NCAA Basketball: Best player on eastern semifinal 2019 NBA playoff teams
By Alex Weber
The NBA Playoffs are in full swing, but what’s at stake for NCAA Basketball fans? Well, watching some of college basketball’s great former players
The NBA Playoffs: a polarizing subject for NCAA Basketball’s die-hard fanatics. Some fans shift focus almost immediately following the conclusion of March Madness, thirsting for exciting basketball no matter the designation. Others, a stereotypical older crowd, bark about an alleged absence of defense and enhanced diva-ism compared to the hearty college game they know and love.
Whichever camp you fall in as a basketball fan, there is an intersection point at which the two worlds meet: Alumni. College players, namely, the memorable ones, the most talented, the best, advance to the professional ranks after their transcendent (or not so transcendent) collegiate careers and drag a legion of loyal followers from their alma-maters with them (who I am I kidding, most of them don’t graduate!) into the League.
It’s an advantage to play beneath the bright lights of a legendary arena such as Cameron Indoor or Allen Fieldhouse and behind the support of the most loyal fanbases in all of sports. Every Dookie is saving money to buy a Zion jersey once he gets drafted, Indiana faithful worship Victor Oladipo like a Greek God, and the Big Blue Nation wait at the sidelines after nearly every NBA game to get autographs from whichever former Wildcats are in town.
School pride is unassailable. Unlike in the business-centric and mercenary NBA, college fans support their players no matter the consequence of a game or season. Devin Booker conceivably could have missed every shot he took in 2015 and I guarantee you crazy fangirls wouldn’t have wavered in licking his car. The loyalty is eternal.
College fans, those who adore professional ball and those who despise it with every fiber in their body, there’s an appreciation to be shared in enjoying the players you rooted so vehemently for or against play in the biggest stage of basketball in the entire world.
I perused the deep rosters of each of the eight remaining NBA Playoff teams (Boston may be gone by the time you read this) and plucked the player with the best college resume. For this exercise, there are a few rules: 1) You must have played at least 30 minutes so far in the playoffs; essentially, you have to be a regular contributor and not a total bench warmer. 2) After the initial qualifier, I’m picking based on college career only.
Without further word waste, here’s the list: