McRae and Stokes

#1
bnhunt

bnhunt

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#1
I know the list of the top 10-20 UT players of all-time comes up periodically on here, but I was wondering if Stokes and/or McRae make any anyone's list.

I think the top 4 are fairly easy: King, Grunfeld, Ellis, and Houston. Probably Lofton to round out the top 5, but some of the old schoolers might put up an argument there. I think Stokes is the 2nd greatest rebounder to ever wear orange and that has to be worth something. I would probably put him in my top 15. McRae is harder to judge, but I think he is probably underrated by most people on this board.

Thoughts?
 
#2
#2
Tony White should probably be in the conversation. Stokes and McRae are sort of in the Dyron Nix/Ron Slay category.
 
#3
#3
I think in 10 years we will look back on Stokes season this year and people will recognize it for what it was. They will finally see what we had in him.
 
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#4
#4
We took Stokes for granted honestly. When we see our front court next year, I think a lot of people will wise up to how dominant Jarnell was during his career.

I'll remember McRae as a really, really fun player to watch. I don't know if I'd go top 10 or 15 range though. I'll probably think back on him fondly in the same way I do JaJuan Smith, even if he had his shortcomings.

EDIT: Editing to make sure this is clear: Chris Lofton is a top 5 player all time in our program. There shouldn't be a lot of debate on this one.
 
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#5
#5
GAVol said:
Tony White should probably be in the conversation. Stokes and McRae are sort of in the Dyron Nix/Ron Slay category.
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I was too young to remember Tony White, but from everything I've read an argument could be made to put him ahead of Lofton.
 
#6
#6
ejvols4 said:
EDIT: Editing to make sure this is clear: Chris Lofton is a top 5 player all time in our program. There shouldn't be a lot of debate on this one.
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A lot of people will put up a Tony White argument.
 
#8
#8
GAVol said:
Tony White should probably be in the conversation. Stokes and McRae are sort of in the Dyron Nix/Ron Slay category.
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That's the exact 2 guys I was thinking of when I was wondering where these guys would fit, especially Stokes. Both Nix and Slay were better scores than Stokes, but Stokes is a much better rebounder and probably a better defender.
 
#9
#9
bnhunt said:
I know the list of the top 10-20 UT players of all-time comes up periodically on here, but I was wondering if Stokes and/or McRae make any anyone's list.

I think the top 4 are fairly easy: King, Grunfeld, Ellis, and Houston. Probably Lofton to round out the top 5, but some of the old schoolers might put up an argument there. I think Stokes is the 2nd greatest rebounder to ever wear orange and that has to be worth something. I would probably put him in my top 15. McRae is harder to judge, but I think he is probably underrated by most people on this board.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Ron Widby
 
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#12
#12
Allan Houston, King,Grunfeld,Lofton and Ellis --- Top 5 McRae would make my top 10 Stokes and Tobias left to early so top 10 also
 
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#15
#15
bnhunt said:
Elite rebounder and maybe the most physically dominating player UT has ever had.
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Probably say that is King and I don't think it's even close. This is not to take away from what Stokes has accomplished at UT though.
 
#16
#16
Looking at some of the names mentioned on here tells a sad story of the recruiting in Basketball at UT. That's an area in itself that really needs to improve. Taking nothing from what King, Grunfeld & Ellis did, but look how long ago that was. When you mention the names after them it get's very slim when speaking about elite next level guys. Seems like some things don't change, but Bball recruiting at UT for men has to.
 
#17
#17
King by a wide margin at #1. Then a grouping of Ellis, Grunfeld, Houston, Lofton, White, Widby, Nix, Chism, Steve Hamer and Reggie Johnson. Then Jarnell and Jordy are close to that group with guys like Watson, Tony Harris, Haislip, CJ Black, Smith, and Scottie.

Some people may not rate Wayne that high, but in addition to averaging 12/8 basically, he was probably the best post defender I remember playing for the Vols. He shut down Greg Oden better than anyone in the NCAA during those meetings. He also gets big props from me for being the winningest player in Vols history.
 
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#19
#19
ainge10heisman said:
I think in 10 years we will look back on Stokes season this year and people will recognize it for what it was. They will finally see what we had in him.
Click to expand...
I think that next year people will see his skill set made him play a position that was inappropriate for his pro career! Not too many 6'8" 4's in the pros.
 
#20
#20
jknox33 said:
Probably say that is King and I don't think it's even close. This is not to take away from what Stokes has accomplished at UT though.
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Hard to compare due to different eras. I think King may have been more physically dominating in his era, but Stokes may be the strongest basketball player I have ever seen. 6'8 260 lbs with 6% body fat - that is just stupid.
 
#22
#22
VolArmy74 said:
King by a wide margin at #1. Then a grouping of Ellis, Grunfeld, Houston, Lofton, White, Widby, Nix, Chism, Steve Hamer and Reggie Johnson. Then Jarnell and Jordy are close to that group with guys like Watson, Tony Harris, Haislip, CJ Black, Smith, and Scottie.

Some people may not rate Wayne that high, but in addition to averaging 12/8 basically, he was probably the best post defender I remember playing for the Vols. He shut down Greg Oden better than anyone in the NCAA during those meetings. He also gets big props from me for being the winningest player in Vols history.
Click to expand...

No Ron Slay? No way Black is ahead of Slay, who was SEC player of the year if I'm not mistaken. I think Slay may be the most underrated player in UT history by the fans.
 
#23
#23
SlyStone said:
Looking at some of the names mentioned on here tells a sad story of the recruiting in Basketball at UT. That's an area in itself that really needs to improve. Taking nothing from what King, Grunfeld & Ellis did, but look how long ago that was. When you mention the names after them it get's very slim when speaking about elite next level guys. Seems like some things don't change, but Bball recruiting at UT for men has to.
Click to expand...

Somewhat agree. However, we've had some very good players since then - Houston, Slay, Hopson, Lofton, Haislip, Yarbrough, McRae, Stokes, etc.
 
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