Which College Hoops Programs Have Produced The Best Current NBA Players? The Official Rosters and Bracket

Yesterday, I published a rather quick post on which college basketball programs have legitimately turned out the best NBA players over the last 15 or so years.

The response I got was overwhelming.

Many of you sent me emails lobbying for your team’s inclusion into the fictional tournament that we will publish tomorrow.

I greatly appreciate your involvement. As I said, I posted the article rather quickly and made a few gross oversights. What we have, today, are our top 12 teams that are ready to participate in the winner-take-all tournament tomorrow.

Let me offer a few quick notes before we get to the rules of the tournament:

1. It was unacceptable for me to leave Wake Forest off of this list.  

As many of you might have done, I instantly considered the theoretical dominance of a team that included Tim Duncan and Chris Paul. However, I couldn’t remember anyone else off of the top of my head, and I failed to take two seconds to do the required research.

After some help from you all, we are left with a Wake Forest squad that is not only included in the tournament but winds up earning the #4 seed.

Forget the fact that Chris Paul is the greatest PG alive and Duncan is still, without argument, a top 3 center in the NBA. Al-Farouq Aminu adds an athletic, defensive stopper to the team while Jeff Teague and Josh Howard provide more than adequate scoring from the wing positions. Of course, the team lacks depth, but I find it hard to believe that Duncan and Paul will struggle to play 90% of an elimination game.

The Demon Deacons must be included, and they will probably prove to be a tough out.

2. Washington, Arizona and Georgia Tech also make the tourney, but they will undoubtedly be bounced early.

Each team has a surprising number of NBA players, but past Chris Bosh and Andre Iguodala, there really are no game-changers on either team (at least, not in 2013). Because of their inclusion, Ohio State falls out of the bracket entirely.

3. Antawn Jamison – in or out?

One of you mentioned Antawn Jamison being left off of UNC, but the squad already had 12 players. And in my honest assessment, I don’t believe that this current version of Jamison is better than any of the guys I included.

TOURNAMENT RULES

• Even though I love the ebb and flow of a 7-game series, March Madness is simply more exciting – so this will be a one-and-done format.
• Games will be college length but include the NBA three and the 24-second shot clock – just to compromise between both levels.
• Remember, this is about the players’ CURRENT games. So Tyler Hansbrough is Indiana Pacers Psycho T, not the dominator at UNC.
• Coaching absolutely matters. This means that Duke, Florida, Ohio State, and Kansas have a relative advantage while Ben Howland, Rick Barnes, and Roy Williams will most likely negatively affect their teams at some point. For teams like Arizona, Kentucky, and Georgia Tech that have gone through a regime change pretty recently, we will go with the better coach. That means that Lute Olsen, John Calipari, and Brian Gregory are in. (Cut to Georgia Tech fans letting out a sigh of relief that Paul Hewitt will not be prominently involved in this decision.

Here is the bracket. Below are the rosters. Let us know what you think!

Who is the favorite?  Who is your Cinderella?  Any big upsets in the works?  I’ll give you my game by game analysis of each matchup tomorrow.

Who you vote as #1?

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First Out – Ohio State

Starters:

• Kosta Koufos
• Jared Sullinger
• Daequan C0ok
• Evan Turner
• Mike Conley

Bench:

• Byron Mullins

#12 – Washington

Starters:

• Spencer Hawes
• Jon Brockman
• Terrence Ross
• Brandon Roy
• Isaiah Thomas

Bench:

• Tony Wroten
• Quincy Pondexter
• Nate Robinson
• Will Conroy

#11 – Arizona

Starters:

• Channing Frye
• Derrick Williams
• Chase Budinger
• Andre Iguodala
• Jason Terry

Bench:

• Richard Jefferson
• Jerryd Bayless
• Jordan Hill
• Luke Walton

#10 – Georgia Tech

Starters:

• Derrick Favors
• Chris Bosh
• Anthony Morrow
• Iman Shumpert
• Jarrett Jack

Bench:

• Thaddeus Young
• Will Bynum

#9 – North Carolina

Starters:

• Tyler Zeller
• Tyler Hansbrough
• Danny Green
• Harrison Barnes
• Ty Lawson

Bench:

• Ed Davis
• Rasheed Wallace
• Jerry Stackhouse
• Vince Carter
• Marvin Williams
• Raymond Felton
• John Henson

#8 – Kansas

Starters:

• Nick Collison
• Thomas Robinson
• Paul Pierce
• Kirk Hinrich
• Mario Chalmers

Bench:

• Darrell Arthur
• Drew Gooden
• Cole Aldrich
• Marcus Morris
• Markieff Morris
• Brandon Rush
• Josh Selby

#7 – UCONN

Starters:

• Andre Drummond
• Emeka Okafor
• Rudy Gay
• Ray Allen
• Kemba Walker

Bench:

• Caron Butler
• Ben Gordon
• Rip Hamilton
• Hasheem Thabeet
• Jeremy Lamb
• Charlie Villanueva
• AJ Price

#6 – Duke

Starters:

• Elton Brand
• Carlos Boozer
• Luol Deng
• JJ Redick
• Kyrie Irving

Bench:

• Shane Battier
• Chris Duhon
• Mike Dunleavy
• Gerald Henderson
• Grant Hill
• Austin Rivers
• Kyle Singler

#5 – Florida

Starters:

• Joakim Noah
• Al Horford
• David Lee
• Corey Brewer
• Chandler Parsons

Bench:

• Marreese Speights
• Bradley Beal
• Mike Miller
• Udonis Haslem
• Matt Bonner
• Vernon Macklin

#4 – Wake Forest

Starters:

• Tim Duncan
• Al-Farouq Aminu
• Josh Howard
• Jeff Teague
• Chris Paul

Bench:

• James Johnson
• Ishmael Smith

#3 – UCLA

Starters:

• Kevin Love
• Matt Barnes
• Aaron Afflalo
• Russell Westbrook
• Jrue Holiday

Bench:

• Darren Collison
• Luc Mbah a Moute
• Trevor Ariza
• Baron Davis
• Ryan Hollins
• Tyler Honeycut
• Earl Watson

#2 – Texas

Starters:

• LaMarcus Aldridge
• Tristan Thompson
• Kevin Durant
• Avery Bradley
• DJ Augustin

Bench:

• Daniel Gibson
• Maurice Evans
• Jordan Hamilton
• PJ Tucker
• Royal Ivey
• Dexter Pittman
• Cory Joseph

#1 – Kentucky

Starters:

• DeMarcus Cousins
• Anthony Davis
• Michael Kidd-Gilchrist
• John Wall
• Rajon Rondo

Bench:

• Eric Bledsoe
• Tayshaun Prince
• Patrick Patterson
• Jodi Meeks
• Chuck Hayes
• Brandon Knight
• Keith Bogans

*****

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