ESPN Bracket: Introducing college basketball's greatest of all time (men and women)
ESPN has created a bracket pitting men and women college basketball players against one another. It's about best players in history, not in the tournament.
ESPN includes 2 players from UM: Webber and Rice. Both are low seeds. Rice is up against Magic in the 1st round. Webber faces Cheryl Miller, a tall task. It's interesting that Cazzie is not on the list.
Does anyone here have a better sense of the history of the game (ahem, Mr. Ross) who can say whether Cazzie should be there? What about Burke?
This is absolutely ridiculous. There isnt one Male vs Female matchup that wouldn't result in the lady getting destroyed.
I know it's very politically incorrect to say this but, oh the hell with it, I'm going to say it anyways.
Men, especially very large and athletic men, are exponentially stronger, faster and can jump WAY higher than a similar female. I know this is an unpopular take but I'm feeling gusty this AM so I'm going to say it and take my lumps.
It's not that it's politically incorrect; it's just lazy, reductionist, and stupid.
Do you think this bracket is about who would win a 1 v 1 game? It's about who was the best and most impactful players.
Also, the makers of this bracket absolutely screwed up by not making it Cheryl v Reggie in the first round.
It says "Who's the greatest player in college basketball history?" at the beginning of the article. Not "who is the most impactful player in college basketball history". 1 v 1 is certainly a topic of discussion in my opinion
March 20th, 2020 at 10:26 AM ^
Do you think that these are matchups where the winner is who they think would win in a 1 vs 1 game?
Bless your heart because I figured you were smarter than that
March 20th, 2020 at 12:29 PM ^
Well in fairness to me all it states is they're doing this to determine who was the greatest college basketball player of all time. Full stop. Any other interpretation is just what you surmise they were thinking.
I apologize for my obvious stupidity in thinking that the measure of one's college basketball "greatness" would involve playing basketball.
March 20th, 2020 at 11:46 AM ^
This was a discussion I had with some buddies when I was in high school. We were trying to determine what percentile we were in of basketball players in the world if we played high school basketball.
I have to preface this by saying that this was before international basketball programs kicked in. There were few opportunities for guys like the Wagner brothers to grow into the players they are. International players in the NBA were an anomaly. Our college players were kicking butt at the Olympics every 4 years. We ruled the world in basketball. There was also no WNBA and very few other opportunities for young girls to play and improve.
There were approximately 6 billion people worldwide at the time, 2.94 billion men (49%), 3.06 billion women (51%). We started out with the assumption that you were better than all the women players in the world. There were some women who could beat most HS males one on one, but that number was negligible. That put you in the top 49% in the world. We next figured that you were better than most of the men in the world outside of the US (again, the number of non-US men who could beat a HS player was negligible). That left about 147 million US men. Only 5% of them played HS basketball, so you were in the top 7.35 million worldwide. That put you in the top .12% of all basketball players in the world.
March 20th, 2020 at 11:53 AM ^
That and $1.89 will you get a Pepsi at the gas station. ;) To be fair, I did the same thing regarding my track prowess coming out of HS. I forget the numbers, but I quickly realized being in the top .1% doesn't mean much when only the top .0001% matter. Well, I guess it did matter a little bit. I knew I could almost always run from trouble if needed....
But will it get me a free ticket to a Michigan football game like a 2-Coke™ purchase once did?
March 20th, 2020 at 10:53 AM ^
Kareem was the most dominant college player by far and it’s not close. He is the college b-ball MJ
March 20th, 2020 at 11:30 AM ^
That's what comes from being gusty (or bragging about being gutsy).
Rice vs Magic. Lol seriously? He hasnt been effed like that since the Palin days. Truly a man known for banging 3s.
I know he won’t win, but to me the fact Larry Bird took Indiana Fucking State to an undefeated regular season and all the way to the title game, where it took a team with 3 future NBA players, one of whom is a top 5 all time legend, to finally beat him, is perhaps the most amazing feat in NCAA history.
I know Kareem, Walton, Laettner, Jordan and others had more successful college careers in terms of winning titles, but they had some pretty damn good teammates. Bird had a bunch of guys who were never even close to being mentioned in the same breath as the words “All-American”
It’s interesting to think what Bird would have achieved at IU if he’d stayed there. He might have won 3-4 titles.
(yawn)
How can anyone (male or female) defeat Wilt Chamberlain in the first round?