In my last post I noted that the longer NBA players are in college, the less they offer in the NBA. Today it is a different question. Which universities are turning out the most productive NBA players?
The NBA drafted players from 346 different institutions of higher learning from 1978 to 2010. See this spreadsheet for the full list.
Below is a list of the top 10 schools in wins produced. As one can see, NBA players from the University of North Carolina and UCLA produced over 200 more wins than players from any other college since 1978.
1. University of North Carolina: 54 players produced 1285.8 wins
You were expecting someone else?
- Most productive alum: Michael Jordan with 284.2 wins produced
- Least productive alum: Joe Wolf with -17.7 wins produced
2. University of California, Los Angeles: 65 players produced 1052.5 wins
Miller time.
- Most productive alum: Reggie Miller with 161.3 wins produced
- Least productive alum: Ryan Hollins with -7.4 wins produced
3. Duke University: 38 players produced 826.5 wins
If not for the Pistons he coulda been a contender.
- Most productive alum: Grant Hill with 137.9 wins produced
- Least productive alum: Bobby Hurley with -5.2 wins produced
4. Michigan State University: 26 players produced 759.5 wins
Magic Johnson was worth about four players.
- Most productive alum: Magic Johnson with 303.2 wins produced
- Least productive alum: Mateen Cleaves with -3.0 wins produced
5. University of Houston: 21 players produced 724.6 wins
Houston's Dream #1 Pick and Robinson's Nightmare.
- Most productive alum: Hakeem Olajuwon with 262.6 wins produced
- Least productive alum: Andre Owens with -0.7 wins produced
6. Georgetown University: 25 players produced 721.6 wins
Rejected!
- Most productive alum: Dikembe Mutombo with 221.3 wins produced
- Least productive alum: John Duren with -5.5 wins produced
7. University of Arizona: 39 players produced 570 wins
A.I who?
- Most productive alum: Andre Iguodala with 91.7 wins produced
- Least productive alum: Larry Demic with -3.4 wins produced
8. Clemson University: 13 players produced 568.8 wins
See Cleveland it's not so bad.
- Most productive alum: Larry Nance with 155.6 wins produced
- Least productive alum: Sharone Wright with -5.4 wins produced
9. University of Nevada-Las Vegas: 29 players produced 561.6 wins
Finally a title and a spot on a top ten list!
- Most productive alum: Shawn Marion with 184.4 wins produced
- Least productive alum: Elmore Spencer with -5.1 wins produced
10. Wake Forest University: 20 players produced 547.1 wins
Just happy to be here.
- Most productive alum: Tim Duncan with 251.8 wins produced
- Least productive alum: Darius Songaila with -4.9 wins produced
Summing Up
Let me close with a few more observations…
The stats required to calculate wins produced only go back to 1978. The first eight seasons for the career of UCLA’s best alum in the NBA, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, were not included in this analysis. That’s why Kareem is not the most productive UCLA alum since 1978. See this spreadsheet for the full list of alumni for each school in the top 10.
Traditional basketball powerhouses, Kentucky and Kansas, placed the third and fourth-highest number of players in the NBA after UCLA and UNC, but only rank 15th and 18th in wins produced (of course, if Wilt Chamberlain from Kansas could be included, Kansas might be ranked a bit higher).
No Kentucky Wildcat produced more than 100 wins in the NBA since 1978. Rajon Rondo is the all-time leader with 65 wins produced.
Paul Pierce is the all-time leader in wins produced for Kansas Jayhawks with 157.9 wins produced but no other alum produced more than 50 wins.
University of Houston is the only school in the top 10 with two alumni that produced more than 200 wins in their careers; Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler (222.9 wins produced). The next closest school is Georgetown with Mutombo and Patrick Ewing (172.2 wins produced).
Clemson powered its way into the top 10 with three power forwards that produced more than 100 wins each: Larry Nance, Horace Grant (142 wins produced) and Dale Davis (120.8 wins produced).
Tim Duncan and Chris Paul combined to produce 368.2 wins (fifth-highest of any duo in the top 10) to land Wake Forest among the top schools.
Now that we know which colleges produced the most wins, the next question is whether the NBA overpaid for the college education of those players. That issue will be addressed in a future post.
-Mosi (check out more from Mosi Platt at the Miami Heat Index)
Wages of Wins Journal 
Mark Wasiljew
July 18, 2011
would love to see this done by coach – who’s recruiting and developing the best professional players?
Jason Buckner
July 18, 2011
As an anti-Pac 10/ west coast basektball guy I find it unsurprising the 3 west coast teams rank at the bottom of this list in avg wins per player. Arizona had 39 guys in the league and Iguadola is their greatest contribution in the last 33 years?!?!
Michael Farrell
July 18, 2011
Something seems amiss here. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is credited with 273 win shares yet Reggie Miller is listed here as top UCLA alum with less than 200 win shares. What gives?
(Editor’s Note: Michael caught himself with “doh! sorry missed the summing up.” I would note Win Shares and Wins Produced aren’t quite the same and Win Shares gives a bigger team adjustment. That said it goes without saying that Kareem was a much better player than Reggie Miller)
mosiplatt
July 18, 2011
@wasiljew:
Thanks for the suggestion. Assessing development would be tougher than identifying the great college recruiters. We don’t have currently have college coaches in the dataset, but we have our eyes on a potentially good source for college hoops data. I’ll keep you posted if we make any progress on that front.
mosiplatt
July 18, 2011
@JasBuckner:
LOL! I wholeheartedly agree! Arizona had 10 players on NBA rosters at the beginning of the 2011 season. Last year, Arizona reported $115,400 operating expenses per player to the federal Department of Education ($5.8 million total, see http://wagesofwins.net/2011/03/26/wages-of-wins-network-weekend-podcast/).
If Iguodala’s the best they can do, I don’t know if that’s money well spent.
Dre
July 18, 2011
@Mosiplatt,
Iggy is an awesome player on a mediocre franchise. Most teams could use a player like him, the Heat being an odd case of having a better SG and SF already.
James
July 18, 2011
@JasonBuckner: As a pro Pac-10 guy, I am excited that there are so many under-25 Pac-10 guys are productive in the NBA now (e.g., Kevin Love, Landry Fields, James Harden,Russell Westbrook, Jrue Holiday, Ryan Anderson, Darren Collison, Luc Mbah a Moute, and Chase Budinger). Also, the high averages that a lot of these schools have are generally the result of one great player.
mosiplatt
July 19, 2011
@James:
To the Pac-10’s credit, they did manage to edge out Kansas & Kentucky – which was expected of UCLA but is no small feat for Arizona.