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Team for the Ages If you could have just five players for your lineup of the century, whom would you choose? Here are our starters, with a look at them then and now
Posted: Thursday November 11, 1999 01:10 PM By Jack McCallum
 There's a UCLA center, but he's not Bill Walton. There's a backcourtman whose
versatility defies belief, but he's not Michael Jordan. There's a rep from the
Big Ten, but he's not Isiah Thomas. There's a player from North Carolina, but
he's not from Dean Smith's Tar Heels. And there's a guy from -- could this be
right? -- the Ivy League. Keep in
mind that in making selections for SI's Millennium All-Star Team -- the best
five college players of the 20th century -- we didn't care what our Fab Five
for the Ages accomplished later in the NBA. Therefore, there's no Magic or Wilt
(both of whom played only two years of college ball), no Larry (though he came
darn close), no Michael (whose hands were tied by Smith's spread-the-wealth
system) and no Bill Russell (alas, the competition was tough at the center
position). And no player from the last 25 years because, it seems, so many
potentially great collegians have left early for the pros. Three members of our legendary lineup won at least one
NCAA title -- one of them won three -- but all belong in anyone's hall of
fame. More important, decades after they left their respective halls of ivy,
they remain eternal BMOCs, men whose feats are celebrated whenever the old grads
pull up a chair, pour a glass of sherry and say, "You know, I was around
here
when...."
YOUR TURN
and a capsule look at each player.
Issue date: November 15, 1999
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