The Greatest College Players
Some of the greatest college players went on to become NBA superstars. Others didn't find as much success in the NBA, but fans still remember their biggest collegiate moments.
Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar)
Lew Alcindor, later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, won three consecutive championships at UCLA in 1967, 1968, and 1969. Freshmen were not allowed to play on varsity, but Lew was so dominating he led the freshmen team past the UCLA varsity, which was ranked No. 1 in the nation at the time. He was named NCAA tournament Most Valuable Player all three years he was eligible and was the first winner of the Nai-smith College Player of the Year award in 1969.
College Copies
There are a lot of college basketball players with very similar skills. Sometimes they're so close it's hard to tell them apart! Can you see the 10 differences here?
Why did the chicken cross the basketball court?He heard the referee calling fowls!
Bill Russell
Bill Russell would go on to become one of the great players of all time, but coming out of high school he only got one letter recruiting him. It was from a local school, the University of San Francisco. Bill arrived as a diamond in the rough and immediately became a defensive standout. He led San Francisco to 55 straight wins, including the 1955 and 1956 national championships.
FUN FACTS
Bill once blocked 13 shots in a game. For his career, he averaged an eye-popping 20.7 points and 20.3 rebounds.
Bill Bradley
Though he originally committed to Duke, Bill Bradley opted instead to go to Princeton University for an Ivy League education. The 6 foot 5 inch Bill was a three-time All-American and scored 58 points in an NCAA tournament win over Wichita State in 1965. Bill went on to become a U.S. Senator and was a candidate for the Democratic Presidential nomination.
TIP - IN
When Bill was running against Al Gore for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 2000, he received the endorsement of His Airness himself — Michael Jordan.
Pete Maravich
Louisiana State University had a scorer in Pete Maravich. No one had scored more points than Pete when he left college with 3,667 points, despite the fact that he'd only played three years because freshmen were not eligible. In 83 college games, Pete averaged 44.2 points a game and led the NCAA in scoring three times.
FUN FACTS
The first televised college game was the game that ended the nation's longest winning streak. UCLA had won 47 games in a row when it fell to Houston in 1969.
Jerry West
Jerry West put the eyes of the nation on West Virginia when he played for the Mountaineers, leading the team to the 1959 NCAA Finals as a junior and earning the tournament's MVP award — even though his team lost. He played 1958–1960, and in his final year averaged 29.3 points and 16.5 rebounds a game and recorded 134 assists for the season.
Elvin Hayes
Elvin Hayes was one of the first African American players for the University of Houston. Elvin led Houston to the NCAA Final Four in 1967, scoring 25 points and grabbing 24 rebounds in a semifinal loss to eventual champ UCLA. The following year, Houston and UCLA played each other in the first nationally televised college basketball game, in which Elvin scored 39 points, recorded 15 rebounds, and kept Lew Alcindor to just 15 points.
Jerry Lucas Jerry Lucas turned down
Jerry Lucas turned down basketball powerhouse Kentucky to go to Ohio State University; he was from nearby Middletown and earned an academic scholarship to Ohio State. The Buckeyes went 78-6 in his three years of varsity play. Jerry directed Ohio State to three finals, including the national championship in 1960, and became the only player to ever score 30 points and have 30 rebounds in the same game.
Christian Laettner
Christian Laettner will always be known for his buzzer-beating shot from the top of the key to beat Kentucky in the 1992 NCAA East regional. Christian played in four consecutive Final Fours for Duke University and still has the record of having played in 23 NCAA tournament games. He owns the records in the NCAA tournament for most points scored (407) and most free throws made (142).
Team Effort
Here's a new team, but it doesn't have a name yet. Can you figure out which is the correct one? It must have:
at least one S
at least one I
at least one B
only one word with two syllables
David Thompson
David Thompson led North Carolina State to a perfect 27-0 season in 1973 when the team was not eligible for the NCAA tournament. The next year, he came back and led the Wolfpack to the NCAA title, beating defending champ UCLA. David and teammate Monte Towe are largely credited with inventing the alley-oop, where the ball is passed to someone in mid-flight and dunked. Called an idol by no less than Michael Jordan, David's jersey number 44 is the only one retired by NC State.
FUN FACTS
Michael called David his favorite player growing up. David was a Number 1 draft pick of both the ABA and NBA, but signed with the Denver Nuggets of the ABA.
Oscar Robertson
Oscar Robertson averaged 33.8 points per game at the University of Cincinnati, the third highest in college history. In three varsity seasons, Cincinnati was 79-9 and made the Final Four twice. Oscar set 19 school records and 14 NCAA records.
WORDS TO KNOW
A win streak is how many victories in a row a team has. A losing streak is the number of defeats in a row a team has suffered.
Bill Walton
Bill Walton was a big force for UCLA from 1971 to 1974, leading the team to back-to-back NCAA titles in 1972 and 1973. In the 1973 title game win over Memphis, Bill made 21 of 22 shots from the field and scored 44 of UCLA's 87 points, which is widely regarded as the best single-game title performance of all time. Bill was also a key figure during UCLA's record 88-game win streak.
