ESPN names Gonzaga great Adam Morrison 23rd best college basketball player over last 25 years

Nearly two full decades after he led the nation in scoring and collected national player of the year honors – shared with Duke’s JJ Redick – former Gonzaga great Adam Morrison is still recognized not only as one of the top players from his era but also one of the best of the last 25-plus years.

A recent ESPN.com list, published by author Myron Medcalf, featured Morrison while breaking down the top 25 college basketball players of the past 25 years.

The former Mead High School star, who suited up for the Zags from 2003-06, checked in at No. 23 on the list, one spot ahead of BYU’s Jimmer Fredette and one spot below Ohio State’s Evan Turner.

“For most college basketball players, a year that includes an average of 19.0 ppg and a 56% clip inside the arc would be their best,” Medcalf wrote. “Morrison had that kind of season, then followed up the next year leading the nation in scoring (28.1 ppg) with a 43% clip from the 3-point line.”

To compile the list, which came out on June 21, ESPN accounted not only for a player’s resume but also their “talent, skill, dominance and impact.”

Despite failing to reach the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament during his lone season at Texas, future No. 1 NBA draft pick Kevin Durant checked in at No. 1 on the list. Durant averaged 25.8 points, 11.1 rebounds, 1.9 blocks and 1.9 steals for the Longhorns during the 2006-07 season, which ended with a loss to USC at Spokane Arena.

Rounding out the top five of ESPN’s list were Kentucky’s Anthony Davis, Zion Williamson and Jay Williams, both of Duke, and Davidson’s Stephen Curry.

The Zags had run-ins with three members of the top five. Gonzaga beat Durant and Texas 87-77 in December 2006 despite a 29-point game from the Longhorns’ freshman star.

Williamson and future lottery pick RJ Barrett combined to score 45 points, but it wasn’t enough to hold off Gonzaga in the championship game of the 2018 Maui Invitational, where the Bulldogs won 89-87.

Gonzaga’s last first-round loss in the NCAA Tournament team came to a Davidson team featuring Curry, who scored 40 points with eight 3-pointers to knock the Bulldogs out of the 2008 NCAA Tournament.

Redick, Morrison’s top challenger for the NCAA scoring title in 2005-06, came in at No. 7 on the list.

Now a color commentator for GU basketball radio broadcasts, Morrison averaged 19.7 points and 5.1 rebounds in three years playing for Mark Few. Besides sharing the 2006 Oscar Robertson Trophy as the top player in the country, he was named a first-team AP All-American and the West Coast Conference Player of the Year.