Just want to throw it out there to see what people think and to get some discussion between eras.

My junior and senior years were 02 and 03.

I think the best players from that time were

Clint Bateman
Jared Budd
Struan Smith

Anyone have good memories of those 3 or others?

ooooooh pleeeaaaase!!!! Those guys are even in the same snack bracket as

Elliot Thompson (FHS) , Joey Wells ( Saint John), Graham Scott SJHS) , Josh Graham (St Macs), Jon Ryan (Sussex) , Bob aucoin (Campbellton) , Dan White (Riverview) , Middleton from Petticodiac ,

Those guys wouldn't even be top 10...except Budd , who would be close...

here are a few other names for you from the 80's and 90's

Richie Sullivan FHS-made Canadian university games team
John Ryan- Sussex- best player ever from NB
Colin Ring SJHS palyed football and basketball @ Acadia
Dave Low -Riverview
Jordan McCormick FHS AUAA rookie of the year
Jason Darling KV
Joey Walker KV
ryan Johnston Harrison Trimble
Joel Pederson Carleton North

Tony Brain should not be included with any of the above names, he wouldn't have even made any FHS teams in the 80s and 90s.

John Ryan would be on the short list but I'm not sure he's the best ever. As far as I know John only played 1 year on the Jr. National team and never made a Sr. team, although there was some controversy as to why. Other names not mentioned yet that might be considered in the conversation are...

Rod Cox (SJHS) - Starting PG for UNB's only championship team and Sr. National team '70
Norm "Rip" Seely (SJHS) - 8 maritime championships when club team ball was king. Only male BB player in NB Sports HOF
Dave Barry (St. Macs???) - Led Atlantic in scoring & rebounding while at St. FX back when there was no limits on Americans
Mike Keirstead (SJHS) - CIS Team 2nd All Canadian - only All Canadian in UNB's history
Andy Hayward (FHS) - Led Atlantic in scoring at least 1 season while at UNB
Ryan Graham (St. Macs) - NCAA D1 walk-on at American University - average 15+ min/game Sr. year

I just mentioned some of names of players I saw play in the 80's and 90's. Obviously Rod Cox, and Rip Seeley would have been in any list of the best players in NB. Rod Cox was still a serious players well into his 50's. I also agree with Kierstead and Hayward. I guess I forgot to give Saint John some love.

Jan Trojanowski? All-Canadian at Acadia. Gee, I knew Andy Heyward led the country in shots, I didn't realize he led the AUS in scoring...

My bad. If we're talking best HIGH SCHOOL players that changes things. There has been some very dominate high school players that, for various reasons, didn't do the same at the next level.

Allan Abbas from HTHS back in the late 70's early 80's was impossible to stop. He wasn't the most skilled but at 6'9" he didn't need to be. He went on to medical school so didn't play at the next level.

Robbie Corlett from Miramchi was fun to watch. Very creative ball handler and good outside shooter.

Robin McLaughlin from Grand Manan was in the same grade class as John Ryan and Joe Walker and some would say was better.

Rod Wilson from St. Stephen was a dominate scorer and made the game look easy. Went to play baseball instead.

Otis Delaney from SJHS was unguardable in high school. He went on to have a great career at St. FX.

I would venture Seldon Shaw who went on to play at UCCB and ACadia. While Tony Brain may not deserve to be there it is hard to not consider a player who scored over 3000 pts in 4 years(1200+ in his last year) in the era of 3 divisions and his school was one of the smallest at the AA level. I believe that to30% of their schedule was traditionally against AAA teams and did include FHS in his last year as an exhibition

Ranking players based on scoring can be misleading. Andrew Holmes put up huge numbers every game for Hampton High School and all his games were against AAA schools. Same for Mike Anderson for Harbour View. I don't think either are in the conversation for greatest ever.

Another name from the past would be Bob Fagan from FHS back in the 70's. I never saw him play but have heard he might be the best ever at FHS. Not sure if that's true but if he is then that says a lot.

I guess from my era Nick Fletcher from Campobello,Dustin Barker from Campobello,Bruce Coldwell from Devon Park,Ben Plume from Petty(pretty sure that was his name),Billy Brawn whom I played with from UMRHS, there were lots I'm forgetting but these guys stand out for me, tonnes of talent has come through this province, and there will be a lot more!