[Stardust]

I'd say that Wooden was the "Greatest Recruiter" of all time. If you look at the type of athletes and where they came from, Rupp undoubtedly got more out of his players than did Wooden. Wooden certainly was more open to recruiting a diverse background of athletes, and was truly the first "National" recruiter of the college game. When you look at what Rupp did, he recruited from a much smaller region. I'd say that hurt him as much as anything, but if you look at what he accomplished with such a smaller base of where players came from, you have to give him the thumbs up for what he accomplished.

Wooden is the father of the current style of Basketball. When his college teams were dominating, they played the uptempo fast break basketball. They truly were the "Showtime" of basketball, long before Showtime became vogue. It's easy to see how his style changed basketball to what it is today. During the 60's, when he was running the shoes off of other teams, the Boston Celtics were dominating the Pro game. The Celtics played a methodical, defensive game that still centered around a halfcourt game and set-shots. Once Wooden's players got to the NBA, the NBA began to change. I'd give more credit to Wooden for being able to see where the game would eventually progress to, but if you look at his recruiting of the best players from around the nation, it was obviously easier for him to create "Better" teams than Rupp and his limited player base.

They were both great for their own reasons, and probably not fare to compare them.

I won't get into the Race debate. I'll leave that to the rest of you!