Best NCAA basketball players ever from every state

Louisiana: Bill Russell

Louisiana is not known for its elevation with concerns to its topography, so it was not from his home state where the two-time National Champion Bill Russell got the nickname Bill the Hill. Other Louisiana born players who enjoyed spectacular collegiate careers were Elvin Hayes and Bob Pettit, who like Russell, were selected to All-American teams twice.

It is not only impossible but irresponsible to claim one is the best from Louisiana without explaining why. In order to not make this even more ‘number heavy’ Marques Johnson who was an All-American and swept the Player of the Year awards in 1976-77 will be excluded from this discussion.

Over his three years at Houston University Elvin Hayes averaged 31 points a game, four more than Pettit and 11 more than Russel. During tournament time, Hayes won Most Outstanding Player once, but Pettit outscored him 30 points per game to 27 per game. Russell’s regular-season average of 20 rebounds makes him a 20/20 player over three seasons. Hayes holds a slight edge in regular-season field goal percentage over Russell, but come tournament time Russell has a healthy lead over both. While Pettit was consistently the better free-throw shooter.

While comparing numbers of the three 6-foot-9 players who played within ten years of each other, it is important to place them among their peers. Russell won two Player of the Year Awards and even dethroned the previous year’s winner Tom Gola. Hayes was able to prevent Lew Alcindor from going on a two-year sweep of winning all the Player of the Year awards.

By now you have made your decision on who the best from Louisiana is and you probably can make a fantastic argument, so this entry will surmise with saying Russell is.