Best NBA Pro Factories

What colleges produce the best pro players? You might be surprised.

by Leo Sepkowitz

Historically, the NCAA’s most successful schools pump the greatest number of players into the NBA. But that doesn’t mean that these powerhouses are necessarily producing the best players. For instance, Kansas has the second most alumni currently active in the NBA with 15, but their best active point guard is Mario Chalmers, while their top two big men are arguably soon-to-be rookies Marcus and Markieff Morris. On the other hand, Memphis has just seven active alumni but an incredible guard duo to show for it in Derrick Rose and Tyreke Evans.

So which college produces the best pro players? To settle this, I looked at current NBA rosters, including the ‘11-12 rookie class, and constructed hypothetical lineups for each school made of their active alumni. First a quick run down of the rules:

- A team must have five starters. If a school only has four or less active alumni, they are disqualified. Notable DQ’d teams include Indiana, Louisville, Michigan and Butler.
– Not every college with five active alumni is on this list—only the top 25 lineups made it.
– Ideally the college has produced has two guards, two forwards and a center, but it’s pretty unusual. So each team only must have at least one guard and one forward. The rest of the lineup can be filled out by guys playing slightly out of position.
– Eligible players don’t have to have played this season (meaning the ‘10-11 season), but do have to be on a team’s roster. Call it the Greg Oden rule.
– My rankings are based on starting lineups only. So, for example, UCLA doesn’t get bonus points for having both Baron Davis and Darren Collison sitting on the virtual bench.
– The hypothetical teams consist of all players who attended a certain college, no matter when they attended it. In other words, Wake Forest’s lineup has Chris Paul and Tim Duncan in it, even though they never played together.
– Lastly, the rankings are for the now, and have nothing to do with how players in the lineup have done in the past. For instance, Wake Forest doesn’t get to have the 2011 version of Paul playing alongside the 2004 version of Duncan.

Notes:

- If a player has a star after his name, he is a rookie.
– After each player is either “Fr.,” “So.,” “Jr.” or “Sr.” This signals whether he was a freshman, sophomore, junior or senior when he left college.
– Under each starting lineup is the “Average Years In College.” This number shows the average number of years each starter spent at his respective college. This holds no significance as far as rankings go, but it’s a cool number to look at. It’s worth noting that none of the top-five lineups have an “Average Years In College” score of three or higher. Meaning, on average, the school’s starters leave before their senior seasons.

25. Maryland

Starting Lineup
Guard: Steve Blake, Sr.
Guard: Greivis Vasquez, Sr.
Forward: Jordan Williams*, So.
Forward: Joe Smith, So.
Center: Chris Wilcox, So.

Average Years In College: 2.8

Other Active Players
None

This team is simply miserable. The problem here actually has less to do with a lack of talent (Blake has had some decent years and Greivis looked solid in the Playoffs) and more to do with the wrong blend of players. Mainly, Jordan Williams (6-10, 260) could never guard a small forward, and I’m not sure Joe Smith could handle more than 10 minutes per game at this point.

24. Purdue

Starting Lineup

Guard: E’Twaun Moore*, Sr.
Forward: Carl Landry, Sr.
Forward: Brian Cardinal, Sr.
Forward: JaJuan Johnson*, Sr.
Center: Brad Miller, Sr.

Average Years In College: 4

Other Active Players
None

This team is obviously about as bad as it gets, but it is a team, which is more than most schools (not on this list) can say. Clearly the offense would be abysmal (and the defense probably would be, too), but Landry is one year removed from averaging 18 points per game, while Johnson has a chance to be Kevin Garnett’s successor in Boston if he impresses during his rookie campaign.

23. Villanova

Starting Lineup
Guard: Kyle Lowry, So.
Guard: Randy Foye, Sr.
Guard: Allan Ray, Sr.
Forward: Dante Cunningham, Sr.
Forward: Malik Allen, Sr.

Average Years In College: 3.6

Other Active Players
None

Obviously ‘Nova has some holes here, but it’s not that bad a team. Lowry really came into his own this season, averaging around 17 points and 7 assists after the All-Star break, while Foye averaged nearly 10 points per game in his first season with the Clippers. Cunningham has some real talent, averaging nine points and four boards in 22 games for the Bobcats after coming over from Portland. Unfortunately, Malik Allen and Bizzaro Ray Allen would drag this team down. OK… so maybe Ray hasn’t been in the League since 2007… but I wasn’t going to waste a perfectly good Seinfeld reference just for that.

22. FSU

Starting Lineup

Guard: Toney Douglas, Sr.
Guard: Von Wafer, So.
Forward: Chris Singleton*, Jr.
Forward: Al Thornton, Sr.
Center: Solomon Alabi, So.

Average Years In College: 3

Other Active Players
None

Another lineup that would have no chance in an NBA game, but a lineup nonetheless. These guys would really function as a strong second unit, with Douglas’ offense and Singleton’s defense leading the way. Don’t sleep on Wafer or Thornton either, as Thornton scored over 20 points five times this season and Wafer chipped in nicely off the Celtics bench until the arrival of Jeff Green.

21. Stanford

Starting Lineup
Guard: Landry Fields, Sr.
Guard: Josh Childress, Jr.
Forward: Jason Collins, So.
Center: Robin Lopez, So.
Center: Brook Lopez, So.

Average Years In College: 2.6

Other Active Players
Jarron Collins

Admittedly, I’m pushing it here. There’s no way the Lopez twins and Collins could all be on the floor at the same time, but that’s why Stanford’s ranked all the way down here despite having five guys who can play. I will say that if this lineup actually got on the court, I think they could surprise some people, as Fields is a smart enough player to be able to distribute the ball a little while Brook Lopez’s outside shot would stretch the defense just enough.