could no longer slam dunk, simply due to the dominance of Alcindor. If there
is not dominance I don’t know what is.
