NCAA Basketball: Mid-majors come away big winners in 2019 NBA Draft
By Logan Butts
The 2019 NBA draft was an exciting night filled with trades, surprising selections and snubs, and plenty of hopeful fanbases. Which NCAA Basketball mid-major players made the most noise on draft night?
Following a memorable 2018-19 season for NCAA Basketball mid-major schools, the NBA Draft provided a victory lap for the “little guys” on Thursday night.
10 of the 60 picks came from mid-major programs, including four first-rounders and two lottery picks.
For reference, in 2018, only four mid-majors were selected total, and only two were taken in the first round – Chandler Hutchinson of Boise State at 22 and Landry Shamet of Wichita State at 26 (and he became a legit playoff rotation player as a rookie). In 2017, just one non-Gonzaga mid-major was selected.
Some of these picks have long been set in stone as first-rounders (Ja Morant, Gonzaga’s duo), while others were legit shocks to NBA draft experts (Jarrell Brantely).
Much has been made of the Pac-12’s struggles in recent years (double-digit seed runs to the second weekend of the tournament notwithstanding) and tonight didn’t help. The power conference did have it’s share of players drafted but the other top leagues dwarfed them. In fact, the top mid-major leagues such as the WCC, Mountain West and Ohio Valley Conference did as well overall as the Pac-12.
After such a successful night for the less heralded leagues, let’s take a look at some of the most notable moments in the draft for the mid-major squads.