Best Ever?

So what of the best ever Villanova basketball player?

 

Several friends commented on the nominees.

 

Arizin gets points for being a local boy, and also played his pro career with the Warriors. A Philadelphia guy through and through. And as the man who perfected the basketball jump shot, he holds a special place in basketball legend (in addition to being one of the NBA's 50 best).

 

What we’ve all come to realize is that – very quietly – EZ Ed Pinckney has a strong case for best ever. Anytime you're named MOP in the NCAA tournament (Porter, Pickney) you can make an argument as to the best.  Porter lost to UCLA's dynasty.  But

Pinckney did win the title!!! Against the Georgetown dynasty no less.

 

Perhaps Pinckney is often overlooked cause the 1971 team predates me and my peers and Porter is the only one known from that runner up team, while as good as Pinckney was we can all cite Gary McClain, Dwayne (D-train!) McClain, Jensen, and Pressley.

 

I could go on about Pinckney’s “backups” -  Chuck Everson and Wyatt Maker - which is just funny on its face to consider that they were even on the bench. They weren't backups, they were the basketball equivalent of the NFL's "disaster QB" as in, when Pinckney is totally unable to play - you put those two stiffs in. To be fair, though, Everson did have a special role to play in the ’85 championship game…the punching bag at the end of the half that gave Rollie the motivation to fire up the team for the second half.