Who’s on the UVA men’s basketball Mount Rushmore?

Ah yes, late June. When college sports have come to a halt and bloggers like us get to ramble on about largely inconsequential, random questions like “Who’s on the Virginia Cavaliers men’s basketball Mount Rushmore?”

Well, you already clicked. So here goes nothing.

Ralph Sampson

Ralph Sampson is George Washington on the Virginia hoops Rushmore. He’s the Wahoo that set the standard for UVA basketball being a part of the national conversation. Very few guys are known for being college basketball players forty years after they graduate. Sampson is one of the greats.

His sheer dominance on the hardwood has never been matched by another Virginia player and, arguably, not even by any other college hooper.

He’s not only the program leader in rebounds and blocks, but he registered 396 more rebounds and 296 more blocks than anyone else. Only Jay Huff’s 166 career block total even surpasses Sampson’s 1979-1980 rookie season when he blocked 157 shots (4.6 per game).

Three Naismith National College Player of the Year awards, three ACC Player of the Year awards, the 1980 ACC Rookie of the Year award, a Final Four, another Elite Eight, and an NIT title makes Sampson’s resume unbeatable in Charlottesville.

Bryant Stith

If Sampson is Washington, Bryant Stith fits well into the Thomas Jefferson slot. He wasn’t Sampson’s successor – but he’s the second most dominant player in UVA history and defined the UVA program in the early ‘90s.

Stith is Virginia’s all-time leader in points. He’s the purest scorer in UVA history and had countless unbelievable performances across his four years – such as when he scored UVA’s last 19 points in a thrilling comeback victory against Notre Dame in 1991.

Stith helped lead Virginia to an Elite Eight as a freshman when he averaged 15.5 points per contest across 33 games. Although he never made it back there, he closed out his career with an NIT title, three first team All-ACC selections, the 1989 ACC Rookie of the Year award, and three Honorable Mention All-American designations.

Malcolm Brogdon

Malcolm Brogdon is the perfect encapsulation of the Tony Bennett era of UVA basketball. He helped lead the program’s renaissance as the 2016 ACC Player of the Year, a three-time All-ACC first teamer, a two-time ACC Defensive Player of the Year, a second-team All-American in 2015 and then a first-team All-American in 2016.

Brogdon won two ACC regular season titles (2014 and 2015) and an ACC Tournament Championship (2014) alongside a trip to the Elite Eight (2016) and the Sweet Sixteen (2015). Despite UVA’s slow pace of play under Bennett, he sits ninth all-time in points for the ‘Hoos.

Brogdon and Stith are each missing a trip to the Final Four on their resume – something they were both so close to achieving. But how they molded the program and the laundry list of personal and team accomplishments across their time in Charlottesville push them above the rest of the UVA greats.

Kyle Guy

Ah yes, the De’Andre Hunter vs Ty Jerome vs Kyle Guy debate.

There has to be a national champion on the UVA men’s hoops Mount Rushmore. Really, all three could be included. But Guy makes the most sense.

He was the one who faced the harshest public ridicule in the aftermath of the UMBC loss. He was the team’s leading scorer. He was the one who heroically scored six points in eight seconds – including those three free throws – to come back against Auburn in the national semifinals. He was the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player.

Guy was the face of that national championship team. So it’s only right that, if we’re putting someone’s face on a mountain, it’d be his.

Honorable mention

This exercise is inherently reductive, so it feels only right to list off some other all-time greats that could be included.

Wally Walker, Jeff Lamp, Othel Wilson, Richard Morgan, Junior Burrough, Curtis Staples, Travis Watson, Sean Singletary, Joe Harris, Mike Scott, Jerome, Hunter, and plenty of others all have a case to be on the program’s Mount Rushmore.

Are Sampson, Stith, Brogdon, and Guy the right four? Let us know what you think on social media or in the comment section below.