Only 1% of Division I college basketball players make the jump to the NBA each year, so the fact that Lazar Hayward could become the 8th former Marquette player drawing an NBA paycheck next year puts MU in elite company.
Lazar has shot up to a projected 38th pick in Thursday's draft (www.nbadraft.net), and all 16 times a Marquette player has gone in the first two rounds, he has played in the NBA. In fact, Wesley Matthews was the 14th MU player NOT drafted in the first two rounds to still make the NBA, meaning Lazar could be MUs 31st NBA player, and he could join seven former MU players who were drawing an NBA paycheck last season.
As for the future, DJO emerged as a potential future NBA player when he was selected as one of the Top 15 college guards by Chris Paul’s camp, and 5-stars like Vander Blue have a pretty good record of making the NBA (Note to Vander, we are talking about the 2014 draft for you AFTER your 4-year career at Marquette):
Colleges with the most NBA players, coaches and projected 2010 draft picks
1 UNC 23
2 Duke 18
3 UCLA 17
4 Kentucky 16
5 UConn 13
6 Kansas 13
7 Arizona 12
8 Texas 11
9 Ohio State 11
10 Florida 10
11 Georgia Tech 10
12 Notre Dame 9
13 Marquette 8
14 Alabama 8
15 Oklahoma 8
16 LSU 7
17 Memphis 7
18 Wake Forest 7
19 Syracuse 7
20 Southern California 7
Ed Davis’ projected 10th pick gives the Tar Heels 23 former players, while Jon Scheyer's rather shaky projection as the 52nd of 60 picks (14 spots behind Lazar), gives Duke 18 former players to break a tie with UCLA for 2nd.
Kentucky’s five projected picks starting with John Wall shoots them up to 4th place, while Kansas and Texas move up the list as the only other two teams with more than two projected picks this year.
Obviously, these counts won’t necessarily be the same as the actual rosters at the beginning of the next season. We could have our hearts broken like last year’s draft with Lazar not being called, Doc Rivers (or coaches Jim Boylan or Maurice Lucas for that matter) could hang it up, and Steve Novak or Travis Diener could always be cut, though Wes Matthews and Dwyane Wade look like pretty sure things to be back.
However, this is true of any of the teams listed. There are very few sure bets to be back as a player or coach. And we can still hope for McNeal or James to follow Tom Copa's steps by going oversees for a couple of years before coming back to play in the NBA.
The important thing is that when players like Vander Blue get down to their short list, they are only going to consider programs that have shown they can produce NBA players. With Buzz appearing to be able to develop players like Wes Matthews, Jimmy Butler and DJO, there are really only seven schools that can argue that they clearly offer a better chance for a player to make the NBA (Arizona, Connecticut, Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, UCLA) .
Marquette is really on par with the other 13 schools on this list, and ahead of the other 327 Division I schools.
MU offers recruits the opportunity to play in front of the 10th largest crowds in the country, play for one of only 11 programs to make it to the NCAA tournament all of the last five years, and go to the only program in the country where they have this strong a chance to make the NBA AND don’t have to compete with football players for attention on campus. I mean really, why would any 4- or 5-star want to go anywhere else?
I did get a question offline, saying it was confusing who was included in my counts of former players with a chance to draw NBA checks next year in the NBA. I probably should have just spelled out a couple of examples.
ReplyDeleteBelow I will list Marquette's 8 players (13th best), UNC's 23 players (by far the best) and Wisconsin's 4 players (yes I count anyone on a roster last year, even though Badgers Brian Butch and Greg Stiemsma combined for 1 game played, 0 points, and $16k earned last year pushes the Badgers from up from a 64th place tie with basketball powers like Frostburg State, Wayne State, Portland State, Seattle, Moorhead State, Arkansas Little-Rock and 30 other teams for 63rd place with only two former players all the way up to 36th place with four former players).
Projected Draft Picks (1) - Lazar Hayward
NBA Coaches and assistants (3) - Doc Rivers, Jim Boylan, Maurice Lucas
NBA Players (4) - Dwyane Wade, Steve Novak, Travis Diener, Wes Matthews
Total 8 former Marquette players
Projected Draft Picks (0)
NBA Coaches and assistants (0)
NBA Players (4) - Michael Finley, Devin Harris, Brian Butch, Greg Stiemsma
Total 4 former Wisconsin players
Projected Draft Picks (1) - Ed Davis
NBA Coaches and assistants (8) - John Kuester, Pat Sullivan, Joe Wolf, Larry Brown, Phil Ford, Dave Hanners, Bob McAdoo, George Karl
NBA Players (14) - Rasheed Wallace, Danny Green, Antawn Jamison, Jawad Williams, Tyler Hansbrough, Jerry Stackhouse, Marvin Williams, Raymond Felton, Vince Carter, Brendan Haywood, Brandan Wright, Sena May, Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington
Total 23 former UNC players
bama, you're normally on the beam but this one is a reach. Do you really think that a recruit chooses Marquette because Maurice, Jim and Glenn are coaches. Man, I love 'em all, but Maurice Lucas has not been an active part of Marquette since 1975 and Jim Boylan since 1978.
ReplyDeleteAnd, I'll betcha no one cares that Rivers is on the MU Board of Trustees.
Look, what matters is a record. We're recruiting well knowing that Buzz works his players hard and gets the most he can from them. Good players and good coaches equals good outcomes.
Kids know if they go to Marquette they'll get good coaching and good exposure. That makes up for being at Concrete University where the average January high is barely above zero.
SO lets talk about Dwyane, Lazar, Wes, Scott and Travis. That's our claim to fame -- and more to come.
I liked the listing of the colleges with the most NBA players/coaches, but it would be interesting to see the schools graduation rates along with these rankings.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
David, MU leads the nation in graduation rates for men's basketball
ReplyDeletehttp://www.tidesport.org/Grad%20Rates/2010_Mens_Bball_PR.pdf