(11-01-2010 11:35 PM)oasispirate Wrote: (11-01-2010 11:50 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote: (11-01-2010 11:44 AM)Raleighwood Pirate Wrote: However, what Florida is for football NC is for basketball recruits. We put out the best recruits in the country in basketball.
Is that really true? North Carolina might have the best college basketball fans in the country, but I don't know if it's really the best recruiting ground. NYC and Chicago have produced a disproportionate share of basketball stars over the past 30 years, and other large urban areas (LA, DC, Philly, Detroit) are close behind. Out of the "smaller" states with lots of college basketball fans, Indiana seems to be an unusually fertile basketball recruiting ground compared to its overall population.
I'll take the alltime North Carolina prep basketball team and drag NYC and Chicago combined. Hell throw in the rest of NY and IL as well. My list doesnt even include Prep school guys like Tracey McGrady that played at Mt. Zion. Marovich technically from WV, but played his HS ball at Broughton in Raleigh.
PG-Pete Marovich/Chris Paul/Phil Ford/John Wall
SG-Michael Jordan/Jerry Stackhouse
SF-Dominique Wilkins/David Thompson/Walter Davis
PF-James Worthy/David West/Rodney Rogers
C-Walt Bellamy/Brad Dougherty/Bob Macadoo
Other notables
PG-Bobby Jackson
SG-Gerald Wilkins
SG-Blue Edwards
PF-Todd Fuller
PG-Darrell Armstrong
SG-Henry Bibby
PF-Danny Manning
C-Tom Burleson
G-Sleepy Floyd
SF-Josh Howard
F-Sam Jones
G/F-Lou Hudson
F-Cedrick Maxwell
PG-Eric Maynor
C-Brendan Haywood
G/F-Rashad Mccants
G-Nate MacMillan
F-Shavlik Randolph
I could go on and on.
Look, I'm the biggest Michael Jordan fan in the world, so I'll grant that he's basically worth 2 mega-stars and could win a game by himself. That being said, Chicago has pumped out incredible talent in its history:
PG - Isiah Thomas/Derrick Rose/Tim Hardaway
SG - Dwyane Wade/Nick Anderson/Eddie Johnson
SF - Mark Aguirre/Michael Finley/Antoine Walker
PF - Kevin Garnett/Terry Cummings/Juwan Howard
C - George Mikan/Dan Issel/Red Kerr
Coaches - Coach K/Ray Meyer/Jerry Sloan
I'll put that team up against anyone. Plenty of people left off that list, too, including Doc Rivers, Kendall Gill, Maurice Cheeks, Quinn Buckner, Hersey Hawkins, Cazzie Russell, Jeff Hornacek, Evan Turner, Nazr Mohammed,etc.
Regardless, how many of those NC players that you listed actually ended up at ECU?