Former Gophers great Bobby Jackson was a first round pick in 1997 and went on to have a very nice NBA career.
The 2014 NBA Draft will be held Thursday and it is expected that no Minnesota Golden Gopher will be drafted for the tenth straight year. There has not been a former Gopher selected since Kris Humphries was the 14th pick by the Utah Jazz in 2004.
Minnesota had a strong run of players drafted in the 90’s. Willie Burton was the ninth overall pick by Miami after being named the Orlando Classic MVP in 1990.
Kevin Lynch was the first pick in the second round by the Charlotte Hornets in 1991. Voshon Lenard was a second round pick by Milwaukee in 1994, but decided to return for his senior season.
Seniors Bobby Jackson, who was the 23rd pick by Seattle and traded on draft night and John Thomas was chosen 25th by New York in the 1997 NBA Draft.
The Gophers’ run of producing first round picks continued as Sam Jacobson was the 26th pick by the Los Angeles Lakers in 1998, Quincy Lewis was the 19th selection by Utah in 1999 and Joel Przybilla was the ninth overall choice by Houston Rockets in 2000.
Those players were all seniors except Pzybilla, but Rick Rickert reversed the trend when he left Minnesota after his sophomore season and was selected in the second round by the hometown Timberwolves.
Many Gopher fans wonder when the next Minnesota player will be drafted in the NBA. There is not a sure-fire NBA prospect on the roster, but head coach Richard Pitino and his staff are looking to upgrade the talent level on the team.
The Big Ten has produced 34 draft picks since Minnesota’s last draftee. Ohio State, which has had at least one players selected in the last seven drafts, leads all Big Ten schools with nine draftees in the past nine years. Illinois, Indiana and Michigan State have had five players picked during that time. Purdue has four players selected and Michigan has three.
Nebraska, Northwestern and Penn State have not had a player drafted in the past nine years. Ironically, all three schools had their most recent draftee selected in the second round in the 1999 NBA draft.
The following is a look at Big Ten teams draftees from 2000-04 (the last years a Gopher was drafted) and from 2005-13.
2000-04, 2005-13
Draftees Draftees
Illinois 3 5
Indiana 3 5
Iowa 0 1
Michigan 2 3
Michigan State 6 5
Minnesota 3 0
Nebraska 0 0
Northwestern 0 0
Ohio State 3 9
Penn State 0 0
Purdue 1 4
Wisconsin 1 2
The question is similar to what comes first, the chicken or the egg. Do colleges produce NBA talent because they get better players or do the better players typically go to schools that produce the most NBA Draft picks?
Kentucky has had 17 players drafted by the NBA in the past four years, including 13 first round selections, which has caused many top prospects to land in Lexington.
Minnesota is tied for sixth among Big Ten schools with Purdue with 19 top two round selections since 1957. That number is less than half of the Big Ten leading Indiana, which has 39 top two round picks. However, Minnesota’s 19 is more than Wisconsin (10), Nebraska (5), Northwestern (2) and Penn State (1) combined.
The following is a look at the Big Ten players drafted in the first two rounds and overall selections since 1957.
Top 2 Round Total
Selections
Illinois 23 58
Indiana 39 60
Iowa 17 44
Michigan 29 60
Michigan State 29 51
Minnesota 19 43
Nebraska 5 20
Northwestern 2 23
Ohio State 28 44
Penn State 1 9
Purdue 19 39
Wisconsin 10 28
The Big Ten may have had the best rookie class of any conference this past season. The conference had four players drafted in the first round in Indiana’s Victor Oladipo (second) and Cody Zeller (fourth), Trey Burke (ninth) and Tim Hardaway Jr. (24th) of Michigan. There were only four rookies who averaged double figures and three of those players were from the Big Ten.
Oladipo finished second among first year players with 13.8 points per game, behind NBA Rookie of the Year, who averaged 16.7 points. Burke, who was drafted by Minnesota and dealt to Utah, scored 12.8 points per game after starting the season on the injured list and Tim Hardaway Jr. added 10.2 points.
The three former Big Ten standouts were all named NBA’s First Team All-Rookie and Zeller, who averaged 6.0 points, was named second team All-Rookie.
The 2014 NBA draft will feature several Big Ten players such as Noah Vonleh of Indiana, Gary Harris and Adreian Payne of Michigan State, Nik Stauskas, Mitch McGary and Glenn Robinson of Michigan, who will hear their name announced Thursday night.
Vonleh is a projected top seven pick, who could go as high as the fourth selection. Harris and Stauskas are guards, who have been mentioned as possible Minnesota Timberwolves’ pick at 13. Payne is a late lottery or mid first round pick, while McGary and Robinson III are late first rounders or early second round selections.
Roy Devyn Marble of Iowa is a possible second rounder, while fellow seniors like Austin Hollins from Minnesota, Keith Appling of Michigan State and Ohio State’s Aaron Craft figure to go undrafted and will try to land a spot with a summer league team in Orlando or Las Vegas.
Minnesota fans are hoping that under head coach Richard Pitino that hearing a Gopher player’s name being drafted is a common occurrence, which can only help recruiting in the future.