This evening I want to talk to you about the best college basketball player I have ever seen-Blake Griffin of the Oklahoma Sooners. Now, I'm too young to have seen the likes of Lew Alcindor, Pete Maravich, Magic Johnson, and other greats of the past when they were in college. But I have been watching college basketball for quite enough years, and I know for a fact that no one that I've seen has dominated the college game like this guy. His stat line really speaks for itself-the 6'10" sophomore averaged 21 points and 14 rebounds this season, while leading the Oklahoma Sooners to the Elite Eight. In the NCAA Tourney, he averaged a modest 28.5 points and 9 boards. Now, the Sooners really didn't have a whole lot of talent beside Griffin. He really was as close as it gets to a one man team. And as a one man team, he delivered. In this regard, he's a bit different than guys like Kevin Durant and Michael Beasley before him. Durant had guys like DJ Augustin and AJ Abrams around him, while Beasley had Bill Walker-and yet neither of them led their team to the same level of success as Griffin did.


Griffin's achievements and stats are remarkable enough, but when you watch Griffin on the court it almost seems as though you're watching a video game. As we saw in the Elite Eight matchup, when Griffin, in a losing effort, absolutely dominated former National Player of the Year Tyler Hansbrough, the guy can pretty much do no wrong. The only apparent flaw in his game at the college level is that he's not a great free throw shooter. Aside from that-he's got great height for the position, is as strong as Heracles himself, and more fierce than a raging lion. He can get off the floor like a rocket, and finish at the rim with the authority of Julius Caesar. He's got handles like a swingman, and can dish the basketball. He is one of the fastest and quickest players I've ever seen at his position-as Jay Bilas might say, he runs the floor like a gazelle. He has fantastic hands and catches everything thrown his way. He uses his fantastic touch to be able to finish in what look to be improbable chances. I have even seen him shoot pull up jumpers with nice form. Of course the jump shot isn't a great strength of his yet at this time, but I'm certain he will improve on it in the NBA. In short, the guy is the real deal, and I've never seen anything like him. Whichever team gets him in the draft is going to be set for a long, long time.


Blake Griffin currently resides in Norman, Oklahoma, but we've got some great athletes living right here in Ithaca, NY. That's why we here at WVBR are celebrating them with our annual contest, Ithaca All Stars. Ithaca All Stars 2009 is now underway, and it features a pool of 32 athletes, including names such as Jeff Foote, Elise Menaker, Chelsey Feldman, Zak Dentes, Riley Nash, and last year's winner, Jordan Leen. The first round lasts until April 11th, so go on to wvbr.com, keyword all stars, and make your vote count. Be sure to check out Sports Roundup every Sunday at 7 PM, right here on WVBR and WVBR.com for continuing coverage of the contest, and interviews with the contestants.

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