This week's Ten For Tuesday ranks 10 players who are the college game's most ... something.
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| Isma'il Muhammad averages nine points and 5.9 boards per game for Georgia Tech. (AP) |
Here's what it is: These are the 10 players whose physical attributes, whether it's their size or speed or strength or something else, freak ... me ... out.
None more than the first guy.
1. Isma'il Muhammad: In eight years covering college basketball, I've never seen anyone with Muhammad's combination of size, strength and explosiveness. In all sincerity, any NFL scout seeking the next Antonio Gates needs to take a long look at this 6-6, 228-pound Georgia Tech senior.
2. Nate Robinson: At 5-7, Robinson has no business dunking in the layup line, much less in games, when he dunks in traffic and routinely is on the receiving end of an alley-oop from a Washington teammate. It's a ridiculous sight.
3. Rodney Carney: The 6-7 Memphis junior was a 7-foot high jumper in high school, but with his long stride and quick feet, he might be a better fit in the 400-meter dash. Like it matters. With his basketball skills, he's going to make a lot of money in sneakers, not spikes. The only thing missing from one of his breakaway dunks is the sound of an airplane taking off.
4. Glen Davis: The 6-9, 310-pound LSU freshman's body needs some sculpting, but he's more than merely enormous. He has uncommonly quick feet for his size, which is why a lot of people still aren't sure if his best sport is basketball or football, where he was an All-American lineman in high school.
5. Marvin Williams: A 6-9, 225-pound North Carolina freshman, Williams is too big to move that fast. Is this what it was like to watch James Worthy as a freshman?
6. Shagari Alleyne: Earlier this season against Indiana, Kentucky's Chuck Hayes uncorked a textbook drop-step move, which he finished by muscling a layup off the backboard. One possession later, Alleyne did the same move from the same spot -- and dunked seemingly without leaving his feet. The Kentucky sophomore stands 7-3. He's not larger than life, but he's pretty damn close.
7. James White: White, a 6-7 Cincinnati junior, is a borderline world-class athlete who dabbled last spring with track and qualified for the NCAA regional meet in the high jump and triple jump. Not only is he two steps faster than most opponents from baseline to baseline, but when he swoops in for a dunk, he has to duck lest he split his forehead on the rim.
8. Dee Brown: The Illinois junior has been nicknamed "the one-man fast break" for good reason. Unlike so many quick players, though, Brown has the strength to finish what his speed helps him start.
9. Eric Williams: At 6-9, 275 pounds, the Wake Forest junior is a lot like ex-Duke great Elton Brand -- only an inch taller, 15 pounds heavier and more chiseled. The Brand comparison tilts the other way on the court, where Brand is a basketball savant, but Williams' game is coming along nicely ... and he's a simply terrifying physical presence.
10. Adam Haluska: A 6-5, 215-pound Iowa junior, Haluska doesn't win the layup line beauty contest, but underneath that floppy hair could be this country's next great decathlete. In high school, he was an eight-time state champion in sprints and jumps, as a senior finishing in second place in the team competition by himself.
