Study: Schools with most early NBA entries in one-and-done era

We've got the 15 biggest spots where players leave before graduating -- in pursuit of the NBA dream.

By Matt Norlander

Apr 28, 2014 at 2:25 pm ET • 2 min read

Between Memphis and UK, John Calipari's recruited more than 25 underclassmen to the NBA. (USATSI)

Latest in hoops: NBA Early Entries | Latest News | Coaching Changes

With the NBA's official early entry deadline having come and gone, we now know which players are in it for good.

Click here to see which underclassmen will never wear a college basketball uniform again.

A big ongoing debate at the NBA level is of course the discourse over the age-limit rule. It's been set since the 2006 NBA Draft that no player can enter the league unless they are 19 years old or one year removed from college. There remains a good possibility that bylaw will be changed to 20 years old/two years out of high school when the NBA negotiates a new collective bargaining agreement with the Players Association for 2017.

College basketball has benefited because of the rule; more good/great players haven't been able to go right to the pros, so college hoops has seen plenty of stars swing in for a year or two -- or three. Since this rule has been in place -- and this is year No. 8 -- I wanted to see which schools have sent the most underclassmen to the pros. Or at least tried to. This is not a list of which schools have birthed the most NBA picks. It's only a look at those who left school early.

Each year we see a healthy crop of undrafted prospects who received bad advice and opted to exit college too early. But most who choose to bounce before graduation are making the right decision -- at the most popular places to school-and-scoot.

So here are the 15 programs that have sent the most freshmen/sophomores/juniors to early entry. I've also included their win percentage over the past eight seasons/the age-limit era.

As you'll see, a lot of these players wound up making the right choice. Most were drafted, and a healthy dollop are still earning an NBA paycheck. The most confounding program in the group: has to be USC. And it's no surprise that the Trojans have the worst win percentage of any of these teams and have the most inconsistent batch of players post-college.

And note that any players currently on a D-League roster qualify as a "no" for being active in NBA.