Last week, Kentucky unleashed its talent on an unsuspecting basketball public. Playing on national TV against Kansas at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in front of a host of NBA scouts and executives the Kentucky monolith — featuring likely Lottery picks for next year Karl Towns, Willie Cauley-Stein, Dakari Johnson and Andrew Harrison — the squad of super freshman led by John Calipari put on a show.
And it raised the age-old question: Could the best college team beat the worst NBA team?
With the 76ers in full-on tank mode for a second straight year with virtually no players on the roster that are part of the team’s future — Nerlens Noel and Michael Carter-Williams might be the only exceptions — this question is gaining some traction in the #HotTake world of social media.
Adding fuel to the fire were a couple of Kentucky alums cheering on Big Blue.
Eric Bledsoe later admitted he was joking, but said to Dei Lynam of CSN Philadelphia:
I’ll definitely take Kentucky. I think Philly would probably get maybe one game.
DeMarcus Cousins joined in the fun and added:
I’mma roll with Kentucky as well,” the Kings big man said. “Honestly I don’t know much about the 76ers. I’ll probably go with Kentucky.
Lynam further reported a NBA scout saying the Wildcats would give the 76ers a game. And Marc Stein reported Vegas would set the line at Philadelphia -17.
On separate matter, Westgate Las Vegas Superbook tells ESPN that it would list Sixers as 17-point favorite over Kentucky if teams could play
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) November 20, 2014
Kevin Trahan of SBNation simulated the seven-game series using NBA2K15. The Wildcats got one game and then in a season simulation won a league-worst seven games.
That sounds about right.
This debate needs to stop. No college team could beat any NBA team. Every player in the NBA was a star in college. It is men vs. boys. That is why we do not let these things happens.
The Sixers are the 30th best basketball team in the U.S. Maybe a D-League team could beat them. That would be the better argument.