David Thompson, not Michael Jordan, is the best shooter in college basketball

What do Michael Jordan, JJ Redick, Jerry West, David Thompson and Ray Allen have in widespread? School basketball analyst and Lord of Listicles John Whitaker launched his finest guards in males’s faculty basketball historical past final week and lower his prime 5 to that group. Sadly, his prime 5 is a complicated Rubik’s dice. BigGameBoomer’s attempt Taking over this mammoth job is laudable, and whereas your effort is appreciated, you place some questionable opinions on Hoops’ Twitter that may’t go unnoticed.

Chief amongst these missteps is his proclamation of Michael Jordan as the best capturing guard in faculty basketball historical past. Jordan lastly grew to become the GOAT, however he is not even the most effective faculty capturing guard for a North Carolina college. NBA careers are the place legacies and propaganda are sometimes cemented, however inside the confines of newbie basketball, Jordan admires a person. Should you assume I am referring to JJ Redick (who’s ranked third by BigGameBoomer) based mostly on that description, I would like you to reevaluate all the pieces about your life. And if Redick himself sees this, let’s hope he would not add it to his checklist of complaintshowever the GOAT of the guards is David Thompson, and he is not significantly shut.

Nobody doubts that Jordan’s three-year resume at UNC was elegant. hit the game-winning shot at the national championship as a freshman provides Jordan a bonus over Thompson, who landed at NC State a yr earlier than the NCAA tweaked its guidelines on freshman eligibility and did not file a single D1 minute.

MJ’s 17.7 factors per recreation on 54 p.c capturing, 5 rebounds and 1.8 assists per contest, together with two All-American Staff mentions and a Naismith Nationwide Participant of the Yr Award as a junior, propelled him towards his deific tenure within the NBA, however Thompson was legendary throughout his profession at NC State.

Even and not using a freshman season, “Skywalker Thompson” made his mark as an ethereal expertise and peerless athlete from the second he stepped onto the court docket and rapidly made up for misplaced time. In three seasons, Thompson posted 27 factors per recreation on 55 p.c capturing and grabbed 8.1 rebounds as a 6-foot-4 guard.

In his first yr of eligibility, Thompson led an NC State group that had posted 29 wins and 24 losses within the earlier two seasons to an undefeated 27-0 season, however was barred from the event because of violations he dedicated. the Wolfpack throughout their recruitment.

Irrespective of, Thompson proved he was Him in his junior season by main a 30-1 season that produced NC State’s first nationwide championship and left little doubt about his place in faculty basketball lore.

Thompson’s seminal second got here within the Closing 4, when he scored 28 to finish John Wood’s streak of seven consecutive nationwide championships and defeated three-time Nationwide Participant of the Yr Invoice Walton. shot back to westwood early within the first half to set the tone. Thompson was a butt for Walton at 6-foot-11, however as ordinary, his 44-inch vertical soar was the nice equalizer. Thompson’s encore efficiency resulted in him successful the 1975 Naismith Participant of the Yr award earlier than being drafted first general in that yr’s ABA Draft.

Essentially the most devastating side of Thompson’s underrated profession wasn’t even that he was barred from taking part in in his first yr as GM. It is that the “Lew Alcindor rule,” which prohibited dunking, was in impact till 1976, lengthy after Thompson had exhausted his faculty eligibility. Even with these restrictions in place, Thompson and NC State level guard Monte Towe are sometimes credited with inventing the alley-oop. Archaic NCAA guidelines and Thompson’s distinctive potential required innovation. Towe would merely throw it the place Thompson would catch the move, twist his physique within the air and drop it into the barrel with out brushing the can.

Thompson by no means dunked till his final recreation, when he despatched a message to the NCAA by operating in transition to get his first and solely dunk as a school participant. and promptly obtained a technical foul for his crimes towards gravity.

However Thompson was greater than only a jumperand as if placing him behind Jordan was not Unhealthy sufficient, contemplating Jerry West and JJ Redick forward of Thompson is perverse. West had an ideal faculty profession, however the bar is excessive and he wasn’t on Thompson’s stage, and even MJ’s. Redick, in the meantime, completed his Duke profession because the ACC’s all-time main scorer, however Thompson trails by 460 factors regardless of taking part in 53 fewer video games.

there’s a purpose Michael Jordan asked Thompson to characteristic him for his 2009 induction into the School Basketball Corridor of Fame. Sporting Information known as Jordan the following Dr. J., however in terms of faculty greatness, he and his ilk will all the time look as much as David Thompson.