No Pac-10 basketball team is ranked in the top 25 right now. But how different would that be if the Pac-10 Conference hadn’t lost the players it has to early entry in the NBA draft? Here’s a look at what Pac-10 teams would look like had those players stayed:
Player, grade they would be, what they are averaging in the NBA, NBA team
Arizona
Jordan Hill, Sr – 4.1 ppg, 2.7 rpg, Knicks
Chase Budinger, Sr – 8.2 ppg, 2.7 rpg, Rockets
Jerryd Bayless, Jr – 9.4 ppg, 2.4 apg, BlazersArizona State
James Harden, Jr – 9.7 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 2.1 apg, ThunderUCLA
Jrue Holiday, So – 5.2 ppg, 2.5 apg, 2.1 rpg, 76ers
Russell Westbrook, Sr – 16.1 ppg, 7.4 apg, 4.9 rpg, Thunder
Kevin Love, Jr – 15.4 ppg, 11.8 rpg, 2.6 apg, TimberwolvesUSC
Taj Gibson, Sr – 8.2 ppg, 6.4 rpg, Bulls
DeMar DeRozan, So – 8.2 ppg, 2.9 rpg, Raptors
OJ Mayo, Jr – 17.8 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 3.1 apg, GrizzliesStanford
Brook Lopez, Sr – 18.9 ppg, 9.1 rpg, 2.2 apg, Nets
Robin Lopez, Sr – 7.1 ppg, 3.9 rpg, SunsWashington
Spencer Hawes, Sr – 10.8 ppg, 5.9 rpg, Kings
Granted, you could make this case for every Conference I’d imagine. But the fact is that the Pac-10 has lost a lot of talent very early. Many of the above players were one and done and are having real success in the NBA.
All six teams above would likely be top 25 if they had those players on their teams right now. How crazy scary would USC be? Can you imagine how many highlights that squad would produce. Arizona would be an impossible matchup.
How about trying to matchup with the Lopez twins of Stanford.
