THE TOP PRO FACTORIES
March 12, 2009 by David Im
As March Madness draws near and future NBA hopefuls hit the hardwood, putting it all on the line for that one shining moment, it’s an opportune time to see which colleges have most effectively churned out players ready to make the jump to the League.
The best pro factories combine a winning tradition with preparation for the NBA game. Programs such as Duke and UCLA have been able to get their players nabbed high on draft day, and as a result, have elevated their profile and ability to recruit new talent. There’s no telling how much Michael Jordan has done for the Tar Heels.
But it’s not just about the numbers. The Minnesota Golden Gophers have sent nine (!) players to the pros since 1995, including six first-rounders, with none worth a mention beside Bobby Jackson. And Jackson isn’t exactly a franchise centerpiece. Likewise, Stanford had eight of their players called by David Stern, but only Josh Childress (now playing in Greece) and rookie Brook Lopez averaged double-digit points in the NBA.
While we acknowledge that many of today’s top NBA players came straight from high school, David Stern effectively put an end to that factory with his infamous age-limit rule. So preps-to-pros, along with international players, were not looked at for the purposes of this article. For the purposes of brevity and to focus on the current generation of NBA players, we’ve decided to only go as far back as 1995.
Arizona Wildcats
Number of players sent to the NBA: 20
Number of first-round picks: 8
Stud: Gilbert Arenas
Other notables: Mike Bibby, Andre Iguodala, Richard Jefferson, Jason Terry
Hardly an impact: A.J. Bramlett, Miles Simon, Loren Woods
Arizona may have the best NBA representation of any school, but its future is a little murky. With Lute Olson, one of the best recruiters in history, forced to retire, the Arizona program is in disarray. Olson hadn’t coached since 2007, as he’s been battling various health issues while also in the midst of a nasty divorce. His leave of absence, combined with the NBA’s age-limit (and maybe a little test called the SATs), led to No. 1 prospect and likely 2009 lottery pick Brandon Jennings’s decision to play in Europe in lieu of Arizona. A recruiting mess involving four-star prospect Emmanuel Negedu (now at Tennessee), uncertainty surrounding the head coaching position, and now possible recruiting violations have left the Wildcats with zero commitments in the coming years. So while the future of this factory (despite boasting likely top-five pick Jordan Hill) hangs in the balance, it’ll be up to the stars from Olson’s Golden Era (Arenas, Bibby, Jefferson, Terry) to keep Arizona relevant in the basketball world. This is one school, however, that could eventually be bumped off the list.
Connecticut Huskies
Number of players sent to the NBA: 15
Number of first-round picks: 11
Stud: Ray Allen
Other notables: Caron Butler, Rudy Gay, Ben Gordon, Richard Hamilton, Emeka Okafor
Hardly an impact: Khalid El-Amin, Donny Marshall
Looking at all the players that UConn has recently sent to the NBA, a case can be made that the best pro factory lies in Storrs, Conn. Of the eight Huskies drafted since 2003, all were first-round picks and only two (Josh Boone and Marcus Williams) fell out of the lottery selections. With the exception of Hilton Armstrong, the other five lottery picks (Butler, Gay, Gordon, Okafor, and Charlie Villanueva) are averaging double-digit points and are emerging stars in the NBA. Butler already is an All-Star. And of course you have Rip and Allen, two of the bigger superstars in the league and both NBA champions. Now with Hasheem Thabeet a lock for the lottery this year, current freshman Kemba Walker looking like a future first-rounder, and incoming freshman Alex Oriakhi a possible one-and-done candidate, Jim Calhoun is keeping this factory chugging along. The question is, how much longer will he be head coach?
Duke Blue Devils
Number of players sent to the NBA: 19
Number of first-round picks: 13
Stud: Elton Brand
Other notables: Shane Battier, Carlos Boozer, Luol Deng, Mike Dunleavy, Corey Maggette
Hardly an impact: William Avery, Josh McRoberts, Jay Williams
The Dukies lead the way with 13 first-round picks since 1995. Elton Brand, a former No. 1 overall pick, is their biggest star and opened the path for future Blue Devil underclassmen to declare early for the draft (which didn’t exactly make Coach Mike Krzyzewski or this rather busty student very happy). Brand has signed two contracts worth over $160 million but he’s hardly the school’s only star. Carlos Boozer has made a nice career for himself (even though he screwed over a blind man) and Shane Battier is, according to the New York Times, the No-Stats All-Star. I am convinced Jay Williams would have been a perennial All-Star, but unfortunately, one bad decision derailed his whole career and now he’s been relegated to providing mediocre college basketball analysis for ESPN.
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Number of players sent to the NBA: 15
Number of first-round picks: 9
Stud: Chris Bosh
Other notables: Travis Best, Matt Harpring, Stephon Marbury
Hardly an impact: Drew Barry, Alvin Jones
Perhaps the one school that looks like it doesn’t belong here is Georgia Tech. They’ve never won a national championship and have made only two Final Fours in its school’s history. But they’ve had more first-rounders since 1995 than Indiana and Georgetown, including lottery picks (both No. 4 overall) in the vaunted drafts of 1996 and 2003, the only school who can lay claim to such a distinction. Paul Hewitt might be the king of recruiting one-and-dones as he’s sent three freshmen to the pros since 2003 with a fourth likely on the way in 2010 after the recently committed Derrick Favors spends his expected one-year in Atlanta.
Kansas Jayhawks
Number of players sent to the NBA: 18
Number of first-round picks: 12
Stud: Paul Pierce
Other notables: Nick Collison, Drew Gooden, Raef Lafrentz, Greg Ostertag
Hardly an impact: Ryan Robertson, Keith Langford, Billy Thomas
The University of Kansas can certainly make a case as the most storied program in college basketball history. They are the third-winningest program in NCAA history, count James Naismith, Phog Allen, Larry Brown, and Roy Williams as head coaches, have won three national championships, and just wrapped up their ninth Big 12 title in the conference’s 13-year history. It’s no wonder they’re on this list. Paul Pierce is by far the most accomplished player from KU in the last 14 years. His play last year in leading the Boston Celtics to an NBA title elevated his status to another level. Though Coach Williams is responsible for Pierce and most of the Jayhawk NBAers, the program has not missed a beat under Bill Self, who has already won a national championship (something Ol’ Roy never did at Kansas) and sent several Jayhawks to the League with more on the way.
Kentucky Wildcats
Number of players sent to the NBA: 20
Number of first-round picks: 10
Stud: Antoine Walker
Other notables: Jamaal Magloire, Tayshaun Prince, Rajon Rondo
Hardly an impact: Gerald Fitch, Reggie Hanson, Wayne Turner
The winningest program in NCAA history. Seven national titles, 17-straight NCAA Tournament appearances, and 13 Final Fours. Do Rick Pitino and Adolph Rupp ring any bells? But college success doesn’t always translate into NBA success. Their list of NBA players don’t exactly strike fear in you. Their most decorated alumni is Antoine Walker, who might be more famous for his shimmy-shake dance after big baskets than anything else (I still can’t believe he has a ring). Tayshaun Prince is a former All-Star and Rajon Rondo looks to be one in the future, but they’ve been blessed with being on stacked (i.e. championship) teams. I doubt they’d be as good as they are today if they were playing for the Los Angeles Clippers.
North Carolina Tar Heels
Number of players sent to the NBA: 17
Number of first-round picks: 11
Stud: Vince Carter
Other notables: Raymond Felton, Antawn Jamison, Jerry Stackhouse, Rasheed Wallace
Hardly an impact: Joseph Forte, Sean May, Kevin Salvadori
Michael Jordan. His name alone is enough to validate any school as a pro factory. Count him as one of your alum, and you’ll have the best recruits in the nation lining up to play for you (and they do). Luckily for the Tar Heels, no other school can say the greatest NBA player of all time ever played for them. As a result, UNC has the best core of players to come from college since 1995. The 1995 draft gave us Stackhouse and Wallace while Jamison and Vinsanity came out in 1998. All four boast multiple All-Star appearances and are icons in their own way. But the new millennium has not been kind to North Carolina — no Tar Heel drafted after 1998 has been named an All-Star. But with Roy Williams and his run ‘n gun system back home in Chapel Hill, UNC looks to reclaim its status as the preeminent pro factory. He’s already brought in ten McDonald’s All-Americans since he took over the program in 2003 with four more coming in the fall. The crown jewel of that class? 6′ 10″ forward John Henson whom draftexpress.com is already listing as a top-five pick in 2010.
UCLA Bruins
Number of players sent to the NBA: 22
Number of first-round picks: 8
Stud: Baron Davis
Other notables: Jason Kapono, Kevin Love, Earl Watson, Russell Westbrook
Hardly an impact: J.R. Henderson, Charles O’Bannon, Ed O’Bannon
Ask any Bruin student and they’ll tell you the C in UCLA stands for championship; a total of 11, including seven straight from 1967 to 1973. But that was a long time ago and we’re only going back to 1995. Still, UCLA has only missed the Big Dance twice in the last 14 years and made the last three Final Fours. You don’t achieve this kind of success without talent and the Bruins have sent a whopping 22 players to the NBA in that span, the most of any school. Unfortunately, the only player of those 22 that has made any kind of impact in the pros is Baron Davis, and he’s probably best known for being an injury-prone point guard on the verge of blowing his vast potential and talent. But with Ben Howland now at the helm, it looks like he’s combining quality with quantity as he’s already sent five of his players to the NBA, with Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook looking like future All-Stars. His defense-first mantra does not seem like it’d be very appealing to kids with NBA dreams, but it’s working for UCLA; they had the #1 recruiting class in 2008 and have a top-10 class in this year.
Where is Florida? Al Horford, Joakim Noah, David Lee, Corey Brewer, Mike Miller…
Gators,
No way that Florida makes that list with those names… are you kidding me?
If Florida gets on that list I’d like to see Illinois and Duncan added to that list too.
Illinois -
Stud: Deron Williams
Notables: Brian Cook, Nick Anderson, Luther Head
Hardly an impact: James Augustine, Dee Brown, Frank Williams
Wake has CP3, Josh Howard and Tim Duncan
woops i meant “illinois and wake forest” not illinois and duncan lol
Florida’s list is better than Georgia Tech’s. Wake Forest has the best top 3 of any school by far.
Yeah, Wake definitely has the best quality over quantity. 3 All-Star starters, 1 First-Ballot HOF’er, another who already owns NBA records…Nice.
What have you got against Joel Przybilla, Voshon Lenard, and Kris Humphries? The Gophs haven’t exactly produced all stars, but those guys are all at least worth mentioning as much as say, Earl Watson.
I guess starting for the best team in the west isn’t good enough to make the Bruin ‘notables’… sorry Trevor Ariza.
And if you’re going to throw Antoine Walker, who is currently not on an NBA team, out as the ’stud’ from UK, you might as well throw Bill Walton, Kareem and future HOF Reggie Miller out there for the Bruins as well!
If you’re using this as a checklist of programs that will produce the most and most important future recruits, I think you have to include Florida. David Lee might be an All-Star and Al Horford is a likely multiple All-Star, while Mike Miller has been a meaningful player with a major contract and Noah could still have an impact.
I would have liked to have seen comprehensive lists here, rather than have them pared down, but otherwise this was a good look. As somebody who watches the tournament to get a feel for the draft, it’s always good to know which programs are pumping out the pros.
yeah wake has duncan, cp3, and the unpatriotic josh howard a top 3 that would rival any other school’s but else have they got? darius songaila? please.
[...] Peep out the reposting of the article here. [...]
UConn had Denham Brown go in the second round in the 2004 draft
I’d like to see an article on the best “would-be” college teams if players didn’t leave for the pros. Also, how about high school factories? Oak Hill, Lincoln, Mater Dei, Montrose Christian, Westchester, Rice, Christ the King, St. Anthony’s, etc. are continually sending kids to top D1 schools..
I agree with Bruin…seriously, take Antoine off the “stud” list. He might’ve put up gaudy-looking numbers, but did so with horrendous efficiency and the worst kind of shot selection. He could pass well, but otherwise he is really not that good
Couple things:
1) Yes, Wake Forest might have the best top 3 players (2 future Hall of Famers) of any school but other than that they don’t have much. To be a “factory” I think it’s quantity is more important than quality. We’re looking at both but quantity definitely means more. If you looked at quality/productivity/efficiency/whatever by players then yeah sure, Wake would have to be near the top, if not #1.
2) Florida was on the cusp of being on the list. I couldn’t include every school but Florida just missed out (maybe I should’ve had a just missed the cut list or something). I think they suffered from a bunch of their NBA players coming to the league more recently. And really, Noah and Brewer haven’t done much in the league. Marreese Speights has been more prodcutive and he hasn’t even played a full season.
3) I couldn’t include everybody on the notables list.
4) While I could understand people’s discontent with having Antoine Walker as Kentucky’s “stud” you can’t argue with what he’s done during his career. He’s averaged 18/8 his whole career, been a 3-time All-Star, and been to the playoffs 6 years in a row with one ring to show for it (also led the Celtics within a couple games of the Finals). Okay sure he may have been a team cancer and shot below 40% a few times but his early Celtics teams were terrible and Rick Pitino (who’s shown he can’t coach in the NBA) was his head coach a few years. I would definitely say he’s done more in career than any other guy Kentucky has produced since 1995. It’s like if Maryland was on this list you’d have to consider Steve Francis as the top guy because of what he’s done, even if his career flamed out prematurely just like Walker’s.
kirk hinrich - kansas.
You forgot JJ Redick of Duke. 11th overall pick and he has become a very valuable reserve now for the Magic. Check his stats this season and you’ll see that he’s a notable player once given the proper minutes.
duke fan, i think JJ redick falls somewhere between the “other notables” and “hardly an impact” categories.. no way he can be mentioned in the same sentence as the other notables. He’s only playing now because he stopped sucking, if his play warranted more playing time he would have gotten it.
How about the University of Texas? Kevin Durant, TJ Ford, LaMarcus Aldridge, Daniel Gibson, DJ Augustine, Maurice Evans, Royal Ivey, ect.
[...] can’t keep Carl Landry down - there’s no punchline here. They seriously can’t. The top pro factories - that is, the college basketball programs that have produced the most/best NBA players. A crazy [...]