This week, I would like to open the discussion of who might be the best players to ever play in Manitoba. Although we will never actually know, I wonder how players like Carl Ridd, supposedly one of the best ever, and the first Manitoban to be offered an NBA contract, would do against some of today's best? In addition, how would some of the top teams from our past fare against teams from 2013? I think we would all agree that the game has changed. It is more athletic and played faster that it was in the past. However, are the skills of today's players better also? I'm not so sure.
The game today seems to often focus more on the individual rather than team play which could be attributed to the 24 second shot clock and the 3-point line, neither of which were a part of the game in much of the past. It also appears that today's players seem to sometimes be more concerned with making the "highlight reel" move rather than learning how to play within a team concept. The media probably plays a role in this as it seems to always focus on the great individual move in their game highlights.
So who are our best ever? I did some non-scientific polling surveying eight people who have been around a lot longer that I have, including Ross Wedlake, the President of Basketball Manitoba and the Chair of our Manitoba Basketball Hall of Fame who graciously allowed me to mention his name so that I might hopefully increase my admittedly very limited credibility, added my own research, and here it is, in no specific order, my all-time born-in-Manitoba teams.
Let the debate begin! Who am I missing? Add your comments below.
MEN
- Carl Ridd
- Martin Riley
- Todd MacCulloch
- Ken Opalko
- Joey Vickery
- Fred Ingaldson
- Bob Town
WOMEN
- Sandra Carroll
- Beth Cochran
- Angie (Johnson) Straub
- T.L. Johannesson
- Leslie (Hamerton) Divers
- Pat (Pisnook) Boland
- Gail (Winston) Kendall
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