Most talented basketball team ever?

Submitted by massblue on

Should Nik, Glenn and Mitch be selected in the first round, will that make UM 2013 team one of the most talented college teams ever?  I cannot think of a recent college team that had 5 first round NBA players who started at the same time.

 

 

JohnnyV123

June 11th, 2014 at 8:00 PM ^

Really? I mean yeah I would have liked to win the national title but we needed a miracle to get there and lost to the one team that looked like the best team in the tournament.

Think how you would be feeling if Michigan lost to Kansas (and we still got to the Elite 8 this year). Rather than "John Beilein is the best coach in college basketball" it would be something like "Michigan is back to being respectable in basketball thanks to Beilein." Much less exciting.

JBE

June 11th, 2014 at 6:22 PM ^

Kentucky did it in 2012, including the first two picks.

Edit: Nevermind. I thought it was 3 in a single year. Not all five.

BlueinGR

June 11th, 2014 at 8:50 PM ^

First Round Picks:

Rodrick Rhodes (transferred)

Antoine Walker

Tony Delk

Walter McCarty

Ron Mercer

Derek Anderson

Nazr Mohommed

Scott Padgett

 

Others Drafted/Signed:

Mark Pope

Jeff Shepard

Wayne Turner

 

 

 

ChiefLB

June 11th, 2014 at 6:22 PM ^

Tark's team was stacked. Additionally, Dukie has many star laden teams (GHill, Laetner, & Hurley) as does UNC. But I hate both those teams for beating Fab 5 & pre-89, respectively.

Mr. Yost

June 11th, 2014 at 6:26 PM ^

You responded too quick, before I could edit.

I wanted to add UNC in 2012 as well.

1 14 John Henson PF  United States Milwaukee Bucks (from Houston)[c] North Carolina (Jr.)
1 7 Harrison Barnes SF  United States Golden State Warriors North Carolina (So.)
1 13 Kendall Marshall PG  United States Phoenix Suns North Carolina (So.)
1 17 Tyler Zeller C  United States Dallas Mavericks (traded to Cleveland)[A] North Carolina (Sr.)

I understand that it's the entire starting 5...but I'm sure those teams had another guy go in the first round...maybe not.

Cronan the Barbarian

June 11th, 2014 at 6:24 PM ^

There have been similar Kentucky teams of recent years and certainly some seriously star powered programs in the 80's and 90's prior to kids jumping to the pros. Recently the 2009 UNC team that won the national championship saw these guys go pro:

Ty Lawson - First Round

Wayne Ellington - First Round

Tyler Hansbrough - First Round

Tyler Zeller - First Round

Ed Davis - First Round

Danny Green - 2nd Round

Mr. Yost

June 11th, 2014 at 6:31 PM ^

...and those National Championship Florida Gator teams with Noah and Brewer. Not sure if they had all 5 go in the first. But that UNC team was stupid good.

UNC also had a great team lead by May and Felton.

And I'm getting my teams mixed up, but one of those had Marvin Williams as a 6th man and he was like a top 5 pick.

Mr. Yost

June 11th, 2014 at 6:33 PM ^

You really should've picked a better title...because you're trying to ask if anyone else has had a starting line up of first round draft picks and you're asking if last years team was the most talented ever...no. Even if the entire team does go in the first round, no.

ST3

June 11th, 2014 at 6:57 PM ^

The National Championship team had 4 first round picks and a 2nd. The Fab 5 had 3 first rounds picks and a second. It should be noted that more foreign players are getting drafted nowadays, making the accomplishment of the recent team more impressive.

Wolverine Devotee

June 11th, 2014 at 6:40 PM ^

It could tie the number of first rounders in one draft by Michigan, but I doubt it will.

The most players taken in the modern, 2-round NBA draft was in 1990.

 

Draft

Player

Rd.

No.

Drafted To

1990

Rumeal Robinson

1

10

Atlanta Hawks

1990

Loy Vaught

1

13

Los Angeles Clippers

1990

Terry Mills

1

16

Milwaukee Bucks

1990

Sean Higgins

2

54

San Antonio Spurs

 

Perkis-Size Me

June 11th, 2014 at 6:40 PM ^

Most talented Michigan team ever? Arguably, yes. If not, they'd be second to only the Fab Five.



Most talented ever? Not at all. I'm no college basketball guru, but I feel like you only have to look at some of Kentucky's, Duke's, and UNC's greatest ever teams and those teams undoubtedly eclipse ours by leaps and bounds.

ST3

June 11th, 2014 at 7:10 PM ^

I'd take the National Championship team over the Fab 5. No one on the Fab 5 could shoot it like Glen Rice. The '89 team had big bodies inside (Mills and Vaught) that could handle* Webber and Howard. The champs also had a bona fide point guard in Rumeal. The Fab 5 had Jalen, who was a great player, but I don't consider him a prototypical PG and when the Fab 5 bogged down on offense, I think it was because other than Talley, they didn't have a true point.

Vaught v. Webber? Webber gets the edge. Vaught was a 13th overall selection and had a long NBA career (Mr. Clipper), so the edge isn't as big as some might think.

Mills v. Howard? I love Juwan Howard, but this is pretty even. Mills was an incredible post player when motivated.

Rice v. Rose? Glen Rice, no doubt about it. Tournament scoring record, etc.

Higgins v. Ray Jackson? Higgins. He was the #1 overall recruit or thereabouts. He was drafted, Ray was not.

Rumeal v. King? Rumeal was the 10th overall pick while King was a 2nd rounder. Plus, Rumeal was a PG.

So I give it 3-1-1 to the 89 team.

If you want to add the benches, Hughes, Griffin and Calip were pretty productive for the 89 team. I guess I'd give the edge to the Fab 5's bench because of Talley, Voskuil, Riley and Pelinka having more starting experience, and Riley's height gives him an edge over Hughes.

EDIT: by 'handle' I don't mean shut down, just that they could match up with them and not get destroyed.