🏀 KuBuckets Archive

The Athletic did a cool story where some of their writers picked the best college basketball player wear each jersey number was. The limited their decisions to players who played post WWII and only jerseys that end in the numbers 0-5 so there was no Bill Russell since he wore 6. KU actually had the most players as the best to wear a specific number with 4 players. They also did an honorable mention for each number as well. Frank Mason was their choice for 0, Wilt for 13, Danny for 25, and LaFrentz was the pick for 45.

Other KU players that were honorable mentions were Thomas Robinson and Drew Gooden for 0. Nick Collision for 4 and Paul Pierce for 34.

The number 4 was one of the most stacked numbers as evidenced by Sherron and Devonte not even being honorable mention. Their choice for the best 4 in college history was Larry Johnson while the honorable mention players were JJ Redick, Chris Webber, Kenyon Martin, Andrew Bogut, and Victor Oladipo along with Collision. I can't even really argue against Sherron and Devonte being excluded because all of those players were NPOY's during their careers.

As for 34, they went with Austin Carr which I can't argue against.

They also didn't do a specific spot for 00 but mentioned it with the 0 group. Darrell Arthur and Greg Ostertag. KU would have a pretty formidable line up with just the players to wear 0 or 00 in the last 25 years. Their choice for the best 00 was Tony Delk.

A couple of numbers I disagreed with was 15 where they picked Carmelo Anthony. I would've gone with Kemba Walker for that one. The other one with a lot of debate was 35 where they picked Kevin Durant over Danny Ferry and Chris Jackson. I would probably go Ferry, Jackson, Durant for that number.

Most of the debates were actually over the honorable mention players not included which I was surprised Derrick Coleman wasn't even honorable mention for 44. A lot of people had issue with that oversight.

It's an interesting read if you have the subscription to the Athletic.

Here's all their choices for each number.

0: Frank Mason (Kansas)

00: Tony Delk (Kentucky)

1: Jalen Brunson (Villanova)

2: Russ Smith (Louisville)

3: Doug McDermott (Creighton)

4: Larry Johnson (UNLV)

5: Jason Kidd (Cal)

10: Otis Birdsong (Houston)

11: Jerry Lucas (Ohio State)

12: Oscar Robertson (Cincinnati)

13: Wilt Chamberlain (Kansas)

14: Johnny Neumann (Ole Miss)

15: Carmelo Anthony (Syracuse)

20: Chris Mullin (St. John's)

21: Tim Duncan (Wake Forest)

22: Elgin Baylor (Seattle)

23: Pete Maravich (LSU)

24: Rick Berry (Miami)

25: Danny Manning (Kansas)

30: Stephen Curry (Davidson)

31: Bob Lanier (St. Bonaventure)

32: Bill Walton (UCLA)

33: Lew Alcindor (UCLA)

34: Austin Care (Notre Dame)

35: Kevin Durant (Texas)

40: Calbert Cheaney (Indiana)

41: Glen Rice (Michigan)

42: Bill Bradley (Princeton)

43: Mychal Thompson (Minnesota)

44: David Thompson (NC State)

45: Raef LaFrentz (Kansas)

50: Ralph Sampson (Virginia)

51: Michael Doleac (Utah)

52: James Worthy (North Carolina)

53: Artis Gilmore (Jacksonville)

54: Marques Johnson (UCLA)

55: Dikembe Mutumbo (Georgetown)

@Texas-Hawk-10

Wow.... Pete Maravich over Michael Jordan!

@drgnslayr said in Best College Player to Wear Each Jersey Number:

@Texas-Hawk-10

Wow.... Pete Maravich over Michael Jordan!

This is college only, MJ was a really good player at UNC, but he wasn't MJ yet. Pistol Pete averaged 44.2 ppg for his college career. Is still the NCAA all time leading scorer by over 400 points and has the 1st, 4th, and 5th most total points in a single season. Just imagine how far out of reach that record would be if freshmen were allowed to play back then, he'd be pushing 5,000 career points.

MJ obviously had the better teams and better NBA career, but Pete Maravich is a top 5 all time college basketball player and MJ isn't. My top 5 college players would be Walton, Alcindor, Chamberlain, Robertson, and Maravich in that order.

@Texas-Hawk-10

I can think of so many reasons why Maravich deserves that top spot. But if I had to choose a best team, I'm not certain I could turn down Jordan, even before he became the great Jordan he was in the NBA. And he applied his skills to actually win a National Championship against Georgetown, where he made the winning shot in the finals.

I remember Maravich well. His scoring was unreal, but I was most impressed with his insane passing abilities, including his no-look passes.

@Texas-Hawk-10 said in Best College Player to Wear Each Jersey Number:

Pistol Pete averaged 44.2 ppg for his college career. Is still the NCAA all time leading scorer by over 400 points and has the 1st, 4th, and 5th most total points in a single season. Just imagine how far out of reach that record would be if freshmen were allowed to play back then, he’d be pushing 5,000 career points.

If you want to blow your mind a little more - imagine that they used the 3 point line back then. He would have averaged probably 60 pts per game.

Doug McDermott over Iverson...or Chris Paul????

Bob Lanier over Wes Unseld or Reggie Miller???

and one of the top 3 basketball players of all time is bill russell with his number 6.

@bmensch1 said in Best College Player to Wear Each Jersey Number:

Doug McDermott over Iverson...or Chris Paul????

Bob Lanier over Wes Unseld or Reggie Miller???

and one of the top 3 basketball players of all time is bill russell with his number 6.

This list is COLLEGE ONLY. They did not include any number that ended in 6-9 so that's why Russell is nowhere to be found and I have him 6th on my list. This list is also ONLY college years, not professional. McDermott played all 4 years while Iverson and Paul only played 2 years of college basketball. Speaking specifically on college careers, McDermott had better college career than Iverson or Paul. Their NBA careers are obviously a different story.

Pistol Pete is overlooked for a lot. Dude was doing no look passes before it was cool and hitting 25 plus foot shots for only 2 points.