2024 National Basketball Association Draft (June 26-27)
One NCAA Champ Produced Nine NBA Players,
And One Tar Heel Title Team Had 12 Future Pros
By David Glenn
North Carolina Sports Network
(NOTE: This is Part Four of a six-part NCAA/NBA series leading up to the June 26-27 NBA Draft; Part One can be found HERE, Part Two can be found HERE, and Part Three can be found HERE.)
Around the same time this initial research, 26 years ago, identified the powerful connection between signing and developing NBA-caliber talent and winning NCAA championships, two college teams came along and stood out in truly unprecedented ways.
The 1993 North Carolina Tar Heels, led by Hall of Fame coach Dean Smith, ultimately sent all 13 of their scholarship players into the professional basketball ranks. Five guys played in the NBA, one served as an assistant coach for 17 seasons in The League, and seven competed professionally in various other domestic and/or foreign leagues.
Dating to the first NCAA champion in 1939, that had never happened previously, and because international basketball records aren’t always comprehensive, it’s not clear if or how often it’s happened since then.
The 1996 Kentucky Wildcats, led by Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino, had a whopping nine future NBA players on their roster when they won it all. (No other NCAA champion has ever had more than seven, and a half-dozen had only one or two.) Six of those UK players became first-round NBA picks, a number matched by only Connecticut’s 2004 national championship team.
Kentucky was so loaded in 1996 (see the details below) that the player who ended up with the longest NBA career, freshman center and future first-round NBA selection Nazr Mohammed, averaged only five minutes per game that season. The Wildcats finished 34-2, 16-0 in the SEC regular season, and won their six NCAA Tournament games by an average of 21.5 points.
The 1996 Wildcats’ top five scorers — Tony Delk, Antoine Walker, Walter McCarty, Derek Anderson and Ron Mercer — each spent at least eight seasons in the NBA. Walker became a three-time all-star.
The 1993 Tar Heels made history in different ways.
They, too, dominated during their championship season, with a 34-4 record, a 14-2 conference mark and a first-place finish in the ACC. They won their six NCAA Tournament games by an average of 15.7 points, although their Elite Eight win over Cincinnati went to overtime, and their 77-71 championship game victory over Michigan was famously in doubt until the final 11 seconds.
While the 1993 UNC team actually had much less of an “NBA factor” (see below) than, say, Carolina’s absolutely star-studded title teams of 1982, 2005 or 2009, it somehow managed to send every single scholarship player into the professional basketball ranks.
Only two players from the 1993 team, center Eric Montross and forward George Lynch, became NBA draft picks and had significant careers at that level. (Both were first-round selections.) While their NBA stays were brief, backup centers Kevin Salvadori and Matt Wenstrom and starting point guard Derrick Phelps also spent some time in The League before playing more extensively in the minor leagues and/or internationally.
Forward Pat Sullivan, now a UNC assistant coach, spent 17 seasons in the NBA as an assistant before joining Hubert Davis’ staff in Chapel Hill.
Amazingly, the other seven scholarship players ultimately joined the pro basketball ranks, too, playing in dozens of leagues scattered literally all over the world.
Guard Donald Williams, the Most Outstanding Player of the 1993 NCAA Tournament, played professionally in Austria, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, and the Philippines, in addition to stints with the Harlem Globetrotters, the International Basketball League and what is now called the NBA’s G League.
Guard Henrik Rodl, who started 26 games in 1992-93 before yielding more minutes to Williams late in the season, became a superstar in his native Germany, winning seven German League championships and earning league MVP honors during an 11-year career with ALBA Berlin, which retired his number.
Starting small forward Brian Reese played in England, Finland, France, Iceland and Taiwan. Guard Dante Calabria played in France, Greece, Italy and Spain. Guard Scott Cherry played one season in Cyprus. Guard Larry Davis, who finished his college career at South Carolina, played professionally in Belgium, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Israel, South Korea, Spain and Venezuela. Forward Ed Geth played in Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Sweden.
The 1993 Tar Heels also ultimately produced 11 basketball coaches. In addition to Sullivan, Calabria, Cherry, Davis, Geth, Lynch, Phelps, Reese, Rodl, Salvadori and Williams all became coaches (high school, college and/or pro) after their playing careers, and many remain in that profession today.
Montross, of course, was UNC basketball’s radio color commentator from 2005-23, after Mick Mixon left the Tar Heels to become the play-by-play voice of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers. Montross died in December after a battle with cancer.
TOP-30 NBA PICKS ON NCAA CHAMPIONS
(1990-99)
(NOTE: Our previous articles outlined this detailed information on the NCAA champions from 1955-69, 1970-79 and 1980-89.)
—1999 UConn—
Head Coach: Jim Calhoun
Starters Who Became Top-30 NBA Picks (1): junior G Richard Hamilton (#7)
Backups Who Became Top-30 NBA Picks (0): none
NBA Players/Games (3/1,557): Hamilton (1,051), junior C Jake Voskuhl (456), sophomore PG Khalid El-Amin (50)
—1998 Kentucky—
Head Coach: Tubby Smith
Starters Who Became Top-30 NBA Picks (2): junior F Scott Padgett (#28), junior C Nazr Mohammed (#29)
Backups Who Became Top-30 NBA Picks (2): freshman C Michael Bradley (#17), sophomore C Jamaal Magloire (#19)
NBA Players/Games (6/2,496): Mohammed (1,093), Magloire (726), Padgett (478), Bradley (174), senior G Jeff Sheppard (22), junior G Wayne Turner (3)
—1997 Arizona—
Head Coach: Lute Olson
Starters Who Became Top-30 NBA Picks (3): freshman PG Mike Bibby (#2), sophomore G Jason Terry (#10), junior F Michael Dickerson (#14)
Backups Who Became Top-30 NBA Picks (0): none
NBA Players/Games (5/2,869): Terry (1,534), Bibby (1,106), Dickerson (216), sophomore C AJ Bramlett (8), junior G Miles Simon (5)
—1996 Kentucky—
Head Coach: Rick Pitino
Starters Who Became Top-30 NBA Picks (5): freshman F Ron Mercer (#6), sophomore F Antoine Walker (#6), junior F Derek Anderson (#13), senior G Tony Delk (#16), senior F Walter McCarty (#19)
Backups Who Became Top-30 NBA Picks (1): freshman C Nazr Mohammed (#29)
NBA Players/Games (9/4,560): Mohammed (1,093), Walker (957), Anderson (639), McCarty (639), Delk (598), Mercer (443), senior C Mark Pope (166), junior G Jeff Sheppard (22), freshman PG Wayne Turner (3)
—1995 UCLA—
Head Coach: Jim Harrick
Starters Who Became Top-30 NBA Picks (2): senior F Ed O’Bannon (#9), senior C George Zidek (#22)
Backups Who Became Top-30 NBA Picks (0): none
NBA Players/Games (6/655): senior PG Tyus Edney (232), Zidek (135), Ed O’Bannon (128), freshman F Toby Bailey (78), sophomore F Charles O’Bannon (52), freshman F JR Henderson (30)
—1994 Arkansas—
Head Coach: Nolan Richardson
Starters Who Became Top-30 NBA Picks (1): sophomore F Corliss Williamson (#13)
Backups Who Became Top-30 NBA Picks (0): none
NBA Players/Games (3/994): Williamson (888), junior PG Corey Beck (94), junior G Clint McDaniel (12)
—1993 North Carolina—
Head Coach: Dean Smith
Starters Who Became Top-30 NBA Picks (2): junior C Eric Montross (#9), senior F George Lynch (#12)
Backups Who Became Top-30 NBA Picks (0): none
NBA Players/Games (5/1,370): Lynch (836), Montross (481), junior C Kevin Salvadori (39), senior C Matt Wenstrom (11), junior PG Derrick Phelps (3)
—1992 Duke—
Head Coach: Mike Krzyzewski
Starters Who Became Top-30 NBA Picks (3): sophomore F Grant Hill (#3), senior C Christian Laettner (#3), junior PG Bobby Hurley (#7)
Backups Who Became Top-30 NBA Picks (2): freshman F Cherokee Parks (#12), sophomore F Antonio Lang* (#29)
NBA Players/Games (6/2,939): Hill (1,065), Laettner (913), Parks (479), Hurley (270), Lang (144), senior F Brian Davis (68)
—1991 Duke—
Head Coach: Mike Krzyzewski
Starters Who Became Top-30 NBA Picks (3): freshman F Grant Hill (#3), junior C Christian Laettner (#3), sophomore PG Bobby Hurley (#7)
Backups Who Became Top-30 NBA Picks (1): freshman F Antonio Lang* (#29)
NBA Players/Games (5/2,460): Hill (1,065), Laettner (913), Hurley (270), Lang (144), junior F Brian Davis (68)
—1990 UNLV—
Head Coach: Jerry Tarkanian
Starters Who Became Top-30 NBA Picks (3): junior F Larry Johnson (#1), junior F Stacey Augmon (#9), junior PG Greg Anthony (#12)
Backups Who Became Top-30 NBA Picks (0): none
NBA Players/Seasons (3/2,710): Augmon (1,078), Anthony (859), Johnson (773)
*-not a “first-round” pick (NBA draft didn’t have 30 picks/round until 2004)
Next Time: Much more on this NCAA champion/NBA draft connection. Thanks for reading!
