EA Sports March Madness 08: Top 50 Players

[HaveFunExpectToWin]

At first I was outraged, then I began to find the list pretty humorous at how terrible it is. I'm not sure if any research was done, besides a cursory look at NBA stats and maybe watching a couple one shining moments from the 90's.

Dunleavy is ranked 20th. This is of all-time college players not just Duke players in the the Coach K era.

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/sports/ncaamarchmadness08/news.html?sid=6182660&tag=topslot;title;1

The Top 50 Players (name -- school -- overall rating)

1. Michael Jordan -- North Carolina -- 96
2. Kevin Durant -- Texas -- 94
3. Earvin Johnson -- Michigan State -- 94
4. Clyde Drexler -- Houston -- 92
5. Larry Bird -- Indiana State -- 92
6. Steve Nash -- Santa Clara -- 91
7. Kenny Anderson -- Georgia Tech -- 89
8. Chris Bosh -- Georgia Tech -- 89
9. Richard Hamilton -- Connecticut -- 89
10. Jamal Mashburn -- Kentucky -- 89
11. Jason Terry -- Arizona -- 89
12. Reggie Williams -- Georgetown -- 89
13. Ray Allen -- Connecticut -- 88
14. Carmelo Anthony -- Syracuse -- 88
15. Butch Beard -- Louisville -- 88
16. Travis Best -- Georgia Tech -- 88
17. Mike Bibby -- Arizona -- 88
18. Junior Bridgeman -- Louisville -- 88
19. Caron Butler -- Connecticut -- 88
20. Mike Dunleavy -- Duke -- 88
21. Ben Gordon -- Connecticut -- 88
22. Chris Jackson -- LSU -- 88
23. Kevin Jackson -- California -- 88
24. Jason Kidd -- California -- 88
25. Christian Laettner -- Duke -- 88
26. Randy Livingston -- LSU -- 88
27. Kenyon Martin -- Cincinnati -- 88
28. Rashad McCants -- North Carolina -- 88
29. Laron Profit -- Maryland -- 88
30. Oscar Robertson -- Cincinnati -- 88
31. Jerry Stackhouse -- North Carolina -- 88
32. Charlie Tyra -- Louisville -- 88
33. John Wallace -- Syracuse -- 88
34. Derek Anderson -- Kentucky -- 87
35. Keith Bogans -- Kentucky -- 87
36. Sean Elliott -- Arizona -- 87
37. Brian Evans -- Indiana -- 87
38. Art Heyman -- Duke -- 87
39. Larry Johnson -- UNLV -- 87
40. DeMarr Johnson -- Cincinnati -- 87
41. Pete Maravich -- LSU -- 87
42. Stephon Marbury -- Georgia Tech -- 87
43. Ron Mercer -- Kentucky -- 87
44. Andrew Miller -- Utah -- 87
45. Chris Mills -- Arizona -- 87
46. Joakim Noah -- Florida -- 87
47. Ed O'Bannon -- UCLA -- 87
48. Glen Rice -- Michigan -- 87
49. Cliff Robertson -- Connecticut -- 87
50. Dennis Scott -- Georgia Tech -- 87

[Karl Beem]

Wow, ludicrous. Neither Walton or Jabbar, in fact O'Bannon is the only UCLA player on the list.

[ugadevil]

DeMarr Johnson from Cincy and no Melvin Levitt?! How could you leave off The Elevator?! What about Miles Simon from Arizona? Khalid El-Alamin from UConn? Scoonie Penn? Insane:)

I feel like this list could have been made by Bill Walton, who seems to claim that we're watching one of the all-time great players in the history of the game any time he does a broadcast, even if he's only talking about Leandro Barbosa.

[dukemomLA]

Just stupid. Geez, what an idiotic list. It caused me to laugh aloud.

[JasonEvans]

28. Rashad McCants -- North Carolina -- 88
29. Laron Profit -- Maryland -- 88
30. Oscar Robertson -- Cincinnati -- 88

What is this a list of because it sure as heck is not listing the best college basketball players.

In what universe does Oscar Robertson fall behind McCants and Laron Profit? Not having Oscar Robertson in the top 5 college basketball players of all time is a joke. When the US Basketball Writers Association gives out their player of the year award they call it The Oscar Robertson Trophy!!!!

Where is Big E Evlin Hayes? Where are Walton and Jabbar? David Thompson (maybe the greatest player in ACC history)? Patrick Ewing? Ralph Sampson? David Robinson? Chris Mullin? Cazzie Russell? Bill Bradley? Phil Ford? Danny Ferry? Hakeem? I could go on and on and on. I could easily put together a team of guys not in their top 50 that would whup the top 10 guys on their list. Michael Jordan at #1 is a joke-- his NBA career was stellar but he was not the best college basketball player of all time... not even close.

--Jason "what is the point of a list like this?" Evans

[aro24]

Let's not ignore that The Pistol is 41 ?!?!?!?!?!
Should be #1 in my opinion.

A-Ro24

[jlear]

Let's not ignore that The Pistol is 41 ?!?!?!?!?!
Should be #1 in my opinion.

A-Ro24

When I didn't see Pistol Pete in the top 5 I was done with the list, but maybe we should have a favorite non-Duke basketball player poll after the season of course.

[CDu]

What is this a list of because it sure as heck is not listing the best college basketball players.

In what universe does Oscar Robertson fall behind McCants and Laron Profit? Not having Oscar Robertson in the top 5 college basketball players of all time is a joke. When the US Basketball Writers Association gives out their player of the year award they call it The Oscar Robertson Trophy!!!!

Where is Big E Evlin Hayes? Where are Walton and Jabbar? David Thompson (maybe the greatest player in ACC history)? Patrick Ewing? Ralph Sampson? David Robinson? Chris Mullin? Cazzie Russell? Bill Bradley? Phil Ford? Danny Ferry? Hakeem? I could go on and on and on. I could easily put together a team of guys not in their top 50 that would whup the top 10 guys on their list. Michael Jordan at #1 is a joke-- his NBA career was stellar but he was not the best college basketball player of all time... not even close.

--Jason "what is the point of a list like this?" Evans

Judging by the title "EA Sports March Madness 08," this appears to be the ranking of the all-time players on a video game of NCAA Tournament in terms of their value in the game (Jordan rates a 96 on the player rating, e.g.).

It's not a real ranking of players for their overall play, I'd guess. Just what the analysts decided to rate the players for the game.

Either way, it's pretty absurd. I mean, if you're going to do something like that, there are a lot of otherwordly tournament performances that top some of the guys on this list. I mean, Jordan may be the most overrated college player ever (all-time great pro career and very solid college career, but MANY argue he wasn't the best player on those UNC teams). It's a silly rating system, however it was done. But again, it's just a silly video game.

[DukeDude]

It is just a list of the top 50 players from which EA was able to secure permission to put their likeness into the game. It has no relationship to the history of college basketball.

[CDu]

It is just a list of the top 50 players from which EA was able to secure permission to put their likeness into the game. It has no relationship to the history of college basketball.

That's a good point. However, that only explains the omissions. Even considering that this is a truncated list, I disagree with their rankings of the players for whom they did get permission.

[captmojo]

David Thompson was selected by ESPN Classic as the all time greatest college player, and his name is nowhere on this list. But Rashad McCants is????

Bologna! (for lack of a less civilized word)

[mgtr]

This list was obviously jotted down by a heroin addict on the back of a cocktail napkin. It should suffer the fate of almost all cocktail napkins.

[Jumbo]

I'm guessing that only certain players made it into the game. Who knows why? Maybe licensing. I also think that the game isn't just based on the tournament, even though it's called "March Madness."

[CDu]

I'm guessing that only certain players made it into the game. Who knows why? Maybe licensing. I also think that the game isn't just based on the tournament, even though it's called "March Madness."

Again, that's no explanation for the relative ratings of the players that they DO have. There's just no explanation for Dunleavy being rated equal to Laettner. And absolutely no reason that Oscar Robertson should be rated behind Nash and even with Butler, Dunleavy, McCants, Laron Profitt and Randy Livingston.

[mgtr]

Obviously, the people who drew up these rankings just never saw Oscar Robertson play. The man averaged triple doubles. Nobody else could do that. He belongs up at the top along with Bill Russell and Jerry West (Ok, and of course MJ).

[ugadevil]

I'm surprised that Trent Strickland from Wake Forest isn't on the list. He'd be happy to tell you that he's one of the 50 greatest of all time.

[Indoor66]

Obviously, the people who drew up these rankings just never saw Oscar Robertson play. The man averaged triple doubles. Nobody else could do that. He belongs up at the top along with Bill Russell and Jerry West (Ok, and of course MJ).

and Wilt.

[mgtr]

and Wilt.

Grudgingly, and Wilt. He has the records (and, apparently, women) to prove it. For all that he did, which was a lot, I just never thought he was the same caliber as those other guys. But he scored a lot of points, and won a whole bunch of games.

[Indoor66]

Grudgingly, and Wilt. He has the records (and, apparently, women) to prove it. For all that he did, which was a lot, I just never thought he was the same caliber as those other guys. But he scored a lot of points, and won a whole bunch of games.

You have got to be kidding!

G FG% FT% Rebs RPG Asts APG Pts PPG
1,045 .540 .511 23,924 22.9 4,643 4.4 31,419 30.1

Those are CAREER number and averages!

[mgtr]

I agree that he put up a lot of numbers (except for free throw shooting, at which he was always just horrible), but for a total game, I don't think he was a patch on Bill Russell. Lets just count championship banners (again, not counting women). Seriously, I am not trying to take anthing (or not much) away from him. His numbers stand, regardless of what anybody says. But I never thought of him as much of a team player, as compared to Russell.
There probably aren't too many people on this board who remember the all star game of 1967 (I think that was the year, played in SF). Both Russell and Chamberlain were centers for the East (at the end both were in simulaneously). Nate Thurmond was the West center, and he outplayed both. But Rick Barry was the star of the game, and was MVP of the game and of the whole season. But Chamberlain and the 76ers beat Thurmond and Barry of the then SF Warriors for the championship, in, I think, six games. All and all, pretty good basketball.
At the end of the day, if people want to argue that the three best centers were Russell, Chamberlain, and Jabbar, in some order, they won't get any argument from me.

[captmojo]

Just a glance reveals that the list also does not include Jerry West or Bill Bradley. These people obviously have been afflicted with a small bit of brain matter trapped inside of their skulls.