Who do you wish hadn't gone pro early?

[Galway Eagle]

Saw this on Reddit and was curious which early departure for the NBA changed MUBB the most?

Obviously Wade & Chones. If they each finish out their eligibility we're basically a blue blood (kidding...kind of)

Who after that? Justin? Omax? Vander? Henry? Froling? TKO or Oso using their covid year? Someone else from the 70s like McNeil or Lucas?

[#UnleashMalik]

Blues senior year could have been great.

[GoldenEagles03]

Saw this on Reddit and was curious which early departure for the NBA changed MUBB the most?

Obviously Wade & Chones. If they each finish out their eligibility we're basically a blue blood (kidding...kind of)

Who after that? Justin? Omax? Vander? Henry? Froling? TKO or Oso using their covid year? Someone else from the 70s like McNeil or Lucas?

Would have liked to see the ceiling of the team with Justin back but they probably couldn't have done much better than 29-7 so I'll say OMax.

We made it to the Sweet 16 and ran out of gas. An NBA level athlete would have helped so much on offense and defense. Probably a Final Four team with him back.

[mileskishnish72]

Still rueful about '72 so Chones. That year could have been really something.

[Aircraftcarrier]

If Chones comes back for his Senior season the front line would have been Chones,McNeil and Lucas.If McNeil comes back for his Senior season they may have beat N.C.St.in the finals

[nyg]

1972-1973 Chones left
Frontline would have been: Chones, McNeil, Lucas. Marcus Washington, Allie McGuire and George Frazier at guards.

1973-1974 McNeil left
Frontline would have been: McNeil, Lucas, Ellis. Lloyd Walton and Marcus Washington at guard

1974-1975 Lucas left
Frontline would have been: Lucas, Ellis, Tatum (SF) Add Butch Lee and Lloyd Walton

Three years in a row, Chones, McNeil and Lucas. This, including 1974 Championship game. What could have been if they stayed, in an era that MU was a dominant program. Larry McNeil, still the most unappreciated MU player. 

[Biggie Clausen]

I wasn't around for Chones, and I've never really thought much about what would've happened if Wade had played another year at MU, because that's a pipe dream if ever there was one.

For me, the Vander Blue one was the most damaging.  I've heard that his mom begged him to stay in school.  The guy declared and didn't even come close to getting drafted.  If he'd stayed, he would've been the absolute alpha dog on that team, probably averaging 20 ppg while proving he could run the point on occasion (or trying to).  Add a supporting cast of Gardner, Burton, and Jamil Wilson, and that team ain't bad.

Instead, he left, we had an awful season, and Buzz went running for a new job when it ended.  It felt like Buzz was blindsided when he went pro - I suppose Deonte and JJJ were the next in line, but JJJ came in really young for his age and was nowhere near ready to contribute.  After Vander's departure, it would be ten years before we'd win a tournament game.  It always felt like his early exit marked the start of that period.

[Nukem2]

Tyko and Oso who each had a Covid year left. Glad for them, but what might have been...!  Was around for Chones, if only he could have stuck around for even just a few weeks more!

[Jay Bee]

Tyler and Oso leaving with a year of eligibility remaining was odd, because no one expected them to stay so wasn't as big of a deal... but in hindsight, them running it back for another year would have made us a top team nationally and maybe we wouldn't have had our traditional second half nosedive.

Great thing about this year is it can't get much worse. Win a couple of games and most people will be like, 'yeah, that's about what I expected, maybe a bit better'. *sigh*

DO 4 22 tonight.

[tower912]

Legend has it that Blue and Buzz had quite the negative interaction when Buzz found out Vander was leaving.