The NCAA tournament is here and if you’re anything like me, you’ll be tuning out the NBA for a little bit to focus on your bracket. However, just because the tournament is going on doesn’t mean amazing will stop happening.
Since most NBA rosters are comprised of former college stars, for this week’s power rankings we decided to tie college and the pros together for a special March Madness edition.
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1 | In case you forgot, Steph Curry was a prolific college player. But don’t worry Iowa, he’s no longer on Davidson. |
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2 | Paul Millsap is the only player in NCAA Division I men’s basketball history to lead the nation in rebounding for three seasons straight—the only three he played. Pretty shocking to think he was a second-round pick. |
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3 | LeBron James never went to college, but if he did, he likely would’ve gone to Ohio State. I mean, the man did celebrate the Buckeyes’ national football championship with the team this year. |
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4 | Tim Duncan has won just about everything a basketball player can win, with one notable exception: a national championship. Duncan was a star collegiate player at Wake Forest but probably still beats himself up for coming down with that flu that kept him out of the regional final in 1996. |
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5 | Damian Lillard is one of the rare NBA players to spend a full four years in college. His Weber State Wildcats didn’t make the tournament while he was there. If they had, he likely would’ve gone higher than sixth overall as the kid’s ability in the clutch would no doubt have shined on the largest stage in college hoops. |
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6 | Everyone knows about Vince Carter’s NBA slams, but he wasn’t too shabby in college, either. |
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7 | The Rockets feature a couple of players who have won National Championships in Jason Terry (1997) and Corey Brewer (2006, 2007). Both players starred for their respective teams (Arizona and Florida) on their way to collegiate glory. |
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8 | Believe it or not, Russell Westbrook started his collegiate career at UCLA as an energy guy backing up the much more polished Darren Collison. It wasn’t until Westbrook’s sophomore season—when Collison unfortunately got injured—that he was inserted as a starter. He ended up winning Pac-10 defensive player of the year. |
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9 | In his final season with Florida (his junior year), Chandler Parsons was named SEC player of the year—the first Gator to earn the honour—yet when it came time for the draft, he was taken in the second round. Jan Vesely was taken sixth. |
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10 | Few players have had better college careers than Anthony Davis. Even though he only spent one year at Kentucky, Davis was a consensus All-American, SEC and national freshman of the year, SEC and national player of the year, Final Four most outstanding player and national champion. |
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11 | Although he’s just a role player now, J.J. Redick was a bonafide college superstar at Duke, finishing his collegiate career as the ACC Tournament’s all-time leading scorer and getting his No. 4 retired. |
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12 | Pacers guard Rodney Stuckey’s Alma Mater Eastern Washington is in the tournament for just the second time in school history. Pretty cool. |
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13 | John Wall has come a long way from the player who first introduced himself at Big Blue Madness in 2009 with a dance that took the nation by storm. |
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14 | Five years later and I still can’t help thinking this Gordon Hayward half-court prayer is going down to win Butler the national title. |
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15 | In 2008, Derrick Rose’s Memphis Tigers reached the national championship game, only to fall to Mario Chalmers and Kansas. Unfortunately for the Tigers, that run has been vacated by the NCAA because Rose was retroactively forced to forfeit his eligibility after Educational Testing Service voided his SAT Reasoning Test. |
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16 | In 2013, a pair of Canadians (Kelly Olynyk and Kevin Pangos) helped the Gonzaga Bulldogs to a No. 1 seed and a legitimate shot at the Final Four. That team fell well short of its goal, but the 2015 Zags, as a No. 2 seed, could reach the Final Four thanks—once again—to a pair of Canadians who are getting national player of the year consideration: Pangos and Kyle Wiltjer. |
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17 | He may be a grinder now but when he was at North Carolina, Tyler Hansbrough was nigh-unstoppable—the ACC’s all-time leading scorer with 2,872 career points. |
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18 | With three Kentucky guys, two former Jayhawks and a pair of Tar Heels on the roster, the Suns’ locker room could get pretty interesting when the tournament starts. |
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19 | UConn missed out on the tournament this year, but Shabazz Napier made waves in 2014, both on and off the court. |
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20 | Not to air my biases or anything, but Kemba Walker is the greatest college basketball player ever. |
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21 | In the one year O.J. Mayo was with the USC Trojans, he played exceptionally well, averaging 20.7 points per game, and was the subject (along with Reggie Bush) of one of the most high-profile NCAA violations in recent memory. |
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22 | For better or worse, Kenneth Faried’s game really hasn’t changed very much from his starring days at Morehead State. |
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23 | You probably already know the NBA’s pair of Plumlees, but did you know there’s a third brother playing on Duke right now? Yup, Marshall Plumlee is in his junior year, though he doesn’t exactly look like an NBA prospect. |
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24 | Devyn Marble left a four-year college career as the fifth-leading scorer in Iowa history. He never got to play in tournament proper (Iowa lost to Tennessee in the First Four last year), but at least he’ll get to see his Hawkeyes play in it this year as the No. 7 seed of the South region. |
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25 | It’s been a rough rookie campaign for Canadian Nik Stauskas, so let’s look back and remember when he was at Michigan and completely awesome. |
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26 | During Kobe Bryant’s junior year of high school, he began attracting college recruiters, with Duke, North Carolina, Villanova and Michigan supposedly at the top of his list. Ah, what could have been. |
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27 | Remember all that discussion from last year’s college season about Andrew Wiggins lacking “killer instinct” and the “assertiveness” needed for NBA stardom? Hope those critics enjoy the taste of crow. |
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28 | Nerlens Noel, Joel Embiid and now maybe Jahlil Okafor? A third straight trip to the bottom of the tank could land the 76ers quite the collection of big-time college big men. |
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29 | The Pistons have two guys from the pre-Calipari Kentucky era in Jodie Meeks and Tayshaun Prince, both of whom were recruited by Tubby Smith. |
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30 | Just like Anthony Davis, Carmelo Anthony had the dream one-year college season. He’s still the same player that won it all for Syracuse in 2003, but a lot more refined. Unfortunately for him, though, one-man bands can’t win in the NBA. |
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