The Best Backcourts of the 21st Century (College Basketball Edition)
All of us should know by now that guards win games in March. Crunch time demands superb guard play whether it be through late game pressing, perimeter defense, three point field goals, controlling tempo, extending the coach, etc… It doesn’t matter if your best player is Greg Oden, because to win 4+ games in the Madness you need guys like Mike Conley and Daequan Cook to shoot the ball and set the pace.
Here, I take a look at the greatest backcourts of the modern college basketball era. Considering it is the end of our first decade in the 2000′s, it will be a list of the best backcourts of the 21st century thus far. I will make claims on this list, back them up with relevant statistics, and then display how many wins the backcourt managed in the tournament.
TOP TEN BACKCOURTS OF 21ST CENTURY
1. 2004-2005 Illinois Fighting Illini (5 wins)
This might be the best trio of guards in college basketball history. Going 37-2 but falling just short to one of the most potent starting fives of the modern era (UNC), the Illini’s legacy is a bit slighted. Still, it was Dee Brown, not Deron Williams, who was voted Sporting News’ National Player of the Year.
Deron Williams: 12.5 ppg, 6.8 apg
Dee Brown: 13.3 ppg, 4.5 apg, 1.8 spg (led NCAA in 3 point field goal %)
Luther Head: 15.9 ppg, 3.8 apg
2. 1999-2000 Michigan State Spartans (6 wins)
While Mateen Cleaves and Mo Pete ran the show (both were first team All-America and Big Ten Players of the Year), a freshman J-Rich and a future NBA’er Charlie Bell complemented them perfectly. And considering they all had to share minutes, this might be the deepest backcourt of all-time.
Mateen Cleaves: 12.1 ppg, 6.9 apg, 1.4 spg (all-time Big Ten assists leader)
Morris Peterson: 16.8 ppg, 6 rpg
Charlie Bell: 11.5 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 1.2 spg
Jason Richardson: 5.2 ppg, 4.1 rpg
3. 2000-2001 Duke Blue Devils (6 wins)
Many would say these guys were in fact #1 based on Jay Williams being the best point guard of the modern era (an undeniable fact). However, with the help of Boozer and Battier, I’ve always wondered how they managed to lose 4 regular season games. And also, I considered that Duhon as a freshman would not be able to compete with any of the guards above and that Dunleavy was never a true guard.
Jay Williams: 21.6 ppg, 6.1 apg, 2 spg
Chris Duhon: 7.2 ppg, 4.5 apg
Mike Dunleavy: 12.6 ppg, 5.7 rpg
4. 2001-2002 Maryland Terrapins (6 wins)
This backcourt duo dominated the NCAA tournament unlike any before them (their narrowest margin of victory came over UConn in the Elite 8 when they won by 8). One of the best defensive guards ever, Juan Dixon averaged 26 ppg in the tournament and was unstoppable when it mattered most. Steve Blake might have been the best pure passer of anyone on this list.
Juan Dixon: 20.4 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 2.6 spg
Steve Blake: 7.9 ppg, 8 apg, 1.6 spg
5. 2003-2004 St. Joseph’s Hawks (3 wins)
While their record is a little less telling considering the Atlantic 10 competition, they are the last team to go undefeated in the regular season. They were a last second John Lucas shot away from beating OSU, and considering history, this would have been unprecedented. This was before George Mason, and this was a team that had been good all season long. With no size and very little help otherwise (forgive me Pat Carroll), Nelson and West were the best small man duo of my lifetime.
Jameer Nelson: 20.6 ppg, 5.3 apg, 4.7 rpg, 3 spg
Delonte West: 18.9 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 4.7 apg, 51 FG%
6. 2002-2003 Marquette Golden Eagles (4 wins)
The reason they’re behind St. Joes is because of their embarrassing Final Four appearance and comparably lackluster regular season. Dwayne Wade was completely shut down by Kirk Hinrich in the Final Four and the KU backcourt of Miles, Langford, and Hinrich slaughtered the Eagles by 33 points. So one could even make a legitimate case that they weren’t the best backcourt in 2003 (I’d disagree through the sum of their parts argument)
Travis Diener: 11.8 ppg, 5.6 apg
Dwayne Wade: 21.5 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 4.4 apg, 2.2 spg
7. 2005-2006 Villanova Wildcats (3 wins)
In my humble opinion, the only guard trio that is at all comparable to the ’05 Illini. Sadly, their thus far irrelevance in the NBA overshadows their incredible body of work in college. They were knocked out of the tourney in the Elite 8 simply because of their undersized front court’s inability to slow down Florida’s Horford, Noah, and Richard (they had nobody taller than 6’7″)
Randy Foye: 20.5 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 3.3 apg
Allan Ray: 18.5 ppg, 3.6 rpg
Kyle Lowry: 11 ppg, 3.9 apg, 2.3 spg
8. 2007-2008 Memphis Tigers (5 wins)
Derrick Rose and Carmelo Anthony are the best one-and-done’s in history. I’ve never seen a point guard control the tempo and heartbeat of a game like D-Rose. He took the Tigers to a National Championship and dismantled the stellar backcourts of Texas’ Augustin-Abrams tandem and UCLA’s Collison-Westbrook tandem in the process.
Derrick Rose: 14 ppg, 4.5 apg, 4.2 rpg, 1.2 spg
Chris Douglas-Roberts: 17.3 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 55.4 FG%
9. 2000-2001 Arizona Wildcats (5 wins)
If they hadn’t ran into Duke in the ’01 National Championship, they would have had the most dominating tournament run of any I’ve ever seen. They cruised through their regional and won by no less than 10 points in every game except a nail-biter against the Frank Williams, Corey Bradford, Brian Cook-led Illini in the Elite 8. They had a great front court as well which hurts their legacy (Michael Wright, Loren Woods, Luke Walton)
Jason Gardner: 11.0 ppg, 4.2 apg, 1.6 spg
Gilbert Arenas: 16.2 ppg, 1.9 spg
Richard Jefferson: 11.3 ppg, 5.4 rpg
10. 1999-2000 Ohio State Buckeyes (1 win)
The reason Scoonie and Redd are included here is because the year prior (’98-’99) they went to the Final Four. They choked hard against Miami (FL) in the first year of the decade but still remained the most formidable Big Ten backcourt in history (statistically). The most impressive thing about these two was that Ohio State had 5 losing seasons before Redd and Penn came in and took them to that Final Four. The program hasn’t looked back since.
Scoonie Penn: 15.6 ppg, 4.4 apg, 4.4 rpg, 2.2 spg
Michael Redd: 17.3 ppg, 6.5 rpg
HONORABLE MENTIONS (no order):
2001-2002 Kansas (5 wins)
Kirk Hinrich- Keith Langford- Aaron Miles
2001-2002 Oregon (3 wins)
Luke Ridnour- Freddie Jones- Luke Jackson
2004-2005 Wake Forest (1 win)
Chris Paul- Justin Grey
2001-2002 Texas (4 wins)
T.J. Ford- Royal Ivey- Brandon Mouton
2004-2005 North Carolina (6 wins)
Raymond Felton- Rashad McCants- Jackie Manuel
2004-2005 Washington (2 wins)
Nate Robinson- Will Conroy- Brandon Roy
BACKCOURTS THAT SHOULD’VE BEEN BETTER:
2004-2005 Georgia Tech (1 win)
Will Bynum- Jarrett Jack- Mario West
*They had their entire National Championship runner-up team returning and couldn’t make any noise come tournament time.
2000-2001 Arkansas (0 wins)
Jannero Pargo- Joe Johnson
1998-1999 UCLA (0 wins)
Earl Watson- Baron Davis
*If only they had stayed for their junior seasons. And if only Baron didn’t tear his ACL his freshman year.
2003-2004 Wisconsin (1 win)
Devin Harris- Freddie Owens- Alando Tucker
*If only Bo Ryan played freshman (Tucker)…
The verdict is still out.. Share your opinion!
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Comments
Comment from Voice of reason
Time February 23, 2010 at 3:31 pm
You discredit yourself to say “Derrick Rose and Carmelo Anthony are the best one-and-done’s in history”. Come on!!!!! Kevin Durant! Let’s not forget about the man who just owned everyone while playing for the Longhorns.
Comment from Stormin’ Norman Disciple
Time February 23, 2010 at 3:33 pm
@Voice of reason: But how far did Durants Horn’s go in the tourney? Not 5 or 6 wins like Rose and Melo…
Comment from smoking everywhere
Time February 23, 2010 at 3:53 pm
Kevin Durant! i think we should really be thinkign about how far durants horns go in the tourney? ROSE BABY!
Comment from 6th(fry)man
Time February 23, 2010 at 8:36 pm
Steven aka “His Jesusness”,
In considering your inclusion of the 1998-99 UCLA guard set as well as an abundance of early 2000′s back court arrangements, I feel as though it is only fair for me to remind you of a late 90′s tourney champ that easily could’ve rivaled your aforementioned suggestions. I give you the 1996-97 Arizona Wildcats:
While garnering a somewhat meager 25-9 regular season record and finishing 5th in the Pac-10 going 11-7 that year, its hard to argue that this could’ve been the most dominant tournament team of all time. On their route to the title, they beat three #1 seeds (only team ever to do so) and won two overtime games, one being the national title games. Oh and not to mention, all the while being lead by a stellar back court.
Mike Bibby — ’97 Pac-10 freshman of the year (13.5 ppg, 5.2 apg) — went on to be Pac 10 Player of the year in ’98 as well as a Consensus All American
Michael Dickerson — ’97 All American (18.9 ppg, 4.5 rpg) — was also a 98′ All American
Miles Simon — Was the ’97 tournaments Most Outstanding Player as well as the tournaments leading scorer (18.4 ppg, 4.2 apg, 4.1 rpg)
Jason Terry — (10.6 ppg, 4.4 apg, 2.5 spg) Coming off the bench as a Sophomore, and later went on to be named an All American and Pac-10 player of the year in ’99
Just thought this back court deserved a nod. Overall though, very well done Shuttlesworth
Comment from Voice of reason
Time February 24, 2010 at 10:19 am
@ Stormin’ Norman…
First, I don’t put too much stock in tournament wins when it comes to evaluating individual players’ performances. There have been countless studs that are just on poor quality teams, and the strength of your team as a whole is not indicative of your skill level as an individual. Durant had one of the most dominant years in men’s basketball history. If you want to look at team performance, keep in mind that he single handedly was dragging a terrible roster to end the season ranked 11th in the final AP poll. Not too bad for a roster who’s next best player was fellow freshman D.J. Augustin, an undersized point guard, who’s true skill level has been on display in Charlotte the last couple of years..
But again, forget the team’s success, let’s look at his individual stats. Unfortunately advanced +/- numbers aren’t published for college, so we can’t look historically into what their true values were for their teams (if you know of a place to look at this, I would love to know about it), however we can see the straight up box scores. Durant averaged 25.8 Points, and 11.1 rebounds while shooting over 47% from the field, over 40% from the arc, and almost 82% from the line. He was playing an incredible 35.9 minutes a game, which is impressive when you consider how efficient he was. Compare that to Rose’s 14.9 Points, 4.5 boards, and 4.7 assists, with a similar FG%, but a noticeably worse 3Pt and FT% while only playing 29.2 MPGs. Anthony was a more productive player than Rose, scoring 22.2 a game with 10 boards, but shot a lower FG%/3Pt%/FT% than Durant, and played only 36.4 minutes a game. Across the board he came up a little short of Durant’s numbers. Now some of that can be attributed to his superior teammates, and the fact that Anthony didn’t need to do as much as Durant, but then by making that comment you can easily see how your other comment on the team’s overall performance isn’t that valid, because we were dealing with different degrees of talent on those teams.
Looking at this, I think we can clearly see that Durant was the most productive and impressive individual out of those three, and while the longhorns may not have fared as well as the Tigers or Orangemen, Durant certainly deserves to be mentioned as one of if not the best one-and-done players ever.
Man, I spent too much time doing this………
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Time February 25, 2010 at 1:50 am
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Time February 25, 2010 at 6:44 am
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Comment from Tuna
Time February 25, 2010 at 4:53 pm
How could you not include arguably the best perimeter defender of the 21st century and an all around solid squad of Mr. Kirk Hinrich and the Jayhawks? I guess winning 5 games in the tourny and shutting down dwayne wade is not enough to put that squad in the top 10.
Comment from Reverend Paul Revere
Time February 26, 2010 at 2:00 pm
How about Ty Lawson and Wayne Ellington last year?
Comment from Stormin’ Norman Disciple
Time February 27, 2010 at 7:47 am
@Voice of Reason: Your points are valid, the problem is you’re not arguing with me or the author of this post. He is clearly using tournament wins and “heartbeat of a team” as a measure of success. I’m not saying Durant didn’t have great statistical success, I’m saying that this analysis is clearly not just based purely on statistics and nothing more. The most success individually and statistically as a college freshman? Sure Durant is one of the best. But as far as overall impressive freshmen seasons? Ain’t no one watching Durant drop 35 and 15 on North-West-South State in November. I’m looking at March and there, Rose and Melo are kings among freshman.
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Time March 17, 2010 at 6:05 am
[...] couple of weeks ago I comprised a comprehensive list of the greatest college backcourts of the 21st century. In response, I experienced a number of healthy attacks as well as some reluctant support. But most [...]
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Comment from bookmark
Time February 23, 2010 at 9:26 am
At least listening to your interview would have been interesting. Though the urge to interject would have been difficult to master.