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Although the Kentucky Wildcats barely survived the 2015 edition of Notre Dame Fighting Irish basketball 68-66 on Saturday, what would happen if the Wildcats had to battle the Irish’s all-time team? Let’s collect the top talent in Notre Dame basketball history, take them all back to college age, and then analyze a hypothetical clash with the ‘Cats. I mean, if this year’s Irish nearly took down this 38-0 Kentucky team, then this game shouldn’t even be a contest. I mean, even 2015 Big Blue would fall short in terms of talent, right? Or is there more to this? Let’s spark the debate.
Introducing The Notre Dame All-Time Starting Lineup
Introducing The Notre Dame All-Time Starting Lineup
Here are the Irish’s top-five, a team compiled of Notre Dame legends that possess the best body of work with an added consideration toward creating a team that could match up well with Kentucky. Once again, we’ll hypothetically assume all of these players to be their 18-to-22 year-old selves for this exercise.
Jerian Grant — PG
Jerian Grant — PG
Adrian Dantley — SG
Adrian Dantley — SG
LaPhonso Ellis — SF
LaPhonso Ellis — SF
Troy Murphy — PF
Troy Murphy — PF
Bill Laimbeer — C
Bill Laimbeer — C
Added Thoughts
All-time Notre Dame would also add sharp-shooting John Paxson and former Cleveland Cavaliers star Austin Carr off the bench, as well as have some reserve length in Pat Garrity and John Shumate.
With the hindsight benefit of many already-played NBA careers, you’d think this is an unfair comparison. But what if we take into account the successes of Anthony Davis, John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins as they’ve emerged from similar, yet slightly less remarkable Kentucky teams? Albeit a leap, it’s a theoretical hunch worth taking and entering into this comparison.
Breakdown
Again, Kentucky just has too much length. And more importantly, too much “athletic length.” The starting Irish squad would run 6-foot-5, 6-foot-5, 6-foot-8, 6-foot-11 and 6-foot-11. This size appears to be perfectly adequate, but Notre Dame would be way too slow down low. I will concede this Irish team would shoot better than Kentucky, but I believe it would only serve to keep the game from ever becoming a blowout. Just bringing stars together — at least in this case — wouldn’t be enough to beat Kentucky. John Calipari has the Wildcats at such a proficient and unselfish level, that you’d need hundreds of intensive hours with this Notre Dame team to achieve the same level of Kentucky chemistry. If you don’t believe the wire-to-wire Saturday night epic doesn’t destroy my point, then it strengthens it. Chemistry is the clutch tie-breaker, and I view Saturday night’s game as an outlier. This all-time talent stretches far, but I still give Big Blue a slight edge in the end.
Kentucky 70, All-Time Notre Dame 67
Jerry Landry is a writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow Jerry on Twitter at @Jerry2Landry, “Like” him on Facebook or add him on Google.
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