NCAA Basketball: Top 10 programs that can be called ‘Point Guard U’

10. NCAA Basketball ” Point Guard U” programs – LSU Tigers

If Randy Livingston hadn’t torn up his knee in the summer prior to his freshman year at LSU, the Tigers could have suited up arguably the three greatest point guards in SEC history.

And if Ben Simmons had actually played point guard in his freshman campaign at LSU, the Tigers’ could’ve had a Mount Rushmore at the position rivaling any school in the country.

Alas, Livingston’s injuries limited the top-ranked player in the national high school class of 1993 to just 32 games in two seasons at LSU (he averaged 10.4 points and 7.6 assists per game) before he went on to a journeyman NBA career.

When he was healthy, Livingston was special. Anyone who saw him play in high school saw his potential to be a superstar. Back then, Livingston was just as good or maybe better than Jason Kidd, his teammate on the Parade All-American First Team in 1992.

Simmons stayed healthy enough to live up to his high school hype at LSU and become the No. 1 pick in the 2016 NBA Draft. He’s since grown into one of the best point guards in the league, winning Rookie of the Year and earning two All-Star selections for the Philadelphia 76ers.

But Simmons didn’t really play point guard in college. The 6’10” versatile talent played more of a power forward role for the Tigers. While he came to LSU garnering comparisons to LeBron James, Simmons was used more like a prime Lamar Odom.

Now imagine adding Simmons the point guard and a healthy Livingston to an alumni list headlined by “Pistol” Pete Maravich and Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf at the “one” position.

Maravich is perhaps the greatest scorer in college basketball history. He averaged 44.2 points per game in three seasons from 1967-70. He is still Division 1’s all-time leading scorer with 3,667 total points. And he did that without a three-point line and before college basketball had a shot clock.

Maravich was a high-scoring star in the NBA, but he rarely played for good teams — similar to his situation at LSU. His four All-NBA selections, five All-Star nods and league scoring title were still enough to earn him a spot in the Hall of Fame.

Abdul-Rauf (who played under his birth name, Chris Jackson, in college) averaged 29.0 points per game in two seasons at LSU. He played on the same Tigers team with Shaquille O’Neal in 1989-90, and the 6’1″, 160-pound Abdul-Rauf doubled Shaq’s scoring output (27.8 points to 13.9 points per game).

Picked No. 3 overall in the 1990 NBA Draft, Abdul-Rauf was on his way to stardom when the controversy surrounding his religion and political protests most likely got him blackballed from the league.

Other notables: Ethan Martin, Marcus Thornton, Anthony Hickey, Malcolm “Sparky” Wade, Tremont Waters