Over/underrated schools in the NBA draft

[smileyy]

Found this article as I wandered from stormingthefloor.net to the author's new home on CBS Sports:

http://eye-on-college-basketball.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/26283066/28813157

Basically, which schools produce better players per draft slot, and which produce worse, compared via points/rebounds/assists. XU was the #4 "underrated" school, behind Wake (2 all-time greats will do that), UTEP and Marquette (mostly Dwyane Wade?).

Louisville led the pack in terms of "overrated" players.

[PMI]

Interesting stuff. Louisville really does have some overrated players come to think of it. Who's their best current NBA player? Francisco Garcia? Samardo Samuels? Hell, even Sebastian Telfair, the guy who almost went to UL was a major bust.

[XUFan09]

Duke's position is interesting, given their success. I think it's because Coach K looks for high-IQ players who frequently peak at the college level, based on their skill sets (see: J.J. Reddick).

[PMI]

Duke's position is interesting, given their success. I think it's because Coach K looks for high-IQ players who frequently peak at the college level, based on their skill sets (see: J.J. Reddick).

I think it's just like Coach K says. You try to bring in a healthy balance of high IQ four-year guys and the extremely talented but potentially one-and-done guys. That's why you get guys like Reddick and Battier but you also get guys like Maggette, Irving, and soon-to-be Rivers. Don't forget, Coach K almost got Kobe. I think Coach K does it the perfect way, which is why he has the rings that Cal lacks, even though he's often "out-recruited" by Cal based on rankings.

[smileyy]

I heard that after Maggette and Avery left against Coach K's advice, he soured on players who were likely to be early entrants. But yes, he has quite a track record of identifying dominant college skill-sets.

Not that Boozer or Brand or Maggette have been busts, but I think the Duke label added some extra polish and exposure to them that might not have otherwise been there. IIRC, William Avery has been the only huge bust for Duke recently.

[LA Muskie]

I heard that after Maggette and Avery left against Coach K's advice, he soured on players who were likely to be early entrants. But yes, he has quite a track record of identifying dominant college skill-sets.

Not that Boozer or Brand or Maggette have been busts, but I think the Duke label added some extra polish and exposure to them that might not have otherwise been there. IIRC, William Avery has been the only huge bust for Duke recently.
I agree about Boozer and Maggette, but Brand was the real-deal before his injury. During the game over the weekend the commentators noted that until his knee injury he was one of only 3 guys who consistently averaged 20 and 10. Shaq was one; can't remember who the other was. Although I like to think that it was him screwing over LA (and those few of us who were actually Clips fans) that did him in...

[smileyy]

IIRC, it was Shaq, Duncan and Garnett. Heady company indeed.

[Blue Blooded-05]

The link cites an article from another blog (82games.com) where they ranked school's draft picks from 1989-2008. There were 8 picks from X during that time (pre-Brown/Crawford): Hill, Strong, Grant, Braggs, Posey, West, Sato, Chalmers.

They list 1 Star, 3 Solid, 1 Role Player, 1 Deep Bench, 1 Bust, 1 Did Not Play

They didn't list the players so how do you think they ranked them?

- Star (West?)
- Solid (Grant, Hill, Posey?)
- Role Player (Strong?)
- Deep Bench (Braggs?)
- Bust (Chalmers??)
- DNP (Sato?)

They may have gone with Hill as the star as West really just started to become an All-Star around 2008. Guessing Chalmers as the bust pains me, as he is one of my all time favorite X players. Tough calling a 2nd round pick a bust but I gotta think it's him based on process of elimination as I don't think Sato ever suited up for the Spurs.

Darnell Williams didn't get drafed? He's a little before my X allegiance but didn't he average almost a double-double at X?

[danaandvictory]

Darnell Williams didn't get drafed? He's a little before my X allegiance but didn't he average almost a double-double at X?

Darnell's knees were completely shredded by the end of his XU career. A damn shame -- he had first round talent.

[smileyy]

Chalmers was the 33rd overall pick. You hope to get a role-player out of that, so yeah, I'd have to call Chalmers the worst performing of XU's draft picks.

[muskiefan82]

Was Aaron Williams picked up outside of the draft? That dude was at least a role player during his NBA days, if not solid.

[smileyy]

Yes, I believe Aaron Williams was undrafted and played in Europe and the CBA before making inroads to the NBA.

[dto]

and Marquette (mostly Dwyane Wade?).

Don't forget undrafted Wes Matthews, and his contributions to Utah last year and Portland this year. Also, Steve Novak has been a solid role player (aka 3 point specialist) for several years in the NBA.

Watch out for Jimmy Butler out of this class too. Great showing in Portland, and even if he goes undrafted, I guarantee he'll be a solid contributor on an NBA roster for years to come.