Is Fredette the Greatest to Ever Play in Utah - Poll

Is Fredette the Greatest to Ever Play in Utah? Is it too early to tell? Interesting Deseret News article. I am old enough to remember Wayne Estes and to remember hearing of that tradgedy. I have long thought he was the greatest. I am too young to remember Billy "The Hill" McGIll playing although I heard his name echoing for years later. Fredette is in special legacy company in this state.



http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700105639/Is-Jimmer-Fredette-the-best-to-ever-play-in-the-state.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

By all acounts, Wayne Estes was not only a great player, but a great guy. He stopped to help at an accident scene, and was electrocuted by a down power line. He was a great shooter and scorer and people just could not stop him. His career was cut short. Billy "The Hill" McGill played before I was old enough to watch - for that matter, we did not have a television back then iirc. But his name echoed for the longest time. I do not recall an NBA career details and have always wondered what happened at the end of his career. But with all that noise, he had to be good in college. Jimmer "The Jimmer" Fredette has earned a "The" nickname. I think Jimmer will prove to be right up there with these guys and just slightly ahead of Danny Ainge as a college player. It is just too early to tell yet. Finish strong - Jimmer.



Below are the McGill details. Let's see. BIlly "The HILL" played on "The HILL" and current Utah AD Chris "HILL" can't hire him because he doesn't have a degree - Utah should never have let this happen to him - not to take away from his own accountability - they should have given him discipline, gotten him help, and gotten him into class - or just made up for it by hiring him into a respectful job. He couldn't afford a ticket and was not invited to a Ute FInal Four appearance right down the road from his house.



BYU and "The JImmer" have done a better job of taking care of the academic business.



http://articles.latimes.com/1998/mar/28/sports/sp-33636" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



And here is Wayne Estes video that tells the story. This athlete as described, unassuming, liked by everyone, great role model, not athletic, but could socre and was unstoppable. Could beat you inside and out. Sounds a lot like Jimmer. He was taller. Jimmer does it without the height.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAW7PnmbByU" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qx769zYAtdY" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;





In my mind - Jimmer as a college basketball player is in this category of amazing success. Time will tell.

He's certainly the best player in Utah since Van Horn who was the the best player at BYU since Ainge. It's tough to judge/compare anyone to any earlier because of how different the game is now.

Kresimir Cosic also has to factor into the best in Utah discussion as well.

Not yet. Too early to tell. even if fredete comes close or breaks Ainge's scoring record; even if fredette leads this team to an Elite 8; he still needs to improve his defense. Think about it. It has taken two specialists to come close to Ainge: Emery, a quickm cat-like defensive specialist who can score some of the time and adds tremendous energy; and a scoring specialist in Fredette, who has not yet broken Ainge's record. We are al hyped up and loving it--AND IT IS AWESOME--but he isnt the best at BYU yet. These others Bib talks about are too old schooll for me to know, other than Kresmir.

kitic77 wrote:
Kresimir Cosic also has to factor into the best in Utah discussion as well.

Totally agree. He was playing when I was at BYU. I saw it with my own eyes. He was disqualified from NCAA tournament participation, iirc, due to his age and questions about being amateur vs professional or having already played too much or his legacy might have had a nice tournament run added to it his senior season.



[ Post made via Mobile Device ] http://cougarcorner.com/images/mobile.png" alt="" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%">

As a kid growing up in western Montana I listened to games on the radio. There was a kid playing center in football for Anaconda. He was 6'4" and 245 lbs. I thought he was headed to the Grizzles for football. In basketball he played the same position, center, and poured in the points. I was amazed a guy that big could move like that. It was Wayne Estes. I don't know why he went to Utah State instead of Montana but he was incredible there. He lost 20 lbs and gained 2 inches. I am quite sure he averaged over 30 per game. Someone who saw him play said he'd be surrounded by the other team to where you couldn't see him but out would come the ball for 2 nore pointts. He didn't have the benefit of the 3 point line or he'd have probably added 5 points more to his average. The problem was he didn't have much support from the rest of the team so the Aggies didn't have that good of a record. You can argue that Jimmer doesn't either but I think this team is much better than the Aggie team Estes played for.



They said if he'd been 3 inches shorter he'd have walked under the power line and his life would have been spared. He is one of the only men who was awarded All American posthumasly. I believe the Lakers had him as their first draft pick.



I too think things are different now and it's hard to choose the best ever. It would be easier to choose an all star team.



As for Jimmer, I want to see what happens the rest of the season including all the playoff games. I hope there's a lot of playoff games.

kitic77 wrote:
Kresimir Cosic also has to factor into the best in Utah discussion as well.

He might have been one of the greatest to ever play in the NCAA period. NBA teams were drafting him even after he said he wasn't going to play in the NBA years later just in hopes of persuading him to come stateside and play.

kitic77 wrote:
He's certainly the best player in Utah since Van Horn who was the the best player at BYU since Ainge.

VanHorn didn't play at BYU.



PS-I see the options of "probably," "possibly," and "too early to tell" as pretty much the same thing, so I just picked one.

Schmoe wrote:

He's certainly the best player in Utah since Van Horn who was the the best player at BYU since Ainge.

VanHorn didn't play at BYU.



PS-I see the options of "probably," "possibly," and "too early to tell" as pretty much the same thing, so I just picked one.

Correct. My wording was poor. I think Jimmer is the best in Utah since Van Horn who was the best since Ainge.



Basketball really has three eras: pre-shot clock, pre-three point line and today. The games are so different in each era that it's not fair to compare them.

I'm pretty sure if the entire country thinks so, it's safe to believe he is.

Although it pains me, I'll go with Van Horn as the best to ever play college ball in as a player for a school in Utah.



What he brought to that team was a 6'10" matchup that would kill an opposing team. And with all the NBA defections from schools, there's no reason to believe that those Utahs teams (assuming their guys didnt' also leave early) would have won 1,2 national championships.



There's currently no one in college hoops as good as that Utah team with Van Horn and company.



That being said, Jimmer is the greatest overachiever ever and certainly belongs on the list with ainge, van horn, devin durrant, cosic, and michael smith.

craigoscarson wrote:
Although it pains me, I'll go with Van Horn as the best to ever play college ball in as a player for a school in Utah.



What he brought to that team was a 6'10" matchup that would kill an opposing team. And with all the NBA defections from schools, there's no reason to believe that those Utahs teams (assuming their guys didnt' also leave early) would have won 1,2 national championships.



There's currently no one in college hoops as good as that Utah team with Van Horn and company.



That being said, Jimmer is the greatest overachiever ever and certainly belongs on the list with ainge, van horn, devin durrant, cosic, and michael smith.

And a class act. I remember sitting about half way up when the Utes (pains me to even show any kind of respect for that bunch of hooligans) beat us in our building. Van Horn was being interviewed after the game on my end of the court, so I went down closer to the floor to listen. Some of the BYU fans were heckling him and saying what ever rude fans say, and every one of his answers to the fans and all around him just brushed off the rude element and replied with dignity. I was impressed. And wow could he play.

snoscythe wrote:

Kresimir Cosic also has to factor into the best in Utah discussion as well.

He might have been one of the greatest to ever play in the NCAA period. NBA teams were drafting him even after he said he wasn't going to play in the NBA years later just in hopes of persuading him to come stateside and play.

I agree. I was shocked that he was left off the list. He was one of the tallest players in basketball, yet he handled the ball and ran the floor like a point guard, and often led the fast break. He could do everything, and was amazingly elusive.



I once attended a fireside by his former coach, and learned a lot of little known facts about him. His production was down his senior year, and he often seemed listless on the court, although he still showed spells of his former brilliance. I wondered what happened to him until I heard the coach (I don't remember whether it was Arnold or who), explain. He called Kresimir into his office one day to see what was wrong, and found out that Kresimir had taken it upon himself to translate the Book of Mormon into Yugoslavian, and was staying up nights to do it. He would not be talked out of it or into delaying it. From the time that he joined the church' he had that kind of dedication.



After playing at BYU, he was at least as much in demand by the NBA as was Lew Alcindor (Kareem). I believe that he was not only one of the best to ever play in the NCAA, but one of the best to ever play the game, as evidenced, not only by his college career, but by his great career on the Yugoslavian National team, and by the many things (most not mentioned here) that NBA teams, and the NBA did to try to get him involved.



It was a slap in the face to this great player, and equally great man, to leave him off this list, that he not only should have been on, but possibly dominated.

Totally agree bigbluepuma,



In the long run, no one can even hold a candle to Kresimir's career. Craigocarson, you talk about matchup problems that Van Horn presented, but Kresimir was the same way at 6- 11 and quick as a point guard. He must have been a nightmare for any team. I only found out about Kresimir about 2 years ago when I saw the documentary Kresimir Cosic, an off the court story.



here's part of it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvG71qE4XpE" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

declocoug wrote:
Totally agree bigbluepuma,



In the long run, no one can even hold a candle to Kresimir's career. Craigocarson, you talk about matchup problems that Van Horn presented, but Kresimir was the same way at 6- 11 and quick as a point guard. He must have been a nightmare for any team. I only found out about Kresimir about 2 years ago when I saw the documentary Kresimir Cosic, an off the court story.



here's part of it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvG71qE4XpE" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

My parents were both at BYU during Cosic year, and I served my mission in parts of his stimping grounds in eastern europe. I'll still take Van Horn. Like I said before, if we had all the defections we have now and with all the parity in college hoops like now, Uah would have won at least 1 national championship. I dont' see a single team in college hoops this year that would compete.



I have a passionate dislike for Utah, but I love hoops too much not to give Van Horn his due credit.