Cooler Than You: Some Of The Best Of College Basketball
Posted by jstevrtc on November 6th, 2009
Just about anyone can name the best teams in college basketball, and, as far as individual players, if you’re reading this site you can most likely reel off three or four of your own personal All-America teams. But what about those individuals who specifically excel at a few of the more exciting aspects of the game? There are certain plays that make everyone come out of their seats: a massive and powerful dunk that liberates some poor defender of his pride; a ridiculously long three-pointer, especially at crunch time; and a blocked shot where the ball goes into orbit. And of course everyone loves basketball players with cool names. So here they are: RTC’s rankings of the best dunkers, best long-range bombers, best shot-blockers, and coolest names in the game today.
The Most Excellent Dunkers
Unlike the NBA All-Star Weekend, we’ll begin with the dunk artists. Each player is listed with a link leading you to an example or two of his work. Sorry, UConn fans. We respect you and your team, but we had to put Summers over Robinson because…well, you know why.
- Paul George, Fresno State (vs St. Mary’s 2008, practice video 2009, Open Gym 2009)
- Chris Wright, Dayton (vs Ohio State 2008, vs Marquette 2008)
- Durrell Summers, Michigan State (vs UConn over S. Robinson 2009, vs Minnesota 2009)
- Stanley Robinson, Connecticut (vs Michigan State 2009, vs Villanova 2008)
- Isaiah Thomas, Washington (Madness 09)
- Scotty Hopson, Tennessee (vs Arkansas 2009)
- Keion Bell, Pepperdine (Madness 09, Madness 09 over 5 guys)
Honorable Mention (or, guys who will probably be on this list by year’s end): Will Coleman, Memphis; John Wall, Kentucky; Delvon Roe, Michigan State; Wes Johnson, Syracuse.
The All-Jeff Fryer Team
This list of the best long-range bombers is named after the legendary (in our minds) Loyola Marymount guard who still holds the record for most three-pointers made in an NCAA Tournament game, an incredible 11 against Michigan in 1990’s second round. If you can catch that game on ESPN Classic, it is something to behold. You have to be a little nuts to be a bomber; you have to forget your last miss like it never happened and be willing to keep firing even when they just won’t fall (our editors are familiar with this feeling). Here’s our ranking of 25 of this season’s best:
- T.J. Campbell, Portland
- Rihards Kuksiks, Arizona State
- Jared Stohl, Portland
- Andrew Goudelock, College Of Charleston
- Mike Roll, UCLA
- Jerome Randle, California
- Brandon Hazzard, Troy
- Ryan Staudacher, Montana
- Corey Allmond, Sam Houston State
- Ryan Wittman, Cornell
- Josh Young, Drake
- Corey Stokes, Villanova
- Jonathan Tavernari, BYU
- Gordon Hayward, Butler
- Troy Cotton, Wisconsin-Green Bay
- Tweety Carter, Baylor
- Rotnei Clarke, Arkansas
- Corey Lowe, Boston University
- Ricky Harris, Massachusetts
- Mac Hopson, Idaho
- Andy Rautins, Syracuse
- Nic Wise, Arizona
- Willie Warren, Oklahoma
- Jimmy Langhurst, Robert Morris
- Kelvin Lewis, Houston
