Youth vs. Experience

So the talk of college basketball by and large this year has been the great freshmen class that is dominating right now. But let’s not forget, there are some other great players in college basketball too. I’m talking about those guys who have played multiple years in college. So today, I’m picking a team (10 players) of freshmen, and then a team with everyone else (sophomores, juniors, seniors). Then we’ll debate on who would win:

Youth                                                                       

G          Nigel Williams-Goss             Washington

F          Andrew Wiggins                    Kansas

F          Jabari Parker                          Duke

F          Aaron Gordon                        Arizona

F/C      Julius Randle                          Kentucky

G          Andrew Harrison                  Kentucky

G          Sindarius Thornwell              South Carolina

G/F      James Young                          Kentucky

F          Noah Vonleh                          Indiana

C          Joel Embiid                            Kansas

Experience

G          Marcus Smart                         Oklahoma State

G          Russ Smith                             Louisville

F          C.J. Fair                                   Syracuse

F          Doug McDermott                   Creighton

C          Adreian Payne                       Michigan State

G          Shabazz Napier                     UCONN

G          Tyler Haws                            BYU

G/F      Sean Kilpatrick                      Cincinnati

F          James Michael McAdoo         North Carolina

C          Alex Kirk                               New Mexico

Greg: I believe the freshmen team would win.  They are at least as talented at every position but PG, and have great size and scoring ability. The freshmen team is also more athletic, and due to the new rules in college b-ball this year, in order to play defense without fouling you need that athleticism.

I also think that the "Experienced" team is a bit soft, with the exception of Marcus Smart. Smart may be good enough to win this game anyway, but I think if you look up and down the “youth team”, they are all very solidly built, tough players. Rebounding and shot blocking would be a decided edge for the freshmen team.

When I compared the teams, I found myself liking the freshmen team better at SG, SG, and C. I only liked the experienced team more at PG, and PF. The Center position was close, but since Randle has already dominated Payne once this year and Embiid is actually more of a true center than any of them I went with the Freshmen/Youth.

I love Jabari Parker, I think he is the second coming of Lebron James, in a less offensive persona. He needs to take his nutrition and physical conditioning a little bit more seriously, but he is without a doubt in my mind the best player on the court here. Marcus Smart is the only other player capable of challenging that, but I think Parker's inside/outside game and combination with Gordon, Randle, Embiid, Vonleh, and Wiggins would eventually make the difference in the game here. The Youth team has too much scoring and athleticism for the “Experienced Team” to compete with, even with Napier and Smart running the show.

I like the Youth team in a 95-90 win, with Parker leading the way with 19 and 13.

Andrew: I’ll take the veteran squad. We’ve actually even seen this play out this year in some regard… The first example was an experienced Michigan State handling the freshmen team at Kentucky. We also saw Kasey Hill (freshman) get overwhelmed against the vets of Wisconsin. Plus, we watched UCONN execute better than the young Hoosiers, and take freshmen Vonleh and Williams out of the game. Jabari Parker’s Duke squad has been shaky throughout the year, while Marcus Smart’s Cowboys have been dominating teams. There are plenty of examples to choose from, but experience counts.

Taking a look at the rosters, I’ll admit the freshmen team has more upside, but we’re debating on a game being played now, not in five years. The experienced team has been in big games and knows how to play basketball much better at this stage in their careers. Plus their “know-how” easily overcomes the athletic advantage the freshmen would have. I also think the experienced team has much better shooting, they pass better, and they have much better scoring. All ten of these experienced guys have been lighting it up this year… look up the stats if you don’t believe me.

Most importantly, in college basketball, guard play is so vitally important. The guards for the experienced team blow the youth guards away. I also think depth is so much better for the upperclassmen here. When I picked the freshmen team, I listed six guys easily, but struggled to come up with 4 other guys worthy of this game. When I picked the experienced team, it was hard to just pick ten guys out of 30-40 worthy of this game. All of them are stars now, which can’t be said of the youth team.

So while Jabari Parker and even Randle individually would be tough to handle, I don’t see the freshmen team being able to defend the experienced team as a whole at all. They would eat up those young guys. So I’d take your score and make it higher… 105 to 91, the upperclassmen win.

By: The Sports Guys