Something for you guys to chew on.
Comparisons like this are inevitable but best left to after the season when the current body of work is complete. If the 2009 team wins the title it changes how they are perceived. Still this kind of stuff is what internet communities are made to discuss. Here is a quick summary of the comparisons:
Lawson over Felton
McCants over Ellington
J.Williams over Thompson
Green over Manuel
May over Hansbrough
2005 bench trumps the 2009 bench as well.
Seems fine for the most part, but I did think this statement about Rashad McCants was wholly unfair on the part of Ken Tysiac:
Again, we're talking two widely divergent personalities. Ellington is mild mannered and almost shy; McCants was the closest thing to Terrell Owens that ACC basketball has ever had.
The infamous "ever" statement rears its ugly head. Longtime THF readers know I despise blanket statements such as "ever" when it comes to something that cannot be proven with concrete evidence. In this case to declare that McCants is the closest instance of Terrell Owens the ACC has "ever known" is quite a mouthful. Instead of answering it myself, allow me to quote one of the comments from the Charlotte Observer sister blog to ACC Now, Above The Rim:
JAT said... "McCants was the closest thing to Terrell Owens that ACC basketball has ever had"
WTF Ken? Taking lessons from the Gregg Doyle school of talk-radio ready hyperbole?
Which teammates did McCants say were gay? Which teammies(sic) did McCants have ANY problem with? Sure, Shad butted heads with Roy, complained about the UNC petri dish, and THAT makes him a team-killing TO?
Besides -- Chris Paul groin punched Julius Hodge, got suspended.
John Gilchrist did much more of a TO-like pout and team-kill number on Gary Williams' last good squad.
And Brandon Costner just got done whining and under-performing at State.
Those are three more TO-like examples just in recent years and just off the top of my head.
There are countless other examples. Heck, Joe Forte was closer to being Owens than McCants was. At the end of the day, McCants got on board and won a title. Just another wonderful examples of crappy journalism from the mainstream media.