Sunday, January 20, 2013

The Top Twenty Players in Utah Basketball History: The Top Ten.

As promised, here is the rest of my list of the Top Twenty Players in Utah Basketball History.

10.  Michael Doleac (1994-98) An important player for those great Majerus teams from the mid to late 90s. Doleac is in the top 15 for total points and the top ten for total rebounds. He was a great complement to Van Horn and Miller.

9.  Vern Gardner (1945-49) A 6'5" forward/center that led the Utes to the 1947 NIT Championship (he was the tournament MVP), Gardner's number 33 has been retired by the U. He was a two-time All-American.

8.  Mike Newlin (1968-71) Newlin was our team leader at the end of my career. He has the third best all-time career scoring average and was a great free-throw shooter. He had a great knack to getting to the line. Incidentally, he had a fairly notable NBA career.

7.  Tom Chambers (1977-81) Part of the great two-headed monster with Danny Vranes on Jerry Pimm's Runnin' Utes. Chambers is in the top ten in both total scoring and rebounding for the Utes. Chambers also had a great NBA career.

6.  Danny Vranes (1977-81) Along with Chambers, Vranes was also a good scorer and rebounder. He is also a top ten in scoring and top 15 in rebounding.

5.  Andrew Bogut (2004-05)  He could arguably be ranked higher than this, he was a number one draft pick after all, but his teams did not go as far as some of those ranked higher.  Bogut is in the top ten in all-time scoring and rebounding average for the U.  He was also a great passer from the post.

4.  Jerry Chambers (1963-66)  Jerry Chambers could score, rebound and get to the line.  He won the outstanding player award at the NCAA tournament in 1966 when we reached the final four.

3.  Keith Van Horn (1993-97)  The all-time leading scorer in Utah history, Keith Van Horn was a great athlete who could do it all.  He was the perfect complement to Andre Miller and led his team to the elite eight in 1997 and was also a consensus first team all-american that season.

2.  Andre Miller (1994-98)  Led his team to the National Finals in 1998 and played probably the single greatest game in Utah history in leading his team into the final four in a route against Arizona.

1.  Billy "the Hill" McGill (1959-62)  In the 1961-62 season, McGill averaged just under 40 points per game and led the Utes to the final four in the 1960-61 season.  He was also a consensus all-american in the 1961-62 season and a number one draft pick.  

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