Best recruiting class ever?

TPowell · 03-13-11, 10:46 PM

Texas class

Durant (5 star)
Damion James (5 star)
D.J. Augustin
Dexter Pittman
3 more 4 star players

Memphis class of 2007

Morris twins (4 stars)
D-Rose (5 star)
Jeff Robinson (4 star)

Mac4Lyfe · 03-13-11, 10:46 PM

Are you talking recruiting classes or recruits who went on to the NBA or college accomplishments?

Hard not to mention 2004 Florida Gators class... Won back to back SEC conference, won the SEC Tourney back to back and won the NCAA title back to back which is unheard of. They won 19 straight elimination games in tourneys and all were by double digits except a 6 point win over Georgetown. Noone will ever dominate 2 straight tourneys like that again.

Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Corey Brewer all went top 9 in 2007. Chris Richard and Taurean Green went top 50 in the same draft. Then Marresse Speights went in the first round in 2008.

UK Wildcat's made history with 5 players all taken in the 1st round as noted above. John Wall, Demarcus Cousins, Patrick Patterson, Daniel Orton and Eric Bledsoe. I'd side with the UF team right now because several of those players are making a greater impact on winning basketball in the NBA but hard to top what UK did.

Fed_42420 · 03-13-11, 10:46 PM

Ky's class next year!!!! Check em out, it's great!!! If most of em stay this year, which they should. Next year Ky will be unstoppable.

TPowell · 03-13-11, 10:48 PM

TrapperDapper · 03-13-11, 11:28 PM

Originally posted by Mac4Lyfe

Are you talking recruiting classes or recruits who went on to the NBA or college accomplishments?

Hard not to mention 2004 Florida Gators class... Won back to back SEC conference, won the SEC Tourney back to back and won the NCAA title back to back which is unheard of. They won 19 straight elimination games in tourneys and all were by double digits except a 6 point win over Georgetown. Noone will ever dominate 2 straight tourneys like that again.

Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Corey Brewer all went top 9 in 2007. Chris Richard and Taurean Green went top 50 in the same draft. Then Marresse Speights went in the first round in 2008.

UK Wildcat's made history with 5 players all taken in the 1st round as noted above. John Wall, Demarcus Cousins, Patrick Patterson, Daniel Orton and Eric Bledsoe. I'd side with the UF team right now because several of those players are making a greater impact on winning basketball in the NBA but hard to top what UK did.

I was thinking more along the lines of single classes. I know not all of those guys were in the same class, but they were on the same team. Noah and Horford are the only ones doing much. Speights left too soon IMO.

The Madcap · 03-14-11, 01:02 AM

Hard to argue with the Fab Five if we're talking NBA success.

If you're talking college, you could throw in some others,

Ty Lawson/Wayne Ellington/Brandan Wright/Deon Thompson for UNC
Ray Felton, Rashad McCants, Sean May, David Noel, Byron Sanders for UNC

Elton Brand, Shane Battier, Will Avery for Duke
Jason Williams, Carlos Boozer, Mike Dunleavy for Duke

Drew Gooden, Nick Collison, Kirk Hinrich for Kansas

If you want to go old school, you could take NCSU's class of David Thompson, Monte Towe, and Tim Stoddard

UCLA with Kareem, Lucius Allen, and Lynn Shackleford.
Or maybe Indiana with Quinn Buckner, Scott May, Bobby Wilkerson, and Tim Abernethy

SR · 03-14-11, 01:07 AM

Weber State back in 79'

gamble · 03-14-11, 01:23 AM

gotta be the texas one mentioned or the fab five

NYSportsGuy210 · 03-14-11, 01:56 AM

I'd say the Fab Five or 2004 Florida Gaotrs

CollegeOverUnder · 03-14-11, 01:59 AM

2011 Arkansas

NardVa · 03-14-11, 02:15 AM

You have to go with the Florida Class and the Michigan Class. Both classes went to the championship game two years in a row. What about that Kentucky team that went to the championship game 3 years in a row. This was back when Kentucky had Derek Anderson, Walter Macarty, Antoine Walker, Ron Mercer and Wayne Turner. Not sure if they were all part of the same recruiting class but that 3 year run was amazing.

Mac4Lyfe · 03-14-11, 02:29 AM

Duke had a class that won back to back with Laettner and they went to the final four all 4 years he was there. He's the only player to start in 4 straight final four games. He's still the leading scorer in tourney history that may never get broken with all the 1 and dones.

but those teams had a bunch of close calls. The Shot that beat UK with a long pass from Grant Hill was very lucky along with several nail biters. The UF boys dominated tourneys 2 straight years where no game was even close. That's unheard of.

The Fab 5 never won a title and only Jalen, Juwanji and Webber made it to the nba. not only did they lose in the tourney but they had a shitload of tight games. One year they had like 3 or 4 overtime games. They were young, good but not really dominant. Not like UNLV, Houston or Georgetown dominant.

Goat Milk · 03-14-11, 05:41 AM

Originally posted by Mac4Lyfe

Duke had a class that won back to back with Laettner and they went to the final four all 4 years he was there. He's the only player to start in 4 straight final four games. He's still the leading scorer in tourney history that may never get broken with all the 1 and dones.

but those teams had a bunch of close calls. The Shot that beat UK with a long pass from Grant Hill was very lucky along with several nail biters. The UF boys dominated tourneys 2 straight years where no game was even close. That's unheard of.

The Fab 5 never won a title and only Jalen, Juwanji and Webber made it to the nba. not only did they lose in the tourney but they had a shitload of tight games. One year they had like 3 or 4 overtime games. They were young, good but not really dominant. Not like UNLV, Houston or Georgetown dominant.

Laettner and Grant Hill came out at different times so that would not count.

Chris Webber dominated college when he was at Michigan. He was the best player in the country, even as a freshman. He went on to have a remarkable NBA career, doing this at the PF position that have never been seen before (with his passing ability and soft shooting touch). Jalen Rose, likewise, had a good career at both levels- not like chris webber, but still a good nba player, much better than Laettner. Howard was a solid NBA player, not great, but played his role very well. Webber went a year before these two as well so they were not all in the same draft.

What about the draft with Stackhouse and Sheed? Both guys having great careers at both levels.

there are some but we would have to go back and do the research

TrapperDapper · 03-14-11, 12:22 PM

Stackhouse under achieved as a pro

agharah1 · 03-14-11, 12:34 PM

It has to be the Fab Five. For one thing, no other class mentioned had an all-freshman lineup. They made the championship game as a 6 seed as freshmen and then as a 1 seed as sophomores. Ohio State's 2007 class wasn't all freshmen one was a juco transfer, and they still had a McDonalds All American upperclassman Ivan Harris. Kentucky's John Wall class had Patrick Patterson to lead them. Kentucky made the Elite Eight, but so did the Fab Four after Chris Webber left.

I don't think there will ever be another class like the Fab Five because eventually the one-and-done rule will be rescinded.