You’re Nuts: Which five Marvel heroes would make the best starting five?

Over the past two weeks for the Bucketheads’ version of “You’re Nuts”, we have talked about best recruits from Cleveland and Toledo to play for the Scarlet and Gray.

During the Cleveland week, Justin took Clark Kellogg and won by a landslide — sorry, David Lighty. Last week, Connor took Jim Jackson while Justin picked Dennis Hopson in the battle of two of the greatest Buckeyes of all time. Tough draw for Hopson, as it’s tough to beat Jackson — who may be the single greatest Buckeye of all time. After nearly 400 votes, Connor won with 74% of the vote.

After 62 weeks (which I think is like four years), here are the updated standings.

After 62 weeks:

Connor- 28
Justin- 25
Other- 7

(There have been two ties)

Recently, Marvel released a bunch of dates for their upcoming projects: a few films, several shows, and a series of shorts called “I Am Groot!” which is now on Disney+. With all that Marvel fodder fresh in our minds, we put together a starting five made up exclusively of MCU characters.

We will return to real-life basketball debates next week.

Today’s question: Which MCU heroes would make the best starting five?

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Connor: Ant-Man (G), Hawkeye/Kate Bishop(G), Groot (G), Captain America (F), Hulk (F)

Guard - Ant Man/Scott Lang

At guard, standing 3.7 mm from Coral Gables, Florida, No. 1.... Scott Lang!

Photo by CHRIS DELMAS/AFP via Getty Images

As an Ohio State fan who worshipped at the church of Aaron Craft in my youth, I’ve come to expect a certain level of defensive ability from a starting point guard. A certain level of hutzpah, to get in the action and really spice things up. Someone who’s not afraid to draw a foul now or then if it means nabbing his fair share of steals.

Well, who’s a better thief than Ant-Man, the professional thief? Before joining (I’ll use “joining” loosely here, he was more like a contracted helper) the Avengers, Scott Lang made his money (and went to prison) because he was quite literally a professional burglar. Additionally, his ability to shrink to microscopic size or become 30 feet tall would bring some much-needed versatility to the lineup.

Guard - Hawkeye/Kate Bishop

At guard, standing 5-foot-6 from New York, New York, No. 2.... Kate Bishop!

Photo by Raymond Hall/GC Images

I like to have a shooter at the two, and I think Justin will go in a similar direction here. So to counter what I think he will do, I’ll take Kate Bishop — the new Hawkeye. Trained by Clint Barton, Bishop eventually takes his mantle and becomes the “new” Hawkeyes. She’s just as good a shot as him, but much younger and quicker. Her experience with a bow proves she has elite hand-eye coordination. Taking Kate Bishop is my strategic counter to Justin probably taking the OG Hawkeye on his team.

Guard - Groot

At guard, standing 5-foot-4, No. 3... Groot!

Disney XD via Getty Images

Kind of like Ant-Man, Groot can also shapeshift if need be. In the most recent Marvel films he is “teenage” Groot, so he’s about five feet tall. But he’s a sentient plant, and can do all the things sentient plants typically do — you know? There’s no reason Groot couldn’t block a shot from 10 feet away with an extension of his giant, branched arms I can’t see Groot being too great of a shooter, but he’s got a Giannis-type build and I think it would be tough to stopa driving Groot from getting to the basket. Give me the tree.

Forward - Steve Rogers/Captain America

At forward, standing at 6-foot-2 from Brooklyn, New York, No. 4... Steve Rogers!

Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Technically Steve Rogers isn’t “normal” because his strength, reactions, and all other hero abilities came from a superhero serum he took years back. But at this point, he’s just an incredibly jacked, incredibly meaty regular guy who doesn’t know when to quit. His vanilla-ness makes me think he’d be an incredibly fundamental hooper — think assist to turnover ratio, crashing the glass and immediately kicking it out to a shooter, that kind of stuff. I also think that — despite having the least “powers” or modifiers of any of the Avengers, Rogers is one of the strongest MCU heroes. So I want him at power forward.

Forward - Bruce Banner/Hulk

At forward, standing at 8-foot-5 from Willowdale, VA, No. 5... Bruce Banner aka The Hulk!

Don’t have to over-think this one. Bruce Banner is my favorite character in the whole Marvel Universe, but as Black Widow said towards the end of “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” we need the green guy. We need the nearly 9-foot tall Hulk to play center. Nobody is outrebounding Hulk, nobody is blocking Hulk’s shots. Hulk 100% is not dribbling the basketball at any point during the game, but nobody can guard him once he gets position in the low post. Hulk is nearly as tall as the rim itself, this one wasn’t hard.

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Justin: Black Panther (G), Hawkeye (G), Quicksilver (G), Mr. Fantastic (F) and Luke Cage (C)

Guard - Black Panther

First of all, you want your point guard to be unselfish. No one in the Marvel Universe is less selfish then T’Challa. My version of Chris Paul or John Stockton, a pass-first point guard who can set up the offense. He is also extremely agile and athletic which will be helpful on both sides of the ball.

T’Challa is also incredibly passionate about the things he does, and hoops would be no exception. Add that to his leadership skills and he might go down as a top five-point guard in the history of hoops. I am not positive about his offensive skills, but as long as he can finish at the rim it should not be an issue.

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Guard - Hawkeye

Talk about a sharpshooter. I like my two guard to be a knock down shooter and who is more of a knock down shooter than the guy that doesn’t miss ever? Steph Curry? Nope, give me Clint Barton.

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Guard - Quicksilver

I need some speed and this one feels obvious. I think he would be an offensive rebounding machine if we worked on that in practice.

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Forward - Mr. Fantastic

Who doesn’t love a good stretch four? That’s really all I need to say.

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Center - Luke Cage

I was stuck between four for this one. Hulk, Luke Cage, the Thing and Cable. I didn’t want to do the Hulk because I am afraid, he wouldn’t be able to handle the trash talk. He would just get mad and then lose focus and we can’t have that from the big guy. He would get stronger as he gets madder, but I am afraid he would lose his cool too easily and let’s be honest, he will just foul out at like halftime. So I like Luke Cage here. Strong and focused.

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