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Historical starting fives for each Sweet 16 team

Noah Frank | nfrank@wtop.com

March 26, 2015, 1:38 AM

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Kentucky G John Wall – 19.1 ppg, 7.5 apg, 2.0 spg G Tony Delk – 14.2 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 39.7 3P% F Jamal Mashburn – 18.8 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 1.6 spg F Anthony Davis – 14.2 ppg, 10.4 rpg, 4.7 bpg, Wooden/Naismith Award Winner F DeMarcus Cousins – 15.1 ppg, 9.8 rpg, 1.8 bpg Despite only spending one year in Lexington, Wall gets the nod running point for this wrecking ball of a squad. With two scorers to swing the ball to and the monsters that are Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins down low, this team would put a hurting on the current squad, and could contend with any in our all-time field. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)
AP Photo/Dave Martin
West Virginia G Jerry West – 24.8 ppg, 13.3 rpg, 2.8 apg G Ron Hundley – 24.5 ppg, 10.6 rpg G Devin Ebanks – 11.2 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 2.6 apg F Da’Sean Butler – 14.3 ppg, 5.5 rpg C Kevin Pittsnogle – 13.3 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 41.1 3P% Despite a recent run of success, the Mountaineers lack the legacy of superstars that most teams possess. West and Hundley were both two-time All-Americans, while Ebanks and Butler were the leaders of the modern teams. Pittsnogle sneaks in thanks to his nightmare matchup as a 6-foot-11 big man who can rain threes. (AP Photo)
AP Photo
Notre Dame G Austin Carr – 34.6 ppg, 7.3 rpg, Naismith Award Winner F Adrian Dantley – 25.8 ppg, 9.8 rpg F LaPhonso Ellis – 15.5 ppg, 11.1 rpg, 2.1 bpg F Luke Harangody – 19.2 ppg, 9.1 rpg F Troy Murphy – 21.4 ppg, 9.8 rpg The Irish have an overload of low post scoring, so much so that Bill Laimbeer didn’t crack the starting five, because there just wasn’t any room for him. With the legendary Carr and the Hall of Famer Dantley in the backcourt, this team is hard to beat. (AP Photo/Rusty Kennedy)
AP Photo/Rusty Kennedy
Wichita State G Fred VanVleet – 9.5 ppg, 4.2 apg, 39.4 3P% G Warren Jabali – 16.7 ppg, 10.8 rpg F Cleanthony Early – 15.1 ppg, 5.7 rpg F Xavier McDaniel – 18.4 ppg, 11.6 rpg F Antoine Carr – 17.1 ppg, 6.9 rpg Wichita State has made some great tournament runs in their history, but the star power just isn’t there the way it is with most other schools on this list. Both VanVleet and Early were on last year’s team, which completed an undefeated regular season, and Jabali might be the best player overall on the list, but is less known due to his untimely passing. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
AP Photo/Rick Bowmer
Wisconsin G Devin Harris – 14.8 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 3.1 apg G Wes Matthews – 18.1 ppg, 2.6 rpg F Michael Finley – 18.7 ppg, 5.6 rpg F Frank Kaminsky – 9.8 ppg, 4.5 rpg F Kim Hughes – 13.6 ppg, 11.2 rpg The Badgers are another example of a school with a great team legacy, but without legendary stars on the same level as other teams on this list. Kaminsky has more than doubled his prior career averages in points and rebounds this season, but even The Tank himself can’t elevate this team among the elites in this field. (AP Photo/Nati Harnick)
AP Photo/Nati Harnick
North Carolina G Ed Cota – 9.5 ppg, 7.7 apg, 4.4 rpg G Michael Jordan – 17.7 ppg, 5.0 rpg, Wooden/Naismith Award Winner F Antawn Jamison – 19.0 ppg, 9.9 rpg, Wooden/Naismith Award Winner F Sam Perkins – 15.9 ppg, 8.6 rpg, 1.8 bpg F James Worthy – 14.5 ppg, 7.4 rpg One of the harder schools to narrow down, the sheer talent of this group is as good as any on this list. The underrated Cota is the perfect distributor to get the most out of the overwhelming balance at every position around him. This team would dust Wisconsin. (AP Photo/Jeff Bowen)
AP Photo/Jeff Bowen
Xavier G Lionel Chalmers – 12.7 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 3.2 apg G Jordan Crawford – 15.5 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 38.4 3P% F David West – 16.9 ppg, 10.4 rpg F Tyrone Hill – 15.9 ppg, 11.0 rpg F Brian Grant – 14.8 ppg, 9.3 rpg The X-men have a great, tough front line — good enough that we had to leave James Posey off the list. But scoring might be an issue, without a dynamic number-one option. That would probably spell the end against Arizona. (AP Photo/Al Behrman)
AP Photo/Al Behrman
Arizona G Mike Bibby – 15.4 ppg, 5.4 apg, 2.3 spg G Steve Kerr – 11.2 ppg, 3.4 apg, NCAA record 57.3 3P% as senior G Miles Simon – 14.6 ppg, 4.0 apg F Sean Elliott – 19.2 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 3.4 apg, Wooden Award Winner F Richard Jefferson – 11.3 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 2.8 apg Arizona has had a lot of players leave early, before fulfilling their full college potential, making this list tough to compile. There are so many great guards and wing scorers that we went with a smaller lineup here, but one that provides matchup nightmares and could easily average 90 points a game. (AP Photo/Cliff Schiappa)
AP Photo/Cliff Schiappa
North Carolina State G Spud Webb – 10.4 ppg, 5.7 apg, 1.9 spg G David Thompson – 26.8 ppg, 8.1 rpg, Naismith Award Winner G Julius Hodge – 15.8 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 4.8 apg F Ronnie Shavlik – All-time school rebounding leader (second in ACC history) C Tom Burleson – 19.0 ppg, 12.7 rpg A good mix of players from different generations, this team has a solid balance of speed, height and athleticism. Hodge seems the best of the more recent crop, an all-purpose leader who can do a bit of everything. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
AP Photo/Elise Amendola
Louisville G Reece Gaines – 15.6 ppg, 3.8 apg, 38.3 3P% G Darrell Griffith – 18.5 ppg, 4.8 rpg, Wooden Award Winner F Pervis Ellison – 15.8 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 2.8 bpg F Wes Unseld – 20.6 ppg, 18.9 rpg F Charlie Tyra – All-time school rebounding leader You have to dig a little deeper into Louisville’s history to find its best players, but once you do, the talent abounds. The one-two punch of Ellison/Unseld gives the Cardinals a strong frontcourt, probably enough to propel them past NC State. (AP Photo)
AP Photo
Oklahoma G Mookie Blaylock – 18.1 ppg, 6.3 apg, 3.8 spg G Ricky Grace – 13.0 ppg, 6.5 apg, 2.5 spg, 38.5 3P% F Wayman Tisdale – 25.6 ppg, 10.1 rpg, 2.0 bpg F Blake Griffin – 18.8 ppg, 11.8 rpg, Wooden/Naismith Award Winner F Stacey King – 17.6 ppg, 7.2 rpg This Oklahoma team is big, strong and nasty inside. The players who didn’t make the frontcourt starting five would start on most other teams on this list. With backcourt distributors who can pass and score, this is a dynamic group. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki
Michigan State G Mateen Cleaves – 12.5 ppg, 6.6 apg, 3-time All-American G Scott Skiles – 18.2 ppg, 5.5 apg G Ralph Simpson – 29.0 ppg, 10.4 rpg F Magic Johnson – 17.1 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 7.9 apg F Draymond Green – 10.5 ppg, 7.6 rpg Any team with Magic on it has a chance. The guards clearly lead the way with this group, with plenty of scoring and distributing to go around. You can argue Greg Kelser was more productive than Green, but this team needs the size down low. (AP Photo)
AP Photo
Duke G Jay Williams – 19.3 ppg, 6.0 apg, 39.3 3P%, Wooden/Naismith Award Winner G J.J. Redick – 19.9 ppg, 40.6 3P%, Wooden/Naismith Award Winner F Shane Battier – 13.6 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 1.8 spg, 1.7 bpg, Wooden/Naismith Award Winner F Elton Brand – 16.2 ppg, 8.9 rpg, 1.9 bpg, Wooden/Naismith Award Winner F Christian Laettner – 16.6 ppg, 7.8 rpg, Wooden/Naismith Award Winner Yes, Duke sports a full starting five of players who took home both the Wooden and Naismith Award. With a terrific shooting backcourt, great size and skill in the frontcourt, and the ultimate glue guy on the wing, this is a clear championship contender. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)
AP Photo/Amy Sancetta
Utah G Andre Miller – 12.1 ppg, 5.4 apg, 1.9 spg G Delon Wright – 15.1 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 5.2 apg, 2.3 spg F Keith Van Horn – 20.8 ppg, 8.8 rpg, 40.1 3P% F Tom Chambers – 14.6 ppg, 7.6 rpg C Andrew Bogut – 16.6 ppg, 11.1 rpg, 1.6 bpg, Wooden/Naismith Award Winner This is a sneaky-good team, maybe the most underrated in the whole field. The guards can score and distribute; the big guys can pass, and they’ve got great height across the board. If they were playing anyone but Duke, they’d have a shot at a run. (AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac)
AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac
UCLA G Ed O’Bannon – 15.5 ppg, 7.0 rpg, Wooden Award Winner G Reggie Miller – 17.2 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 43.9 3P% senior year F Jason Kapono – 16.5 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 44.6 3P% F Bill Walton – 20.3 ppg, 15.7 rpg, 3-time Naismith Award Winner C Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – 26.4 ppg, 14.7 rpg, Naismith Award Winner Perhaps the most devastating team in the field, the Bruins would dominate with their size and skill down low, then drown teams with a barrage of three-point shots from two of the best distance shooters in the history of the college game. This team would score and get loads of second chances, and has the size to match up at each position with any team on this list. (AP Photo/Ray Stubblebine)
AP Photo/Ray Stubblebine
Gonzaga G Kevin Pangos – 12.9 ppg, 3.8 apg, 41.9 3P% G Dan Dickau – 13.3 ppg, 3.7 apg, 46.2 3P% F Adam Morrison – 25.7 ppg, 6.7 rpg, Wooden/Naismith Award Winner F Kyle Wiltjer – 17.1 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 47.9 3P% F Ronny Turiaf – 13.6 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 1.4 bpg Gonzaga leads the field in great hair and white-guy basketball idioms. While their terrific size would help keep them in the game on the boards, they’ll live and die by the three-pointer. A game against UCLA might threaten the college scoring record if both teams got hot. (AP Photo/Jerry Laizure)
AP Photo/Jerry Laizure
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WASHINGTON — You can have your arguments about who will survive the second weekend of March Madness. Can NC State continue its run? Is Tom Izzo a robot built to work only in March? Can anybody beat Kentucky? Please?

But before we get to all that, imagine what the best starting five in each school’s history might look like. Surely, your view will be skewed by the generation of players you connected with the most. We tried to eliminate the inherent bias and cobble together the best starting five from each school in regards to their college careers.

This means that professional stats don’t matter. There were great college players who, for whatever reason, never became stars in the NBA or ABA. When there were close calls, we tended to skew more modern, because a 6-foot-11 center would probably be more productive in a cross-generational game than a 6-foot-6 one.

The results were somewhat surprising. Not every team you might expect to be strong is a powerhouse. You probably slept on a couple of schools that actually field terrific teams. Flip through the slides and check out each starting five, and let us know whether there’s anyone who absolutely deserved to be in ahead of the names we picked.

Note: All numbers are college career averages.

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