Mount Rushmore of Basketball! Overall and for the Gophers.

[Otis]

Seeing Sampson and Kareem post and claim that Kareem could be possibly the GOAT, made me think who would I have in my top four overall and for my beloved Gophers! So here we go:

Overall:
George Washington - Michael Jordan
Abraham Lincoln - Lebron James
Thomas Jefferson - Bill Russell - ultimate winner, next would have been Wilt then Shaq and finally Kareem.
Teddy Rosevelt - Ervin "Magic" Johnson

Gophers:
GW - Mychal Thompson
AL - Kevin McHale
TJ - Bobby Jackson
TR - Lindsay Whalen - I realized my original selection of Trent Tucker was not as impactful as our current Women's Basketball coach. I don't think any of you can have an intelligent reason to exclude her. Willie was definitely considered.

There may have been Gophers who statistically were better, but this is my mountain! Please make your own.

 

[Duker]

As much as I like Trent, and maybe you’re too young to remember, but I would have to go with Lou Hudson over him. I wish there was a five spot for Willie Burton, he helped make the program relevant again after the scandal at Madison.

 

[BleedGopher]

Gophers:

Mychal Thompson
Bobby Jackson
Lou Hudson
Willie Burton

Overall:

Michael Jordan
Lebron James
Kareem Abdul Jabbar
Bill Russell

Go Gophers!!

 

[Breakin' The Plane]

It's really tough for me to evaluate guys like Russell and Wilt. I never saw them play and I have a hard time determining how much of Russell's winning was influenced by the fact that he played in a time when there were no more than 11 other teams in the league. Is it easier to be the best team when you only have to beat 11 other teams? Or are his championships more impactful because the talent wasn't as spread out, making the competition tougher?

 

[cjbfbp]

Is it easier to be the best team when you only have to beat 11 other teams? Or are his championships more impactful because the talent wasn't as spread out, making the competition tougher?

I would choose the latter option. The spread of won-loss records in the NBA is really wide (a little less so this year). A few years ago I did a quick comparison between the NBA and the MLB. In the MLB there were only two or three teams with a winning percentage over .600 or under .400. In the NBA, the majority of teams were either/or those percentages. You don't see MLB teams above .700 or below .300 but those either/or percentages are quite common in the NBA.

 

[GoldenAle]

I'll do one since I became a Gopher fan (2008).

1st Team
G: Dre Hollins
G: Austin Hollins
G: The Hoff
F: Jordan Murphy
F: Trevor Mbakwe

2nd Team
G: Nate Mason
G: Larry Westbrook
G: Akeem Springs (went back and forth on this one, but Akeem's leadership and shooting prowess was a huge reason we had the season we had)
F: Damian Johnson
F: Ralph Sampson

On Deck (Names that could show up in 1-3 years): Coffey, Washington, McBrayer

 

[Urbandale]

Sadly, there's probably not a spot on the mountain for one of my favorite players growing up - Randy Breuer.

And is there anything more anachronistic than Breuer being selected as the 18th overall pick in 1983 and then playing for 11 years in the league? I can't imagine a place for him in today's NBA.

 

[MennoSota]

Since this is the men's basketball listing, I will leave Whalen off. She is the GW of the women's version.
For Men, I go:

Mychal Thompson
Lou Hudson
Trent Tucker
Willie Burton
No doubt a case can be made for:
McHale
Brueur
Jackson
and Crittenden [emoji57]

 

[60's Guy]

Maybe Not Mt Rushmore guys but taking a cue from Golden Ale... 5-6 Guys who were very fun to watch for a short time in most cases:
Ollie Shannon 20ppg
Ray Williams all around skills and more exciting to me than Bobby Jackson who I also like... I don't know his stats, if he is Mt Rushmore but dang....Ray was good!!!
Clyde Turner 18ppg
Mark Landsberger
Mark Olberding
and my all time favorite Gopher point guard Flip Saunders...great decisions, great leadership, unbelievable grit/hustle/moxie, take and make huge shots, unselfish etc etc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAoIs3dEaCc

Mychal Thompson and Kevin McHale are the two no brainers for me. The other two guys would be fun to argue about.

 

[tikited]

It's really tough for me to evaluate guys like Russell and Wilt. I never saw them play and I have a hard time determining how much of Russell's winning was influenced by the fact that he played in a time when there were no more than 11 other teams in the league. Is it easier to be the best team when you only have to beat 11 other teams? Or are his championships more impactful because the talent wasn't as spread out, making the competition tougher?

Wilt rarely had the supporting cast (like Labron) compared to Russell, Jordan, Magic, etc.. He was easily the most dominating player in history.

 

[fan of Ray Williams]

One player that gets overlooked is Archie Clark, I imagine because he was with Hudson. Nice NBA career also.

 

[SelectionSunday]

Gophers Mount Rushmore

To make it easier on me, only those since I became a season-ticket holder in 1992-93. Found it pretty easy to name the 4.

Bobby Jackson
Sam Jacobson
Voshon Lenard
Quincy Lewis

Next: Dusty Rychart

 

[Mulligan]

One player that gets overlooked is Archie Clark, I imagine because he was with Hudson. Nice NBA career also.

He wouldn't be on Rushmore, but another overlooked one is Jim Brewer. Heck of a defensive player and a tremendous rebounder. Good enough to be on an Olympic team because of his defense and rebounding.

 

[Otis]

I can't believe how many people are leaving McHale off the list. He is a lock at number one or two. Not even close.

I loved Ray Williams and Flip, but neither of them were the soul of their teams in the same way that Jackson was. Granted, the overall talent when Williams and Flip played made it more acceptable to be third or fourth options considering who they played with.

No mention of Mark Hall or Bud Grant!