Best NCAA basketball players ever from every state

New Jersey: Shaquille O’Neal

Efforts have to be made to ensure that the great college career of Bobby Hurley gets the recognition it deserves prior to being lost in this discussion. Over his 140 games at Duke University the 6-foot point guard averaged 12 points, and nearly eight assists, stats that he maintained in his 20 tournament games along with his 41 percent from the field and 77 percent from the free-throw line.

On the way to winning two National Titles, he would be selected to two All-Tournament teams and be named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. Impressive, but not enough to put him in the conversion with Rick Barry and Shaquille O’Neal.

The two players that are the focal point of this conversation are legends for different reasons. Rick Barry played in the early 1960s and averaged 30 points, over 16 rebounds by hitting over half his shots from the field and 86 percent from the free-throw line during his three years in Miami. To put those numbers into perspective, Barry came up short in the National Player of the Year race and was named to just one All-American team.

Shaquille O’Neal also had difficulty winning personal accolades, thanks to the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels running away with them all. Shaq’s five blocks per game were not enough to surpass Stacy Augmon as Defensive Player of the Year and his over 21 points, 13 rebounds on 61 percent shooting from the field enabled Shaq to only win the AP Player of the Year while Larry Johnson won the Naismith, Wooden, Oscar Robertson, the NABC and the Sporting News Player of Year awards. Arguably Shaq trumped that by winning the Rupp award.

Even taking into consideration that there were many more awards to be won in the early 90s, Shaq’s stats were comparable nationally and actually improved during tournament time. With that, O’Neal is the best college player born in New Jersey.