NBA will locate talent even if it is in Timbuktu

If you want to play for a national title, go to North Carolina.

That's a good way to get a championship.

If you want to play on national television, go to Kentucky.

That's a good way to get on TV.

Eric Maynor was drafted in the first round despite playing at little VCU. (AP)

But what Thursday night's NBA Draft proved -- once again -- is that the best and quickest way to David Stern's league isn't necessarily through the best and biggest conferences. Oh sure, that's one of the recruiting pitches BCS-affiliated coaches use, and I'd probably use it too if I were them. But whether it was Stephen Curry (from the Southern Conference) or Eric Maynor (from the Colonial) or some dude from another country few of us have ever seen, the reminder from Madison Square Garden was that the NBA will find you if you can play, and it doesn't really matter where you play.

Do most NBA Draft picks come from power conferences?

Of course.

But only because that's where most of the top recruits sign -- point being that DeMar DeRozan would've been a pro whether he played at Southern California or Southern Idaho. His school mattered little if it mattered at all, because talented dudes who can play have no problem getting discovered regardless of location.

"I think the NBA is now searching everywhere for anyone and anybody," Davidson coach Bob McKillop said by phone. "No matter what label a kid has on him, if he can play the game and help teams win games at the NBA level, they're going to take him."

Take Curry, for instance.

As you know, he was not a highly regarded recruit (Scout.com ranked him as the 36th-best point guard in the Class of 2006, right between D.J. Rivera and Bryan Beasley). Consequently, the ACC passed. So Curry committed to Davidson in September 2005, and a little more than a year later he dropped 30 on Maryland in the NCAA tournament.

Year after that, he put 40 on Gonzaga and nearly led Davidson to the Final Four.

Year after that, he was a consensus All-American.

And now he's a millionaire.

"It's like that great actor or great singer who gets that one opportunity to be on a Broadway stage," McKillop said while explaining how Curry took advantage of the massive role at Davidson that he might never have gotten at a bigger school. "It may not be a hit Broadway show, but you're [the lead] on a Broadway stage, and he certainly capitalized on that. And I'm sure he's [asked himself]: 'If I had gone to an ACC school, would I be where I am now? Or an SEC school? Or a Big East school?' A lot's to be said for the role you play. You can be in the chorus or you can be the lead singer. You can be one of the dancers or you can be thedancer."

McKillop paused for a second.

"Stephen was the dancer," he added. "And the singer and the orchestra leader."

Indeed, he was.

And you can actually make the case that Curry benefited from playing that role at Davidson -- as opposed to another role at UCLA or Connecticut or North Carolina -- because it allowed him to perform in a way that might not have been possible had he been sharing a spotlight with somebody like Darren Collison or A.J. Price or Ty Lawson. Was that the key to Curry's rise? Of course not. The key was and is that he's a great talent. But the point is that unless you are really tall (like B.J. Mullens) and/or highly rated coming out of high school (like Jrue Holiday), there's almost a zero percent chance that you'll become an NBA prospect unless you perform on the court, and the best way to ensure you perform on the court is to make sure you're on the court.

That's why Davidson worked for Curry.

He immediately got on the court.

He immediately showed he's a special talent.

And it didn't matter that he was barely on TV through his first two years of college (except for the NCAA tournament) or that he didn't "do it every night" in the Big 12 or Pac-10. All that mattered was that he performed when placed on a stage, at which point the NBA found him and made him a rich man.

"Just looking at how many rosters are dotted with players with International backgrounds indicates 'Have gun will travel,'" McKillop said. "They'll go anywhere they think they can get themselves a player, and I think Stephen's success is only going to encourage them more."