If the NCAA allowed each team to have 1 alumni come back for their tournament run which team would have the best chance? This idea would be so awesome and make the games way more exciting. If each team just had a break glass in case of emergency NBA player to come save their team. I wanna see Jimmy Butler with Marquette and Tatum with Duke go at it. Obviously most of the times the bigger schools still have the advantage but what about Uconn and San Diego State? Yeah Uconn is good but are they good enough to beat a Kawhi lead team only bringing Andre Drummond or Overseas Kemba to the party?
What about all time players? Now for some schools left in the tournament, their current NBA alumni is a dream “Who He Play For?” roster list. Houston for example, what would you rather see, marcus sasser…. or PRIME HAKEEM. Now I know I’m gonna hear, “but it has to be current players for it to be possible” blah blah blah. Well this is my hypothetical and I want to see UNC getting absolutely hammered by Alabama with no hope in sight and then all of a sudden hearing “Sirius” by the Alan Parsons Project playing and Prime MJ comes down to save the Tarheels. I got chills just thinking about how electric that would be.
There’s some tough decisions with schools as well. Does Gonzaga need a true point guard like Stockton, or an elite passing big man like Sabonis? Does Purdue bring back Carsen Edwards for another miracle run, or is John Wooden more valuable as a player/coach? Does Coach McDermott choose the shooting of his son Doug or Kyle Korver? Arizona has a bunch of studs to choose from as well, they even have the man trusted to save us if the martians have a death beam pointed at earth. I included all the best players from each school below and included at least one current player so you know how to fill out your brackets just in case the NCAA comes to their senses and does this idea. Unfortunately, as a Kentucky fan, I think current alumni Duke wins and all-time North Carolina wins. Kentucky losing to Jack Gohlke and Oakland really screws up making this thing more interesting. But hey, it is March, the time of upsets. Crazier things have happened. Who would you pick to win it all?
Clemson-Horace Grant, Larry Nance, Trey Jemison
vs
Arizona-Aaron Gordon, Gilbert Arena, Mike Bibby, Andre Igoudala
San Diego St- Kawhi Leonard, Malachi Flynn, Jalen McDaniels
vs
Uconn- Ray Allen, Kemba Walker, Andre Drummond
Alabama-Collin Sexton, Brandon Miller, Robert Horry
vs
UNC- Michael Jordan(of course), Vince Carter, James Worthy, Tyler Hansborough, Coby White
Illinois- Deron Williams, Nick Anderson, Ayo Dosunmu
vs
Iowa St- Georges (the Mini Van) Niang, Monte Morris, Jeff Hornacek
Marquette- Dwade, Jimmy Butler, Jae Crowder
vs
NC State-David Thompson, Dennis Smith Jr, Tj Warren
Gonzaga-Stockton, Sabonis, Adam Morrison
vs
Purdue- Carsen Edwards, Glenn Robinson, John Wooden(player/coach)
Duke-Zion, Tatum, Reddick, Laettner, Kyrie, (I could go on)
vs
Houston-Hakeem, Clyde Drexler, Elvin Hayes, Marcus Sasser
Creighton- Kyle Korver, Doug McDermott, Paul Silas
vs
Tennessee- Bernard King, Dale Ellis, Tobias Harris