That is very true. Michigan was awful when they arrived and saved the day. I think Eric Riley is the only bench person who played consistently after they arrived.

 

Part of the reason I put beating those guys out in there is because I still don't see all 5 freshmen being worthy of starting even if Meeks and Patterson weren't there. I definitely agree that we truly can't compare them because of that as well.

 

Just another comparison nugget, in the Mickey D's game when the Fab 5 -1 played(Ray Jackson wasn't a Mickey D' all star) the 4 that did play were 4 of the top 6 players on a court that had Alan Henderson, Donyell Marshall, Glen Robinson, James Forrest and many others on the court. Chris Webber set a scoring record of 28 points(which has been broken since then), Jalen Rose and Juwan Howard showcased an ability to blend in as a team, Jimmy King won the dunk contest......they were extremely talented.

 

Going by the rankings it is a heck of a coup for UK and Calipari. Easily one of the top 5 incoming classes of all time and probably the 2nd best after the Fab 5.

 

 

This class can obviously be compared to the Fab Five. The Fab Five looks better on paper. Lets see how the pro careers turn out for this class. It's hard to argue that it would be very difficult to accomplish what Michigan did as Freshman. Ohio St from a couple years ago could argue they were just as good though.

Just as long as you don't think its only UK fans saying it, thats fine.

 

Kentucky is like Fab Five all over again...

 

I know better than that.....if I was a journalist, I may very well write that story myself.:thumb:

This class can obviously be compared to the Fab Five. The Fab Five looks better on paper. Lets see how the pro careers turn out for this class. It's hard to argue that it would be very difficult to accomplish what Michigan did as Freshman. Ohio St from a couple years ago could argue they were just as good though.

 

OSU could argue, but they would lose that argument, IMO.

 

Only 3 of the Fab 5 went pro. One became a superstar(Webber), another became very rich for doing little(Howard), and the other had what I would call a great, not hall of fame, but a great pro career(Rose).

 

It's way too early to predict what UK's players will do in the NBA, with the exception of Wall who I feel is destined to be a superstar.

OSU could argue, but they would lose that argument, IMO.

 

Only 3 of the Fab 5 went pro. One became a superstar(Webber), another became very rich for doing little(Howard), and the other had what I would call a great, not hall of fame, but a great pro career(Rose).

 

It's way too early to predict what UK's players will do in the NBA, with the exception of Wall who I feel is destined to be a superstar.

 

IMO, OSU would lose that arguement to Carolina's class that year. At the time, their 2006 class was also compared to the Fab 5.

 

OSU

(1) Oden

(13) Cook

(28) Conley

(31) Lighty

 

UNC

(3) Brandan Wright

(5) Tywon Lawson

(7) Wayne Ellington

(36) Deon Thompson

(55) Alex Stepheson

(79) Will Graves

OSU could argue, but they would lose that argument, IMO.

 

Only 3 of the Fab 5 went pro. One became a superstar(Webber), another became very rich for doing little(Howard), and the other had what I would call a great, not hall of fame, but a great pro career(Rose).

 

It's way too early to predict what UK's players will do in the NBA, with the exception of Wall who I feel is destined to be a superstar.

 

4 of the 5 went to the NBA. Jimmy King had a cup of coffee. Ray Jackson played in the CBA.

 

I agree with your points, however. It is very difficult to compare the Fab Five to UK's class because we know what the Fab Five did and we have no on the floor comparision for the UK class. Just too early for these types of comparisions, IMO.

That is very true. Michigan was awful when they arrived and saved the day. I think Eric Riley is the only bench person who played consistently after they arrived.

 

Part of the reason I put beating those guys out in there is because I still don't see all 5 freshmen being worthy of starting even if Meeks and Patterson weren't there. I definitely agree that we truly can't compare them because of that as well.

 

Just another comparison nugget, in the Mickey D's game when the Fab 5 -1 played(Ray Jackson wasn't a Mickey D' all star) the 4 that did play were 4 of the top 6 players on a court that had Alan Henderson, Donyell Marshall, Glen Robinson, James Forrest and many others on the court. Chris Webber set a scoring record of 28 points(which has been broken since then), Jalen Rose and Juwan Howard showcased an ability to blend in as a team, Jimmy King won the dunk contest......they were extremely talented.

 

Going by the rankings it is a heck of a coup for UK and Calipari. Easily one of the top 5 incoming classes of all time and probably the 2nd best after the Fab 5.

 

 

Not to belabor the discussion but most of this comparison is not an apples to apples one. The key is to examine the Michigan Fab 5 as they were coming into college and out of HS. Compare that class to this one only on that criteria because the rest of the data (college performance, NBA career, etc.) is mere conjecture.

 

The key to a true comparison is "going into college" what was the talk about the Fab Five and the talk of this group based on High School careers and All-Star game performances. :thumb:

 

BTW, the reason for some of the "hype" is that Fisher chose to jettison the previous players who performed well for UM in favor of the hype of playing the all frosh lineup. He put a kid, Kirk Taylor, on the bench who had averaged 10 points and 4 boards a game (and in '91 appeared in only 10 games).

 

I know you compared Ray Jackson to Hood but in all honesty Jackson's numbers weren't that great his frosh year (4.6 points per game).

 

I found the stats for their careers here: http://stats.ath.umich.edu/basketball/seasontot.php

 

I've always found the mystique of this UM era interesting in that they are classified as one of the great ones but for all that, their average margin of victory was 6 points per game in '92 and 10 points per game in '93. Not the dominance you would expect such a heralded group.

Not to belabor the discussion but most of this comparison is not an apples to apples one. The key is to examine the Michigan Fab 5 as they were coming into college and out of HS. Compare that class to this one only on that criteria because the rest of the data (college performance, NBA career, etc.) is mere conjecture.

 

The key to a true comparison is "going into college" what was the talk about the Fab Five and the talk of this group based on High School careers and All-Star game performances. :thumb:

 

BTW, the reason for some of the "hype" is that Fisher chose to jettison the previous players who performed well for UM in favor of the hype of playing the all frosh lineup. He put a kid, Kirk Taylor, on the bench who had averaged 10 points and 4 boards a game (and in '91 appeared in only 10 games).

 

I know you compared Ray Jackson to Hood but in all honesty Jackson's numbers weren't that great his frosh year (4.6 points per game).

 

I found the stats for their careers here: http://stats.ath.umich.edu/basketball/seasontot.php

 

I've always found the mystique of this UM era interesting in that they are classified as one of the great ones but for all that, their average margin of victory was 6 points per game in '92 and 10 points per game in '93. Not the dominance you would expect such a heralded group.

 

 

I never said they were a dominant team, I said they were the best class ever. That's all.

 

The talk of the Fab 5 was that they were the greatest group of freshmen ever assembled and if the scenario of all 5 of them starting would happen....which it did a month or two before they got blown out by the Duke Blue Devils in the championship game.

 

Kirk Taylor wasn't better than anyone in the Fab 5 and in all reality, if Meeks comes back Darius Miller could end up being UK's Kirk Taylor.

 

Hood likely won't average 4.6 points a game this year, but we'll see.

 

Margin of victory mean nothing when you make it to the championship game 2 years in a row.

This team shouldn't lose much, it's pretty comforting knowing are "worst" recruit is Jon Hood.

This team shouldn't lose much, it's pretty comforting knowing are "worst" recruit is Jon Hood.

 

:thumb:

 

And Hood is arguably one of the best pure shooters in the class.