Best recruiting classes of the decade

College Sports 11 replies 804 views
SportsAndLady's avatar
SportsAndLady
Posts: 35,632
Dec 19, 2009 3:45pm
Rank these 12 teams based on which class you would want the most...not most talented, not most successful..simply, the class you would most want.

'06 UNC
Wayne Ellington
Ty Law
Brendan Wright
Deon Thompson
Will Graves
Alex Stepheson

'06 Texas
Kevin Durant
Damien James
Dexter Pittman
DJ Augustin
Matt Hill
Justin Mason
Harrison Smith

'02 Illinois
Dee Brown
Deron Williams
James Augustine
Aaron Spears

'09 Kentucky
John Wall
Eric Bledsoe
Daniel Orton
Demarcus Cousins
John Hood
Darnell Dodson

'05 Kansas
Mario Chalmers
Julian Wright
Brandon Rush
Micah Downs
CJ Henry

'02 UNC
Ray Felton
Rashad McCants
Sean May
David Noel
Damion Grant
Byron Sanders

'02 Syracuse
Carmelo Anthony
Gerry McNamara
Matt Gorman

'05 Memphis
Antonio Anderson
Chris Douglass Roberts
Robert Dozier
Kareem Cooper
Ricky Sanchez
Shawne Williams

'06 Ohio State
Greg Oden
Mike Conley
Daequan Cook
Othello Hunter
David Lighty

'04 Florida
Al Horford
Corey Brewer
Taurean Green
Cornelius Ingram
Joakim Noah

'05 UCLA
Alfred Aboya
Darren Collison
Luke Richard mbah a moute
Michael Rolle
Ryan Wright

'02 Duke
JJ Redick
Sheldon Williams
Shavlick Randolph
Sean Dockery
Lee Melchionni

I might have missed a few, if I did let me know..I just put these together real quick.

Anyone have UCONN's best recruiting class from 2000 or 2001? I looked at Rivals to get these, and they don't have 2000 and 2001..I'm sure UCONN's class from one of those years would be on my list, I just cant find it.

Here's how I'd rank them:

1) '04 Florida
2) '06 Ohio State
3) '06 UNC
4) '05 Kansas
5) '02 UNC
6) '06 Texas
7) '02 Syracuse
8) '02 Duke
9) '09 Kentucky
10) '05 UCLA

just missed: '02 Illinois, '05 Memphis
Mulva's avatar
Mulva
Posts: 13,650
Dec 19, 2009 4:28pm
1. '06 UNC
2. '06 OSU
3. '04 Florida
4. '05 Kansas
5. '06 Texas, but I expect this years Kentucky class to overtake that before it's all said and done.
Azubuike24's avatar
Azubuike24
Posts: 15,933
Dec 19, 2009 9:17pm
It's tough to include the 2009 UK class with classes from 2006 and before. You can't really fairly judge them until you are a few years removed. If we are going on pure talent, I think this UK class will rank up at the very, very top.

John Wall will likely be a #1 overall pick. Daniel Orton, DeMarcus Cousins and Eric Bledsoe will likely be 1st round picks. It's possible Cousins and Orton are both lottery picks at some point.

If this is the criteria, based on TALENT, then the only classes I'd take over them is the 2004 Florida, 2006 Ohio State and 2006 North Carolina.
Z
ZeroCool
Posts: 264
Dec 19, 2009 10:45pm
based on potential or based upon what they actually did?
hoops23's avatar
hoops23
Posts: 15,696
Dec 19, 2009 11:20pm
02' UNC is #1 in my books.. That class was special and brought UNC basketball back.

That '06 OSU class is sick too, though.

It's really tough to rank these...
sleeper's avatar
sleeper
Posts: 27,879
Dec 20, 2009 12:27am
06 Texas has the best player of all these, so I'll go with that as #1.
SportsAndLady's avatar
SportsAndLady
Posts: 35,632
Dec 20, 2009 4:31pm
ZeroCool wrote: based on potential or based upon what they actually did?
It's in the first line of my post.
Z
ZeroCool
Posts: 264
Dec 20, 2009 4:35pm
06 texas hands down then.
H
HiddenGems
Posts: 126
Dec 20, 2009 4:42pm
06 OSU.

They could have done magical things I think had they stayed. Since their only year was a Natl Championship game appearance, I'll go with them.
wes_mantooth's avatar
wes_mantooth
Posts: 17,977
Dec 20, 2009 6:01pm
04 Florida is the best for what they accomplished, but that 06 OSU team was stacked.
S
sportswizuhrd
Posts: 3,215
Dec 20, 2009 6:17pm
UConn Class of 01
Ben Gordon
Emeka Okafor
Mike Hayes
Chad Wise

Class of 02
Rashad Anderson
Hilton Armstrong
Denham Brown
Marcus White

Class of 04
Rudy Gay
AJ Price
Antonio Kellog

Class of 07
Hasheem Thabeet
Stanley Robinson
Jerome Dyson
Gavin Edwards
Ben Eaves
Curtis Kelly
Doug Wiggins
Jonathon Mandelove
SportsAndLady's avatar
SportsAndLady
Posts: 35,632
Dec 20, 2009 8:58pm
^^Thanks.

I'd put the '01 class at #7 on my list...and drop 7-10 down one.