Kansas Player Ratings to the Theme of All Time Wins
In this story:
It was Kansas against Kentucky in a made for TV late January non-conference game that is mercifully not being forced upon us any longer after this season. Good. But that said, these are two of the most storied teams in the history of NCAA basketball and it wouldn’t be a sending off if we didn’t rub their noses in it at least a little bit. So today, we rate the players to teams with the most all time wins. As always, the method behind the madness:
5 Stars: Out of this world performance. This is a hard to achieve rating and is only reserved for the most impressive or impressionable performances.
4.5 Stars: Very strong performance, packed the stat sheet, provided undeniable intangibles.
4 Stars: A strong performance that falls just short of the standards above.
3.5 Stars: Above average performance, perhaps stands out in one category or one aspect of the game
3 Stars: Average performance. Also could be a very strong game in one aspect but a very poor game in another such as 15 points but seven turnovers. Could also be that the player played, did their job, but didn't do much spectacularly.
2 Stars: Below average performance, or we simply have higher expectations for the player on this particular night.
1 Star: Rare, but if a player has a stinker in all aspects.
Memorial No Star: Named after a former KU walk-on or obscure player and is awarded to the player(s) who didn't have enough playing time to contribute or whose performance isn't worthy of a rating for another reason.
5 Stars: Kansas, 2374 wins
Just a few years ago, Kansas was a distant second. That was then, this is now. Kansas is the leading the charge in the wins column and that will hopefully continue for a long, long time. And what’s maybe most impressive is that KU has only had eight head coaches in 125 years of basketball. To compare, North Carolina has had 19 and Kentucky has had 22.
It was a great game, but no one was a five star.
4.5 Stars: Kentucky, 2367 wins
A whopping 876 of these wins came under coach Adolph Rupp, a Kansas graduate. Prior to researching this article I didn’t realize that he coached at Kentucky for 42 years. That’s impressive. Coach Cal has 378 wins at Kentucky, putting him second on their all time list, a pretty impressive achievement no matter how you look at it.
There aren't any fives, but there are plenty of four and a half stars, starting with Jalen Wilson who had 22 points and eight rebounds and basically willed Kansas to victory at points in this game. This guy is going to have his jersey in the rafters one day.
Kevin McCullar is one tough dude. After hobbling back to the locker room, he came back out and gave KU some of the best minutes of the game. The highlight was a three from the wing that he canned as the shot clock was expiring. That's his spot from behind the arc and I'm a lot more confident when he shoots those than when he shoots from the corner. Also had some big and-one chances and finished with 11 points and 12 boards.
KJ Adams was up for the challenge in this one. After a few sub par games, KJ came back and did relatively well against Oscar Tshiebwe. KJ had 17 points on the night.
4 Stars: North Carolina, 2338 wins
A solid third place for the Tar Heels and seeing as they’ve gotten the majority of their successful coaches from Kansas, this feels like yet another extension from the top two. Dean Smith and Roy Williams combined for 1,364 of those wins.
Ernest Udeh came off the bench and did well! Two alley top dunks and decent defense on the Kentucky interior players will give the freshman mounds of confidence.
Eight points and eight assists is what we love to see from Dajuan Harris. Looks like he's well and truly back from whatever head injury was limiting his play.
3.5 Stars: The Separation
The three programs at the top have established themselves as the big dogs and that doesn't look to be going away any time soon.
Gradey Dick did a lot of the things that you don't notice on the scoresheet, but he is at KU to nail threes. He got one, and a huge one it was. That little setback is pretty money. Finished with 13 points.
3 Stars: Duke, 2261 wins
It’s great that Duke is this much lower, and they are the only one that hasn’t poached coaches from the Kansas coaching tree. I really think they should give Jerod Haase a try though.
Bobby Pettiford didn't do much in this one and MJ Rice's shot selection was questionable.
2 Star: Can you guess the next team?
This one took a little work as Temple has long been the fifth best program historically. The distance between Temple and the next few teams is quickly fading, and they will sink even further in the all time standings if current trends continue. The season started with the next few teams in this order: Temple, Syracuse, UCLA. Now we stand here:
Temple 1975 wins
UCLA 1972 wins
Syracuse 1969 wins
No one was a two star.
1 Star: The next Big XII Team
Texas has 1867 wins, but the conference will be better represented on this list when they leave. Cincinnati currently has 1880 all time wins.
No one was a one star.
Chris Teahan Memorial No Star:
Joseph Yesufu airmailed a three.
Zuby Ejiofor got injured in this one. Let's hope he comes back strong.
