Greatest UK player All time
- Thread starter Rupp'sRunt
- Start date
Ralph Beard. He was 3 time first team all American. Played on back-to-back championship teams in 48 and 49. Won gold in 48 Olympics. Scored over 1500 points in his U.K. Career.
I'll wait to see the name of a player with a better resume than that.
I'll wait to see the name of a player with a better resume than that.
Really hard to say at this point. Issel was much more gifted offensively in college but was a phenomenal rebounder as well. Davis was much stronger defensively with very little offense to his game his freshman year, but had a huge impact on the game. Issel had a great pro career and Davis looks to lap him over time if he continues his current trajectory. At this point in time I give the nod to Issel, but could easily go with Davis a decade from now. Time will tell.
I saw a bunch of awards that were not available in the 40s. Everything I listed for Beard was available in 2012, and AD comes up short.
So, AD wouldn't have been an AA again? And he's also played in the Olympics.
If he stays on course he will definitely be an HOF player. It is UK players, Issel was a UK player. You were talking like all he did was score, I was just pointing out that he had game as evidenced by his HOF NBA career. You can admit he was good, maybe the best or in a class at UK that doesn't take long to call roll.
Player/Career Minutes/Career Points per Min/Career Rebounds per Min/Career Assists per Minute
Issel/2,943/0.7265/0.3663/0.0332
Davis/1,281/0.4426/0.3240/0.0390
Blocks and steals weren’t recorded in Issel’s day. Davis got a championship and Issel did not.
Issel was before my time. Mashburn is my all-time favorite player.
Using aggregate career statistics, Issel naturally buries Davis in the statistics that are available for comparison. Career per minute Issel edges Davis in rebounds and assists. In career points per minute, again, Issel buries Davis.
Davis was surrounded by better talent and didn’t need to do as much. Davis altered shots in a way that cannot be statistically measured for Issel. That said, it becomes difficult to make a solid case for Davis being the greatest UK player ever. It’s even more difficult to say it’s Davis and that it’s not even close.
I have to give the nod to Dan Issel, especially when you consider Ron Burgundy references Dan Issel in Anchorman II. No mention of Davis.
Issel/2,943/0.7265/0.3663/0.0332
Davis/1,281/0.4426/0.3240/0.0390
Blocks and steals weren’t recorded in Issel’s day. Davis got a championship and Issel did not.
Issel was before my time. Mashburn is my all-time favorite player.
Using aggregate career statistics, Issel naturally buries Davis in the statistics that are available for comparison. Career per minute Issel edges Davis in rebounds and assists. In career points per minute, again, Issel buries Davis.
Davis was surrounded by better talent and didn’t need to do as much. Davis altered shots in a way that cannot be statistically measured for Issel. That said, it becomes difficult to make a solid case for Davis being the greatest UK player ever. It’s even more difficult to say it’s Davis and that it’s not even close.
I have to give the nod to Dan Issel, especially when you consider Ron Burgundy references Dan Issel in Anchorman II. No mention of Davis.
Lol Anthony Davis played one year. If he was here until graduation like Issel, it really would be no contest.
Fair enough, but you're comparing a freshman Davis' numbers to a guy that got the benefit of getting better after a few years in college. If you want to do apples to apples, it would be more accurate to obky include Dan's first year. I would also argue it's bit always just about number. IE; Trae Young. Davis didn't have to put up 35 to still be the best player on the court every night.
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anon_q409idbs5m40a
Guest
Good point; there have been about 4,283 threads on who the best player was at UK, but one cannot make an accurate judgement without seeing all of our players over the years. The thread should be titled "Best player you saw at UK". For example, the best MLB team I ever saw was the 1976 Reds, however, I didn't see the 1927 Yankees play so I can't say who was the best of all time. In my experience, Issel was the best but I didn't see players like Ralph Beard or Wah Wah Jones.
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anon_q409idbs5m40a
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Had Dan been eligible to play four years his records would have been insurmountable for any other player.
I agree 100%. these young pups did not get to see Issel play so they missed the greatest player at UK.
Pretty sure a lot of you are dismissing what a junior or senior Davis would have in college ball.
Basketball was different 70-80 years ago. TV wasn’t even really a thing when he played to put it in perspective.
Still Very very impressive and an all time great without a doubt.100%.
That being said. AD, along with how he dominated and seeing what he’s become a day,is obviously superior.
4 straight championships easy.
Ill admit im not old enough to know that.
SemperFiCat. Thank you for your service to our country. My brother is a Marine.
It doesn’t appear as easy to cobble together the splits for the first 1,281 minutes of each player’s career. An eyeball interpolation shows that they would be close in rebounds per minute. Issel gets a rather easy edge in points per minute, while Davis is a clear winner in assists per minute. Now with respect to your point about Issel having more time to mature, let’s not discount the crazy number of high school and AAU games Davis played. Now this is mere conjecture in my part, but I suspect Issel played half as many high school games as Davis.
Davis was a great UK player. Top 5 in my book. Perhaps top 3. Just the same, Issel still has the Ron Burgundy tribute that Davis lacks. :sunglasses:
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anon_q409idbs5m40a
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Not really; no way he would've broken Issel's scoring records, or anyone else for that matter.
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anon_q409idbs5m40a
Guest
Nope, you never saw Issel play or you wouldn't be making remarks as such.
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anon_q409idbs5m40a
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I hate to say "what if" but had Mike Casey not gotten injured he would've been right there with Issel.
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anon_q409idbs5m40a
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There isn’t room for serious discussion on this. Dan Issel posted the greatest career in the history of KY basketball. He did it in three years. Period. End of story.
AD had an amazing year. He might have been the best had he stayed. Our legacy is not so pale as to be defined in terms of its one and done players.
AD had an amazing year. He might have been the best had he stayed. Our legacy is not so pale as to be defined in terms of its one and done players.
Well I was around to see both and AD was the best of all time. I went to see an NBA game when Issel was matched up against Dave Debuchere. In the warm-up, I yelled out to Debuchere, 'Do you think you can handle Issel' and he winked at me. About 15 minutes into the game, Issel got stuffed twice by Dave and literally had trouble getting a shot off.
Let's also consider that the SEC was horrid in Issel's time and UT was the only real competition we had. Most of Issel's games were against very poor SEC teams. Then consider that Davis was NPOY as a frosh, First Team AA, and led UK to a NC.
Many people claimed that Bill Russel was the best player in the NBA in his era because even though he was never a great offensive player, he played unbelievable D, altered and blocked many shots, and made everyone around him better. We can argue about whether Russel was better than Wilt who statistically owned Russel head to head. The fact that Russel won so many more titles than Wilt has to be factored in even though Russel's supporting cast was much better until Wilt arrived in Philly. The point is, you have to judge a player on more than just statistics and, talent wise, AD is now a far better player on both ends than Issel ever was. And while Issel never won an NCAA title, Davis did in his only year at UK.
One can argue that in college, Issel's offensive skills were far better than AD's, but unlike Issel, AD played his freshman year and in an entirely different era. Based on what AD has done in the NBA since then, it's not credible to say that had he played 3 more years of college that he would have lagged behind Issel offensively. He can do it all. I don't really think it's close, but give Dan his due, he was a great player in his time.
AD can say whatever he likes it is still Issel,the question was greatest player at UK.Issel was here for 3 varsity seasons if Davis had been here that long it might have been different but he wasn't,besides I think he only took the 4th most shots on the team,that is what I heard once.
Actually the question was "Greatest UK player of all time" which leaves it open for interpretation. Imo if we're just talking about stats at the University obviously the guys that played multiple years are going to be at the top. If we're talking about just basketball skill anybody with eyes can see that AD does absolutely everything a basketball can be asked to do.
I think the ones choosing AD(and it is a good choice) never saw Issel play, they have no idea just how good he was.
Remember when Issel was here, we played fewer games, in the three years Issel played ,we played, 27,28,28 games. Had he played 38 games a year, can you imagine what his stats would be? It is very hard comparing players of different eras, because of this and arguments can be made for many different players.
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