RealGM

I think Lebron, Durant, and a few others could easily do it. Who are some other players that you guys think could? Also, what is the cutoff point? How far could an average player like...Rudy Gay take a 16 seed?

Edit: assume the player has a full week to practice with the team

Highly dependent on team fit. I think a guy like Rudy Gobert stands a chance (surround him with shooters). It would be tougher than you think for a wing or guard. The rest of your teammates need to defend well, team defense really matters. For one shooter, all it would take is a bad game and you're knocked out. Defense is more reliable.

Almost all of the tier 1 players can do it.

clyde21 wrote:Almost all of the tier 1 players can do it.

Any of them to be honest, and most of the tier 2 players as well.

Franco wrote:

clyde21 wrote:Almost all of the tier 1 players can do it.

Any of them to be honest, and most of the tier 2 players as well.

Yup. Most likely.

I mean, did you see the basketball being played last night?

You'd be sending a full grown NBA all-star to play with kids.

Some one like AD would average wilt numbers lmao.

Franco wrote:

clyde21 wrote:Almost all of the tier 1 players can do it.

Any of them to be honest, and most of the tier 2 players as well.

Once you’re playing teams with a lot of high end NBA prospects on their roster things become increasingly difficult for even a tier 1 star and a 16 seed and near impossible for a tier 2 star. Ben Simmons is clearly one of the top 30 players in the league and he didn’t even make the tournament at LSU.

But I also think it depends on who that player is. Far more difficult for Anthony Davis to dominate as a big man then Harden or Westbrook as do everything guard. Just look at what Buffalo did to Ayton and Arizona last night by keeping the pace up and the game on the outside.

Well I just saw DeAndre Ayton... the consensus #1 pick get steamrolled by the #13 seed with a good cast around him.... I think some of y'all are overestimating the impact of 1 player.

HotTubMike wrote:Well I just saw DeAndre Ayton... the consensus #1 pick get steamrolled by the #13 seed with a good cast around him.... I think some of y'all are overestimating the impact of 1 player.

Ayton is an 18-year-old who disappears in games half the time.

How are you comparing that to MVP caliber NBA player? Dropping LeBron, Steph, KD, Westbrook, Harden, Giannis etc. into the NCAA tournament is like dropping a Tazmanian Devil into a hen house.

I think people are underestimating the competition...I saw some 5-6 matches yesterday...one thing which I didn't like is that not many teams are utilizing Pick & Roll, also teams close down really really well..defense is pretty decent. I don't think a tier-2 player will be enough to get a 16 seed through

HotTubMike wrote:Well I just saw DeAndre Ayton... the consensus #1 pick get steamrolled by the #13 seed with a good cast around him.... I think some of y'all are overestimating the impact of 1 player.

I think people are ignoring the type of player that succeeds in college hoops. The tournament specifically is a guards game with a premium on shooting and ball handling ability.

Curry, Harden and Durant would have no problem burying even very good college teams nearly single-handedly. They could literally drop threes every possession nearly. Big guys like Embiid or Anthony Davis would struggle because they rely on guards to get them the ball. Someone like Westbrook would not be as effective as someone like Harden, because Westbrook is not the prolific outside shooter, so teams would just pack the paint. Westbrook relies on NBA spacing that doesn't exist in college.

The other element of this is that we're talking about prime 25-30 year old versions of these guys. Curry dominated college basketball at 18-21 years old, then got to the pros and had to get a lot better to get where he is now. Now? He'd absolutely destroy these kids. A 29 year old Curry against a bunch of 18 year olds would be a slaughter of the highest order.

The_Hater wrote:

Franco wrote:

clyde21 wrote:Almost all of the tier 1 players can do it.

Any of them to be honest, and most of the tier 2 players as well.

Once you’re playing teams with a lot of high end NBA prospects on their roster things become increasingly difficult for even a tier 1 star and a 16 seed and near impossible for a tier 2 star. Ben Simmons is clearly one of the top 30 players in the league and he didn’t even make the tournament at LSU.

But I also think it depends on who that player is. Far more difficult for Anthony Davis to dominate as a big man then Harden or Westbrook as do everything guard. Just look at what Buffalo did to Ayton and Arizona last night by keeping the pace up and the game on the outside.

Even the greatest high-end prospect has no hope of coming close to the impact of a NBA Superstar, stop it.

Joel Embiid....will be a modern day version of Lew Alcindor.

The_Hater wrote:

Franco wrote:

clyde21 wrote:Almost all of the tier 1 players can do it.

Any of them to be honest, and most of the tier 2 players as well.

Once you’re playing teams with a lot of high end NBA prospects on their roster things become increasingly difficult for even a tier 1 star and a 16 seed and near impossible for a tier 2 star. Ben Simmons is clearly one of the top 30 players in the league and he didn’t even make the tournament at LSU.

But I also think it depends on who that player is. Far more difficult for Anthony Davis to dominate as a big man then Harden or Westbrook as do everything guard. Just look at what Buffalo did to Ayton and Arizona last night by keeping the pace up and the game on the outside.

There's a big gap between these elite players at their age in college and as full grown stars. KD looked elite in college and took a while to get his offense going at the NBA level.

People really underestimate how much better players get once they get to the NBA.

Kevin Durant, for example, averaged 26ppg as an 18 year old at Texas. He came to the league and in his first season averaged 20ppg on pretty poor efficiency. Since that time, he developed into an ultra-efficient scorer who averaged 30+ppg multiple seasons and is usually at the top of the league. Harden is another example. He didn't even average 10ppg his first NBA season. Look at him now.

A lot of these tier 1 guys were beasts in college, but the version of them from college is vastly inferior to the version of them now. Transplanting the versions of them now into the college game would be incredibly unfair. They would absolutely dominate.

Maybe the top 100 players in the league?

HotTubMike wrote:Well I just saw DeAndre Ayton... the consensus #1 pick get steamrolled by the #13 seed with a good cast around him.... I think some of y'all are overestimating the impact of 1 player.

You're comparing the impact of college DeAndre Ayton to MVP and All-NBA caliber pro players? Really?

You want to take that back?

Patches Perry wrote:

HotTubMike wrote:Well I just saw DeAndre Ayton... the consensus #1 pick get steamrolled by the #13 seed with a good cast around him.... I think some of y'all are overestimating the impact of 1 player.

I think people are ignoring the type of player that succeeds in college hoops. The tournament specifically is a guards game with a premium on shooting and ball handling ability.

Curry, Harden and Durant would have no problem burying even very good college teams nearly single-handedly. They could literally drop threes every possession nearly. Big guys like Embiid or Anthony Davis would struggle because they rely on guards to get them the ball. Someone like Westbrook would not be as effective as someone like Harden, because Westbrook is not the prolific outside shooter, so teams would just pack the paint. Westbrook relies on NBA spacing that doesn't exist in college.

The other element of this is that we're talking about prime 25-30 year old versions of these guys. Curry dominated college basketball at 18-21 years old, then got to the pros and had to get a lot better to get where he is now. Now? He'd absolutely destroy these kids. A 29 year old Curry against a bunch of 18 year olds would be a slaughter of the highest order.

There's no doubt they would destroy the competition, but to the question at hand, their team is still going to need to defend well enough on the other end, so that's a factor. They also can only score so many points by themselves, so other guys have to make shots too. They can certainly win, but if a good team gets hot and their team doesn't have anyone to contain them, the player generally can't do anything about that except for try and match with that whole teams offense which against college guys, they can do, but how many times is the question. I guess the other team can also go wild and like triple team them and hope other guys miss, lol

Definitely a ton of guys who could though.

Buckets! Even the best college players struggle in the NBA, let alone versus Superstars

Are they just being dropped in for the tournament? Or are they with the team all season long? If it's just an ability thing where they're just dropped in, probably none. A lot of what goes into making these guys great are the players around them. What happens when they're with guys who don't know where to be, or how to make the right passes, right reads? Lebron can't guard five guys, and he can't go all out for 40 minutes every game of the tournament.

Another part of this is, there are guys on the other team who can step up and ball. We see it in the NBA every now and then, some unpolished rookie stepping up to the plate and giving a superstar problems for a stretch of possessions. You also see it if you play with pros and college guys, sometimes dudes step up unexpectedly and go toe to toe with the best. Basketball is a team game, and if you get one guy who's not scared of Lebron or Durant, that can change things. Remember the college all americans beat the Dream Team in a scrimmage.