It’s amazing how good D1-Level talent is

[Ted Lasso]

I used to play on the same team as Elias Ballsteadt and Beau Rydalch (though he graduated a couple years ago). Ballsteadt was a few years younger than me, but he more than held his own against kids a few grades ahead of him. Beau was also really dominant in his middle/high school days. 

I consider myself to be a pretty good basketball player, but I was nowhere near the level as these guys. I’ve played both of them one-on-one, and I don’t think I ever beat either of them. And what’s even crazier is that they both sit at the end of the bench for the Utes. 

One time I also went and played some pick-up ball with some Snow College players, and even their talent and athleticism was just way above anything I had previously faced.

Sometimes when you watch on TV, it’s easy to forget how talented these guys are. But when you play against them in real life, you can see that these dudes are just monsters. I can’t imagine the amount of time and effort that these guys put into their craft, because I feel like I spent tons of hours playing and practicing basketball, but I could never imagine being at the level of skill that these guys are at.

[KoolWhitt]

I used to play pickup ball at the HYPER 3-4 nights a week in the early 2000s. Occasionally, guys from the team would come in, mostly post weight room activities, just to shoot. Sometimes, they would join a pick up game or two, not to play seriously, but really just to get a bit of a run in.

The player I saw most frequently was Bryant Markson. To reiterate, he would not try in these pickup games at all, would almost never shoot, and would definitely take it easy on you on defense. But on the rare occasion he decided to actually play (like if his team was getting killed and he wanted to even up the score a bit), there was really nothing anyone could do. He scored when he wanted. You didn’t score if he didn’t want you to. Granted, we weren’t the best basketball players in the world, but we were a bunch of guys that were high school athletes that still played several nights a week. He was just so obviously so much better than all of us that it was startling. And that’s not even really accounting for his physical gifts, which were substantial. He was just simply better than us at basketball, on top of being 6’6″ with great length, quickness, and athleticism.

I only remember Tim Frost playing pick up with us once. He just hung out by the three point line because there was literally no point to him going down low. Automatic two points.

So yeah, totally agree, and have experienced it first hand. D1 is a next level of talent. 

[UtesRule]

Growing up I had a friend who was physically bigger and better than most anyone else. When we played pickup games, he would dominate if he wanted to (pretty much only letting you score when he was bored or just trying to be nice and could just score at will). The one Ward ball game he played in (before being disqualified) was coincidentally against my team. They beat us 107-7. He went on to play at Ohio State, but rarely played. It is insane how good high end D1 players are.

[Ute2]

I’ve had the chance to run with some d-1 guys on the lacrosse field.

Trying to guard them was impossible. They’d just blow by you like you weren’t even there, they’re so fast. It brought to mind the top gun quote after the first hop.

“Where’d he go? Where’d who goooo!!!???