North Carolina lost in this year's national title game (in epic, unprecedented fashion), but the good news for Tar Heels fans: their school continues to be extremely well-represented in the NBA Playoffs.
It's why, according to so many college coaches we asked last summer, UNC is still a clear-cut top-three job in the the sport. The other two, Kentucky and Duke, of course, are also potently on postseason rosters in this year's NBA playoffs.
With the field of 16 officially set -- the playoffs begin on Saturday! -- I tallied up every roster to find out which colleges have the most former players in this year's NBA bracket. UNC is the big winner, with Duke, UCLA, Kansas and Kentucky not too, too far behind.
Here are the schools with at least five players on 2016 NBA playoff rosters.
Vince Carter, an 18-year vet, seems a perfect icon for the graphic above. Carolina has the most players, and he's one of the all-time great Tar Heels. Seeing him still give it a good go with Memphis is pretty awesome, and he's had a tremendous run of longevity.
So who are the 13 Carolina alums still playing this season?
Memphis: Carter, Brandan Wright, P.J. Hairston
Golden State: Harrison Barnes and James Michael McAdoo
Charlotte: Tyler Hansbrough, Marvin Williams
San Antonio: Danny Green
Indiana: Ty Lawson
Dallas: Raymond Felton
Detroit: Reggie Bullock
Portland: Ed Davis
Boston: Tyler Zeller
How about Wake Forest? Five is a little surprising. You've got Tim Duncan (Spurs) and Chris Paul (Clippers) of course, but the other three: Al-Farouq Aminu (Trail Blazers), Jeff Teague (Hawks), James Johnson (Raptors).
Memphis is the team with the most players on the same roster who went to the same college. And it has two examples of that. There are the three UNC alums, plus Jordan Adams, Matt Barnes and Jordan Farmar, all of whom went to UCLA.
Portland and Detroit are the only two playoffs teams whose rosters entirely consist of players that spent time in college, though Trail Blazer Luis Montero went to Westchester Community College, not a D-I school. Detroit's roster is fully filled with former D-I players.
In terms of the schools with the most (projected) starters:
UCLA: 6
Texas: 5
UNC: 4
Duke: 4
Wake Forest: 4
Kansas: 3
Marquette: 3
The team with the most wins in college hoops history to not have a player on a 2016 NBA roster? BYU. The Cougars rank 12th in the sport's history. A few other notable programs without represenation this year: Purdue, West Virginia, Iowa, Wichita State. Otherwise, pretty much every program of note historically and as of the past few years has a least one guy on a playoff roster.
Of the 241 players on the end-of-season rosters for the 16 playoff teams, 40 of them did not attend college in the United States. That accounts for 16.6 percent.
Here's the bracket. I still like the look of a 64-team win-or-die, but this is always a nice, 24-course dessert after the thrill of March Madness.
The full tally:
- North Carolina 13
- Duke 9
- UCLA 9
- Kansas 8
- Kentucky 8
- Arizona 7
- Florida 7
- Texas 6
- Wake Forest 5
- Connecticut 4
- Michigan 4
- Washington 4
- Georgia Tech 3
- Marquette 3
- Michigan State 3
- Ohio State 3
- Syracuse 3
- Tennessee 3
- Utah 3
- Villanova 3
- Wisconsin 3
- Alabama 2
- Arizona State 2
- Arkansas 2
- California 2
- Colorado 2
- Creighton 2
- Fresno State 2
- Illinois 2
- Indiana 2
- Louisville 2
- LSU 2
- Oklahoma State 2
- Pittsburgh 2
- Saint Mary's 2
- Stanford 2
- USC 2
- VCU 2
- Virginia 2
- Washington State 2
- Western Kentucky 2
One apiece: Belmont, Blinn College, Boston College, Boston University, Bucknell, Central Michigan, Charleston, Cincinnati, Clemson, Davidson, Dayton, Detroit, Eastern Washington, Georgetown, Georgia, Georgia State, Gonzaga, Harvard, Houston, IUPUI, Kansas State, Lehigh, Louisiana Tech, Marshall, Maryland, Miami, Minnesota, Missouri, Murray State, Nevada, North Carolina State, Northeastern, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Old Dominion, Oregon, Providence, Rhode Island, Rider, San Diego State, St. John's, Temple, Texas A&M, UNLV, Vanderbilt, Weber State, Westchester CC, Western Carolina, Western Michigan, Xavier.
And! For all things NBA Playoffs, absolutely be sure to follow our team on Twitter: Matt Moore, Zach Harper, James Herbert and Ananth Pandian.
