For the past two weeks, we've been working our westward, and reviewing the best NBA players since 1980 from each of the six major NCAA conferences. Today, we reach the last leg of our NCAA tour, the PAC 10.  Without having reviewed the rosters yet, we do know that UCLA and Arizona should have the most formidable line ups.  Of course, may not be so simple.  Let's take a look and see how the PAC shakes out: 10. Washington State: PG: Craig Ehlo, SG: Don Collins, SF: Brian Quinnett, PF: … [Read more...] about Best of the Pac 10, NBA Style

March Madness is almost done and we are down to our last two major conference reviews.  As you may recall, we are looking at the starting fives for each college based upon pro accomplishments since 1980s.  Today we take a look at the Big 12 nee Big 8.  Given the haphazard way this conference was put together, it correctly seems to be among the weaker we have seen so far.  Still, they have some famous programs to review.  Let's take a look: Texas Tech: PG: Geoff Huston, SG: Jeff Taylor, … [Read more...] about Best of the Big 12, NBA Style

Onto part four of our NCAA-to-pro review.  Today we look at the Big Ten.  Much has been made of the pros pumped out of Michigan in the 1990s and the Michigan State in the early 2000s but are there any other pros of note here?  Let's take a look: 11. Northwestern: PG: Billy McKinney, SG: None, SF: None, PF: None, C: Evan Eschmeyer 10. Penn State: PG: Joe Crispin, SG: Tom Hovasse, SF: Frank Brickowski, PF: Calvin Booth, C: John Amaechi 9. Wisconsin: PG: Wes Matthews, SG: Devin … [Read more...] about Best of the Big Ten, NBA Style

As promised, here is the third part of our college programs by conference.  The standard of our review can be found here.  Today, we look at the SEC, another large two-part conference.  Who is number one here?  In the ACC and Big East, the big names were clear.  Here I don't really have much of a guess, except possibly LSU (thank you, Shaq) and Kentucky or maybe a surprise team.  So, let's take a look and see: 12. Ole Miss: PG: Elston Turner, SG: Carlos Clark, SF: Gerald Glass, PF: Ansu … [Read more...] about Best of the SEC, NBA Style

In furtherance of our best NBA pros by NCAA major conference we turn now to the ACC.  Just a reminder, the guidelines can be found here.  Anyway, here's the ACC list: 12. Miami: PG: Guillermo Diaz, SG: John Salmons, SF: James Jones, PF: Tim James, C: Tito Horford 11. Virginia Tech: PG: Bimbo Coles, SG: Dell Curry, SF: Perry Young, PF: Allen Bristow, C: Wayne Robinson 10. Boston College: PG: Michael Adams, SG: Dana Barros, SF: Jared Dudley, PF: Craig Smith, C: Sean Williams 9. … [Read more...] about Best of the ACC, NBA Style

NCAA tourney time is upon the world of hoops.  I won't use this time to talk about the NBA game versus the NCAA game (I like them both).  Nor am I going to give you my predictions for this year's brackets.  Instead, I thought we could look at the programs and the pros they have yielded.  With the help of Basketball-Reference.com we're going to go through the major programs and their best NBA starting five.  I did this several years ago but times have changed and this is always fun to … [Read more...] about Best of the Big East, NBA Style