44 replies to this topic

[BSLChrisStoner]

No Joe Smith?  All due respect to all those other guys, but in my years of watching (just missed the Bias years) he's #1 all time.

He said his time started in '98, so he unfortunately missed Joe. 

What a player Joe was.  He'd be a better NBA player in this era.

[BSLChrisStoner]

1st Team

1 John Lucas

2 Juan Dixon

3 Len Bias

4 Joe Smith

5 Tom McMillen

 

2nd Team

1 Steve Blake

2 Adrian Branch

3 Walt Williams

4 Keith Booth

5 Lonny Baxter

 

3rd Team

1 Greivis Vasquez

2 Johnny Rhodes

3 Dez Wells

4 Buck Williams

5 Len Elmore

 

Booth was a very good player, and vitally important to the program for coming to MD in the first place... but tough to have him over Buck Williams imo.

[SBTarheel]

1st team:
John Lucas
Juan Dixon

Len Bias
Buck Williams

Joe Smith 

 

2nd Team:
Brad Davis
Albert King
Walt Williams
Derrick Lewis
Tom McMillen

3rd Team:
Steve Blake
Adrian Branch
Ernie Graham
Chris Wilcox
Len Elmore

 

Derrick Lewis might be one of the most underrated players in ACC history (at least in my fandom). I know he played in the "post Bias" era when the Terps weren't great, but man, what a force on defense. He blocked everything, i think he might have averaged 3-4 blocks a game a few times. And it's not like he was 7'2, he was probably 6'7 at most. I still talk about him whenever I get in an 80s hoops discussion. 

[BSLRoseKatz]

I'm not qualified to speak on how he'd compare to Len Elmore or Tom McMillen etc but I think Jalen Smith has a hell of an argument for being pretty high on the list if you're going by their best season. First-team All B1G, all-defensive team, made 41.2% of his threes in conference play with decent volume.

 

If the exercise is building an all-time starting five to win a game against other all-time starting fives in the current offensive era of basketball...good luck telling me you don't want a 6-10 big man who can make threes like that

[1970]

1st team:
John Lucas
Juan Dixon
Len Bias
Buck Williams
Joe Smith 
 
2nd Team:
Brad Davis
Albert King
Walt Williams
Derrick Lewis
Tom McMillen
3rd Team:
Steve Blake
Adrian Branch
Ernie Graham
Chris Wilcox
Len Elmore
 
Derrick Lewis might be one of the most underrated players in ACC history (at least in my fandom). I know he played in the "post Bias" era when the Terps weren't great, but man, what a force on defense. He blocked everything, i think he might have averaged 3-4 blocks a game a few times. And it's not like he was 7'2, he was probably 6'7 at most. I still talk about him whenever I get in an 80s hoops discussion. 

Kudos for naming Brad Davis, he was really good. I was very disappointed when he went pro after his junior year.

[Mackus]

Booth was a very good player, and vitally important to the program for coming to MD in the first place... but tough to have him over Buck Williams imo.

Booth's my all-time favorite player so he gets my vote.

[glenn__davis]

He said his time started in '98, so he unfortunately missed Joe.

What a player Joe was. He'd be a better NBA player in this era.

Ah, didn't see that. Sorry BaltBird. Both for missing that part of the post and also that you didn't get to enjoy all of Joe Smith. He was unbelievable.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Booth's my all-time favorite player so he gets my vote.

Before all of these dream team HS academy teams like all the Oak Hill teams, and Montverde Academy last year...   think of Booth's senior year HS team with Michael Lloyd and his cousin Donta Bright.  Ridiculous. 

[CantonJester]

1st team:
John Lucas
Juan Dixon

Len Bias
Buck Williams

Joe Smith 

 

2nd Team:
Brad Davis
Albert King
Walt Williams
Derrick Lewis
Tom McMillen

3rd Team:
Steve Blake
Adrian Branch
Ernie Graham
Chris Wilcox
Len Elmore

 

Derrick Lewis might be one of the most underrated players in ACC history (at least in my fandom). I know he played in the "post Bias" era when the Terps weren't great, but man, what a force on defense. He blocked everything, i think he might have averaged 3-4 blocks a game a few times. And it's not like he was 7'2, he was probably 6'7 at most. I still talk about him whenever I get in an 80s hoops discussion. 

 

This is mostly where I’m at. I might’ve left McMillen off and replaced him with Cedric Lewis. When I was a student at USF in Tampa, the Terps came through the winter of ‘91 and that guy swatted a dozen shots. I just looked it up and he finished second to Shawn Bradley - he of 8’ fame. 

[Ravens2006]

...
A lot of receny bias.

But no Lenny Bias??? Blasphemer!!!!!

[Mashed Potatoes]

1st Team
1 John Lucas
2 Juan Dixon
3 Len Bias
4 Joe Smith
5 Tom McMillen

2nd Team
1 Steve Blake
2 Adrian Branch
3 Walt Williams
4 Keith Booth
5 Lonny Baxter

3rd Team
1 Greivis Vasquez
2 Johnny Rhodes
3 Dez Wells
4 Buck Williams
5 Len Elmore

You are absolutely wild for putting Johnny Rhodes over Stevie Francis

[Mackus]

You are absolutely wild for putting Johnny Rhodes over Stevie Francis

First of all they're different positions. Stevie was a PG (even with Stokes on the roster). But 1 year vs 4 years the main driver there in not having him listed. I'm thinking more accumulative than just peak.

If we just go peak, then at PG Greivis is #2 and Francis #3. Greivis senior season was better than Stevie's one year here, IMO. Melo's freshman year competes with Stevie, as well, but think Francis stays ahead. Blake gets lifetime achievement but doesn't have one single season that competes with the other PGs, though maybe that three against UConn is enough to make him #1.

[BSLMikeLowe]

I'll go with ....

1st Team -

PG Blake
SG Juan
SF Nik Caner-Medley
PF Lonny
C Jordan Williams

2nd

PG Greivis
SG Francis
SF Landon Milbourne (?)
PF Fernando
C Jalen Smith

3rd

PG Cowan
SG Trimble
SF Wiggins
PF Reese
C Queen

A lot of receny bias.

 

Uh yeah, speaking of bias....I mean c'mon.

[BSLMikeLowe]

1st team:

PG John Lucas
SG Juan Dixon

SF Len Bias
PF Buck Williams

C Joe Smith 

 

2nd Team:
PG Steve Francis
SG Greivis Vazquez
SF Albert King
PF Len Elmore
C Tom McMillen

3rd Team:
PG Gene Shue
SG Adrian Branch
SF Walt Williams
PF Keith Booth
C Lonnie Baxter

[BSLMikeLowe]

Derrick Lewis might be one of the most underrated players in ACC history (at least in my fandom). I know he played in the "post Bias" era when the Terps weren't great, but man, what a force on defense. He blocked everything, i think he might have averaged 3-4 blocks a game a few times. And it's not like he was 7'2, he was probably 6'7 at most. I still talk about him whenever I get in an 80s hoops discussion. 

 

I believe his freshman season was Bias' final season. And yeah, the guy could jump and played way bigger than he was. Too bad most of his MD career ended up being during the Wade disaster. If I'm not mistaken he did get picked in the NBA draft, but I don't think he lasted long.

[mweb08]

Simpkins

Rhodes

Hipp

Booth

Smith

[mweb08]

But seriously, probably more like this as someone who is mostly a 90's into the first half of the 00's guy.

 

Lucas

Dixon

Walt

Bias

Smith

[1970]

1st team:

PG John Lucas
SG Juan Dixon

SF Len Bias
PF Buck Williams

C Joe Smith 

 

2nd Team:
PG Steve Francis
SG Greivis Vazquez
SF Albert King
PF Len Elmore
C Tom McMillen

3rd Team:
PG Gene Shue
SG Adrian Branch
SF Walt Williams
PF Keith Booth
C Lonnie Baxter

 

This is real close to what I would have, except I’d replace Shue with Brad Davis (I never saw Shue play).  A couple of things…

 

I don’t think people realize how good of a player Albert King was - but obviously not better than Bias.  One small nit to pick, McMillen was the PF and Elmore the C on those teams.  Not related, but Elmore followed a guy name Lew Alcindor as the starting C at Power Memorial High School in NY.  One more thing, Elmore’s all time 5 is Lucas, Dixon, Bias, McMillen, and Smith.

[mdrunning]

This is real close to what I would have, except I’d replace Shue with Brad Davis (I never saw Shue play).  A couple of things…

 

I don’t think people realize how good of a player Albert King was - but obviously not better than Bias.  One small nit to pick, McMillen was the PF and Elmore the C on those teams.  Not related, but Elmore followed a guy name Lew Alcindor as the starting C at Power Memorial High School in NY.  One more thing, Elmore’s all time 5 is Lucas, Dixon, Bias, McMillen, and Smith.

I agree with you regarding Albert King, but there were also times when he seemed to leave you wanting for more. I don't know if he just never got comfortable in Lefty Driesell's rather helter-skelter offense, but he seemed reluctant to take a game over when the situation clearly called for it. Maybe it just wasn't in his DNA.

 

He had that great junior year in 1979-80 and finally looked like he was becoming the player everyone thought he could be. I figured he might leave for the NBA after that, but he came back for his senior season and it was another up and down campaign--not just for him but the team as well. That 1980-81 Maryland team was one of the college basketball's biggest disappointments. Despite returning King, Buck Williams, Greg Manning and Ernie Graham from the previous season's ACC regular-season champs, the Terps underachieved much of the season and were blown out by Indiana in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

[Mashed Potatoes]

First of all they're different positions. Stevie was a PG (even with Stokes on the roster). But 1 year vs 4 years the main driver there in not having him listed. I'm thinking more accumulative than just peak.

If we just go peak, then at PG Greivis is #2 and Francis #3. Greivis senior season was better than Stevie's one year here, IMO. Melo's freshman year competes with Stevie, as well, but think Francis stays ahead. Blake gets lifetime achievement but doesn't have one single season that competes with the other PGs, though maybe that three against UConn is enough to make him #1.

Yea I know Stevie was a combo guard so it's a little stretch but that one season was amazing. I saw him play at Chapel Hill where he just destroyed UNC and it was one of my favorite sports memories.