As a fan, I very much appreciate the NCAA tournament and its helter skelter sort of style.  I am more of a pro fan, however, and even when I'm watching the college game it's at least partially with an eye to what kinds of pro prospects the game will yield.  You do wonder to what extent NCAA tournament success correlates to NBA-level talent. 

 

A few years ago, Sports Illustrated wrote an article assessing NCAA teams' tournament chances by adding up how many pro prospects they had on the team.  My sense is, however, that the college game is so distinctly different that a bunch of pro prospects aren't needed as much as you might need a bunch of guys who can hit the three and are big enough to swarm in a zone against bigger players.  My feelings aside, I thought I'd look through all of the Final Four teams since the tournament was expanded to 64 teams for the 1984-85 seasons and see how many pro games each team ended up logging.

 

Of course examining how many pro games a college team would eventually accrue does not necessarily mean anything about how good a college team was.  Just because Duke had a freshman Corey Maggette playing 20 minutes off the bench does not mean they enjoyed a ton of production out of him.  Still, it's an interesting lens to look at these past teams.  Before giving the list,  here are a couple of caveats:  If the team still has active teams on an NBA roster during the 2006-07 season, I put the team in bold to indicate that they could still add to their totals.  Also, I did not give "NBA credits" to NBA level players who were injured all season or would eventually transfer and graduate from another school (this only really applies to Roderick Rhodes).  Without further do, here is the year-by-year Final Four list with the number of pro games for each team:

 

Year	Team	Pro Games
1984-85	Villanova	1,137
1984-85	Georgetown	2,695
1984-85	St. John's	3,265
1984-85	Memphis	1,057
1985-86	Louisville	971
1985-86	Duke	1,849
1985-86	LSU	450
1985-86	Kansas	1,357
1986-87	Indiana	171
1986-87	Syracuse	2,243
1986-87	UNLV	1,070
1986-87	Providence	423
1987-88	Kansas	977
1987-88	Oklahoma	2,110
1987-88	Duke	1,173
1987-88	Arizona	2,800
1988-89	Michigan	2,930
1988-89	Seton Hall	506
1988-89	Illinois	2,200
1988-89	Duke	2,109
1989-90	UNLV	2,465
1989-90	Duke	1,461
1989-90	Georgia Tech	1,627
1989-90	Arkansas	1,497
1990-91	Duke	1,825
1990-91	Kansas	137
1990-91	UNLV	2,627
1990-91	North Carolina	3,026
1991-92	Duke	2,440
1991-92	Michigan	2,926
1991-92	Indiana	1,707
1991-92	Cincinnati	1,524
1992-93	North Carolina	1,292
1992-93	Michigan	2,926
1992-93	Kansas	1,234
1992-93	Kentucky	1,156
1993-94	Arkansas	921
1993-94	Duke	1,235
1993-94	Arizona	1,253
1993-94	Florida	587
1994-95	UCLA	640
1994-95	Arkansas	921
1994-95	Oklahoma St.	395
1994-95	North Carolina	2,475
1995-96	Kentucky	3,678
1995-96	Syracuse	381
1995-96	Umass	607
1995-96	Miss. St.	725
1996-97	Arizona	1,523
1996-97	Kentucky	2,476
1996-97	North Carolina	1,564
1996-97	Minnesota	1,037
1997-98	Kentucky	1,479
1997-98	Utah	1,381
1997-98	Stanford	1,261
1997-98	North Carolina	2,000
1998-99	Uconn	1,007
1998-99	Duke	1,836
1998-99	Ohio State	459
1998-99	Michigan State	671
1999-00	Michigan State	1,100
1999-00	Florida	1,215
1999-00	Wisconsin	6
1999-00	North Carolina	461
2000-01	Duke	1,462
2000-01	Arizona	1,272
2000-01	Maryland	1,196
2000-01	Michigan State	953
2001-02	Maryland	1,057
2001-02	Indiana	301
2001-02	Kansas	973
2001-02	Oklahoma	0
2002-03	Syracuse	434
2002-03	Kansas	593
2002-03	Texas	405
2002-03	Marquette	308
2003-04	Uconn	679
2003-04	Georgia Tech	184
2003-04	Duke	733
2003-04	Oklahoma St.	408
2004-05	North Carolina	505
2004-05	Illinois	349
2004-05	Michigan State	94
2004-05	Louisville	135
2005-06	Florida	0
2005-06	UCLA	62
2005-06	George Mason	0
2005-06	LSU	69

 

Admittedly, the list is a little hard to process on a strictly year-by-year basis, so here is that same list set in order of least pro games to most pro games:

  <

Year	Team	Pro Games
2001-02	Oklahoma	0
2005-06	Florida	0
2005-06	George Mason	0
1999-00	Wisconsin	6
2005-06	UCLA	62
2005-06	LSU	69
2004-05	Michigan State	94
2004-05	Louisville	135
1990-91	Kansas	137
1986-87	Indiana	171
2003-04	Georgia Tech	184
2001-02	Indiana	301
2002-03	Marquette	308
2004-05	Illinois	349
1995-96	Syracuse	381
1994-95	Oklahoma St.	395
2002-03	Texas	405
2003-04	Oklahoma St.	408
1986-87	Providence	423
2002-03	Syracuse	434
1985-86	LSU	450
1998-99	Ohio State	459
1999-00	North Carolina	461
2004-05	North Carolina	505
1988-89	Seton Hall	506
1993-94	Florida	587
2002-03	Kansas	593
1995-96	Umass	607
1994-95	UCLA	640
1998-99	Michigan State	671
2003-04	Uconn	679
1995-96	Miss. St.	725
2003-04	Duke	733
1993-94