While college basketball blue bloods Duke and Kentucky are unsurprisingly tops in the sport in procuring and producing NBA talent, other mainstays in the college game have had their fair share of representation taken at the next level.
With the NBA Draft looming on Thursday, ESPN recently devised a system to rank the top 10 college programs in the country that produce the most potentially impactful NBA players. By giving a score to each player selected in the past 10 NBA drafts (the first pick is given a score of 60 and each player taken after has his score decrease by one), a ranking system was devised to determine the top programs.
Syracuse came in at No. 5 on that list behind Kentucky, Duke, Kansas and North Carolina, respectively. Interestingly enough, those also happen to be the five winningest programs in college basketball (by win total).
That, and other Syracuse-related links below.
Ranking colleges that produce the most potentially impactful NBA players (ESPN)
For a five-year stretch, the Orange produced a first-round pick every year. Over the past decade, SU had a first-round pick every year except 2011 and 2018. During that span, the future draftees led Cuse to two Final Fours. Syracuse has also produced three top-10 picks during this time period (Johnson, Waiters and Jonny Flynn).
Four schools working hardest for 2020 forward Noah Collier (ZagsBlog)
“I’m really close with their staff as well, I like them a lot. They came down to Westtown a couple times, probably a month or so ago, just to talk really. They like me a lot. It’s a great campus, great atmosphere, and that’s really their biggest pitch. It’s awesome there, has great history, and they have a great history with people like me.”
Syracuse women’s basketball gets foe for ACC-Big Ten challenge (Syracuse.com)
The Syracuse women’s basketball team will travel to Michigan as part of the ACC/Big Ten Women’s Basketball Challenge next season
NBA rumors: Will Carmelo Anthony sign with Lakers, join LeBron James and Anthony Davis? (NJ.com)
Anthony is the sort of player that would likely sign for minimum contract, and there’s been rumors tying the former Knicks star to James and the Lakers since his disastrous stint with the Houston Rockets last year.
How Syracuse football DE commit Leon Lowery exploded onto recruiting scene, chose SU (Syracuse.com)
John Wildhack “On The Block” 6-14 (ESPN Radio Syracuse)
Frank Howard works out for Cleveland Cavaliers (twitter)
Arinze Onuaku launches website (aostudio21.com)
ESPN Just Decided to Stop Sponsoring Sportswriting’s Most Prestigious Prize. Why? (The Ringer)