The Best College Basketball Program in America

by Nestor on Aug 31, 2007 4:27 AM PDT in Basketball

Here is a little detour from all the football hype in BN. SportsAgentBlog.com has a list of the best collegiate basketball program in the nation based on the number of NBA draft picks and players come out of a program.

Did you really have any doubt as to who would top this list?:

Are you a basketball player who has some talent and wants to go to a top college basketball program that will give you a good chance to make it to the league? Or are you an agent who wants to know which colleges produce the most NBA talent? Either way, there is an article that hopes to guide you in the right direction when it comes to scouting the most successful programs (in terms of having its players make the NBA). [Top 10: NBA Colleges]

Here is an abbreviated version…because I know all of you have a standard case of the Monday’s:

1. UCLA - 98 NBA draft picks, 70 NBA players.
2. University of North Carolina - 94 NBA draft picks, 69 NBA players.
3. University of Kentucky - 91 NBA draft picks, 65 NBA players.
4. Indiana Universty - 69 NBA draft picks, 51 NBA players.
5. Duke University - 73 NBA draft picks, 48 NBA players.
6. University of Kansas - 64 NBA draft picks, 46 NBA players.
7. St. John’s University - 60 NBA draft picks, 48 NBA players.
8. University of Notre Dame - 58 NBA draft picks, 48 NBA players.
9. University of Louisville - 61 NBA draft picks, 42 NBA players.
10. University of Illinois - 68 NBA draft picks, 39 NBA players.

Here is the article the post above was referring to. Not that Coach Howland need any more ammunition on the recruiting trail but I imagine every little bit helps.

BTW UNC and Kentucky fans if you want to play this game based on who has won the most NCs, we will play that game too. Better yet we would love to settle it on the court hopefully sometime late March or early April in 2008.

Also speaking of this topic apparently the Morgan Center sent out a press release re. Lindy's ranking Ben Ball warriors as the number 1 team in the nation. That shouldn't be news to regular readers of BN.

Luckily in hoops we have a head coach, who we know is going to put our athletes in best position to live up to these gaudy expectations. That's what makes following hoops so much more fun compared to the dread and cynicism that pervades through Dorrell's program.

GO BRUINS.

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Comments

Hmm ...

I think I might want to play based on who has won the most basketball games. :-)

The Online home of the Big Blue Nation

by Glenn Logan on Aug 31, 2007 6:39 AM PDT reply actions

Call me crazy

I am not too big on counting wins when only caucasian athletes were allowed to play college sports.

by bluestreet on Aug 31, 2007 6:43 AM PDT up reply actions

Okay... I'll call you crazy

According to the always accurate information over at wikipedia.

"From the 1920s until 1947, few African-American players were allowed in major college programs. One notable exception was Jackie Robinson, a multi-sport star (1939-1941) at UCLA just before World War II, who went on to greater fame for breaking Major League Baseball's 20th-century color line."

So would you like to start the records in 1939? If so, UCLA has won 1349 and UK has won 1596.

Although... the same wikipedia article notes that "In 1947, William Garrett integrated big-time college basketball by joining the basketball program at Indiana University. He broke the gentlemen's agreement that had barred black players from the Big Ten Conference, at that time college basketball's most important conference."

So lets do the records minus those 8 years... UCLA won 1269 games and UK has won 1425.

I suppose that what you meant when you said you are "not too big on counting wins when only caucasian athletes were allowed to play college sports" was that you'd only like to count UCLA's records from the 60's, 70's, 1995, and the last two years?

If we throw out your short sighted comment, UK has 1748, UNC has 1733, then UCLA comes in 11th at 1444.

Racism in sports history is a sad but true reality. To attempt to extricate records from that history though is impossible. Would you also suggest that Babe Ruth's position at number three on the all-time home runs list shouldn't count because of the fact the game wasn't integrated?

The bottom line is that no matter how you look at it, the top echelon of college basketball programs of all time consists of four teams: Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, and UCLA. An argument could be made for Duke, but their history is a relatively short 30 years.

by chirop1 on Aug 31, 2007 9:33 AM PDT up reply actions

I don't care much about Kenfucky

When did UCLA started its basketball program compared to Kentucky? If this info. is correct Kentucky started its basketball program in 1910, which if I recall correct was 9 years prior to UCLA was even founded. It takes years to build a solid program from scrap. So it certainly helped you guys had a decade long head start. So whatever.

And I don't care much for a program that names their arena who may have a racist past.

by bluestreet on Aug 31, 2007 10:43 AM PDT up reply actions

Racist Past

The entire country has a racist past. That goes for East Coast, West Coast, North, South, the Plains, the Hawaiian Islands, everywhere. It doesn't make it right, but it also makes cherry picking your arguments pointless. Rupp was no more racist than any other public figure of the day. He wasn't the first to integrate, but he wasn't the last either. His current image was largely framed by a sub-par movie.

The bottom line is, the greatness that both UCLA and Kentucky lay claim to is largely in the past. If we look at the "modern" era, its roughly equivalent. UCLA had their down times post Harrick and Kentucky has gone through the Tubby era. And both won titles in the '90s after a long title drought.

by chirop1 on Aug 31, 2007 11:07 AM PDT up reply actions

Thats nice

But I am not worried about Kentucky now that we have a great coach.

Actually I am not worried about any other program right now. Every time our guys get on the court, I have confidence our guys are capable of giving a good beatdown.

And I have no doubt we will give you guys a beatdown if we were to play sometime in 2008.

by bluestreet on Aug 31, 2007 11:24 AM PDT up reply actions

Some numbers

look them up in the context of this thread.
7, 11, 30(x4), 38, 88

Bob O. (Signholder #3)

by TuneMan7 on Aug 31, 2007 10:58 AM PDT up reply actions

Only championships matter.

The only way to judge which is the best program is to count the number of times it gets to the top.

by Chandler on Sep 1, 2007 4:09 AM PDT up reply actions

Hmm ...

To me it seems the important wins to consider are those that come in championship games. ;-)

by WoodenLegend on Aug 31, 2007 9:26 AM PDT up reply actions

Yes of course

When Ralph Miller's Oregon State dominated Pac 10 conference in the early eighties, routinely manhandled our team, coached then by a clueless Larry Farmer, their fans always took great pride in counting the number of conference championship banners the Beavers won. That in turn prompted Walton's remark regarding how some team counts conference championships and they're happy, and how some team counts national championship and fight for more.

by Htse005 on Aug 31, 2007 11:30 PM PDT up reply actions

and to think

that we had to suffer 7 years of Lavin while the pundits and the Lavinistas said we were being unrealistic to want to be excellent again. Sound familiar now that football season is starting again.

editor, DumpDorrell.com ... formerly posted as DumpDorrell

by BruinCore on Aug 31, 2007 7:25 AM PDT reply actions

In those 7 years

Lavin would never, never say that his goal was to win the NC, because deep, deep down he knew there was no way in h$ll he was capable. I remember reporters would ask him of his goal and he would dance around the question.

I am not sure, but has KD ever publicly declared that his goal is to win the NC?

by bluegold on Aug 31, 2007 2:29 PM PDT up reply actions

I cant recall

but he did say when he was hired that his goal was to win Pac-10 championships and beat SuC:

"My goal for next year is to win the Pac-10 championship," Dorrell said. "And for the following year is to win the Pac-10 championship. And the succeeding year, the same thing. Winning the Pac-10 and beating your crosstown rivals, those are the biggest issues on my mind."

Obviously, he hasn't come close to winning the Pac-10 championship. I have quotes from Guerrero somewhere saying when he hired Dorrell that Pac-10 championships, BCS bowl games, and beating SuC were the goals.

editor, DumpDorrell.com ... formerly posted as DumpDorrell

by BruinCore on Aug 31, 2007 7:29 PM PDT up reply actions

WRT NBA Players...

Not only do we send the most players to the NBA but we've sent some of the best. Only UNC can boast their fair share of talent (MJ, Worthy, Carter, etc) while we've sent (Jabbar, Walton, Davis, Miller, etc). UK? Dan Issel? Really? That's their best? I will thank them for Riley.