Saturday, April 03, 2010

The Five Best College Basketball Teams I've Ever Seen

UNLV 1991
Duke 1999

Both of these teams I put the definitive "this is the best team ever!" stamp on; which of course led to them immediately losing. Grrr.

Duke 1992
Laettner is the best college player I ever saw, which clutches in the throat because even his own mother has been quoted "yeah, he's a bit of an asshole...did I say 'a bit'? I mean he's a complete fucking douchebag." Also, a shame that his shot against Kentucky will always overshadow their beating UNLV in the national semifinal the year before, which, with all 10 starters returning from the final a year before, will never be seen again.

Virginia 1983
When Virginia hoops mattered. Always a conundrum - was the team that great, or was Ralph THAT amazing? And if you go with the "Ralph was just that  amazing" argument, how do you explain them going to the Final Four...the year after he left? Or to the Final Four his sophomore year, when The Man was actually Jeff Lamp? Sampson's college legacy has been skewed due to him not winning a title and having a disappointing pro career, but you can go crazy wondering if he was the chicken or the egg with these Virginia teams. I'd say his college career was Shakespearian, but I am maybe the only person who ever majored in Literature without reading a lick of Shakespeare. So.

Kentucky 1996
This team had more pros on it's roster than Heidi Fliess. How the FUCK they lost to Arizona the next year in OT is a mystery; little is ever made of how close KY came to a three-peat. Also, I was in the arena the next year when Ole Miss beat their asses  :)

Georgetown 1984
If this team walked on the court right now as 50 year-old men, I'd drop a load in my pants. Very telling that they whupped Houston, who is maybe THE all-time team that didn't win a title, in 1984, and to this day nobody has noticed. Of course they did; Georgetown prolly would've taken the Celtics to six games that year. Yawn.

Houston 1983
Phi Slamma fuckin Jamma

Syracuse 1987
The Pearl. Me & Brothatime!!'s favorite non-ACC team.

And I'm too lazy to look it up, but that 1987 UNLV team with Freddie Banks, Jarvis Basnight (THE greatest name in NCAA history? Sounds like a Sherlock Holmes mystery!!!!), Armon Gilliam, Gerald Paddio and Mark Wade should've whipped Indiana's ass in the Final Four. Still baffled how Alford won that one.

2 comments:

Nerdhappy said...

Ewing in college was so wonderful to watch... especially when they played against Chris Mullin and St Johns.

What about the Fab Five of Michigan?

Xmastime said...

The Fab Five was a great team, and they certainly showed up come tournament time. But they always somehow seemed to be missing one thing, and I have no idea what that one thing was. Also, doesnt help them that they've had to forfeit their entire sophomore season due to Webber getting some free pizza. I also don't know if they incited such national fear as those other teams did. I mean, they played in the Big 10, which wasn't exactly the NFC East. Out of the teams I listed and the Fab Five, if I had to play a team for the title, I'd wanna play the Fab Five.

Tho if they had stuck together for four years, all hell woulda broken loose :)