Letters to Gary Parrish on His Player Rankings

Letters to Gary Parrish on His Player Rankings

From: Chad

It's just silly to rank an INCOMING FRESHMAN as the No. 1 point/combo. I quit reading the story after that.

It's just silly to not believe the freshmen aren't among the best players in the nation. I quit reading your email after that. But seriously, I got a lot of notes about having Rose No. 1 on the points/combos list. One claimed he's all hype (not true). Another claimed he's not really a point (not true). Another claimed there are at least five freshmen point guards better than him (definitely not true). Another claimed that Dajuan Wagner and Darius Washington were actually better Memphis point guards than Rose (so untrue it's stupid because Wagner and Washington weren't really points). But faced with all the criticism, I decided to go to the people who see Rose most --i.e., his teammates -- to ask about the ranking, and all I can tell you is that they don't think I'm crazy.

"I have never played against or seen somebody who is that fast with the ball," Memphis junior Antonio Anderson said. "Once he learns our offense he's going to be unbelievable." Joey Dorsey said basically the same thing. Then I asked Chris Douglas-Roberts if there was any chance Rose was being over-hyped, and he said "No. Not at all." And when I asked if all the hype was disruptive considering he, Anderson and Dorsey -- veterans who have been to back-to-back Elite Eights -- are being completely overshadowed nationally by their freshman teammate, Douglas-Roberts didn't hesitate to answer. "We don't mind," he said. "We play with him every day. We know how good he is."

Anyway, just trust me on this one. It might take Rose a month to get comfortable, but when he does you'll cease thinking I'm nuts.