SI's top 10 NCAA Tournament players

He was the third-best player on his two title teams. Magic Johnson was a unique beast and posted 24 points, seven rebounds and an unlisted number of assists in the 1979 title game (and he played in the 1978 tournament, too).

 

Yeah but the Big O remains very popular. #thatswhatshesaid

 

While I could agree that Isiah could be ranked ahead of Bird based on playing in two tournaments and winning one, I can't see him as a Top 10 player.

 

He and Pete Maravich are the most mythologized players in basketball history. They were great, but they also were abrasive teammates who probably fall closer to Allen Iverson than Michael Jordan.

 

We don't measure quarterbacks that way.

 

Football and basketball are very different sports. A single player can take over a basketball game.

I don't know why this needs to be said.

 

Let's just be happy Dwyane Wade wasn't in the top 3.

 

I'm just saying top 10 lists aren't exactly definitive. We each devise our own criteria.

And I'm yanking your chain.

 

Kobe Bryant carried Duke to the title game as a junior. He should be on the list.

 

I think you also have to look at players who carried their teams to the title... As LTL pointed out, Danny Manning without question did that in 1988. I'm trying to think of similar examples... Maybe Carmelo at Syracuse... I'm not saying Melo should be top 10, but man, I think of that game against Texas in the semis and what he did in the title game and would have to think that what he did that year stacks up pretty favorably against what almost anyone has done in a single tournament over the last 20 years.

 

I'm also surprised they didn't try to find some way to put Jordan in the top 10.

 

Moses Malone carried Maryland to back-to-back Championships his freshman and sophomore years