NCAA Basketball: Top 10 programs that can be called ‘Big Man U’
By Amaar Burton
From Louisiana to Los Angeles to Lawrence, Kan., which one of NCAA Basketball’s historic campuses is the true land of the giants?
After North Carolina recently declared itself “Point Guard U” on social media, we looked at the NCAA Basketball programs that historically produce the best point guards to see if UNC truly deserves that title.
This time, we’ll explore which school can rightfully be called “Big Man U” for its track record of producing the best centers and power forwards.
Just as it was difficult at times to decide which players should and shouldn’t be considered point guards, this big man ranking provided similar dilemmas.
Some players who are known as small forwards in the NBA played power forward in college. Some played both forward spots in college, so it wasn’t clear if they should primarily be labeled a power forward. Going back decades prior to the modern era of college basketball, some “big men” were as short as 6’3″ — the size of a point guard today.
Not surprisingly, North Carolina is again heavy in the conversation. They’re joined by other blue blood programs like Kentucky, Kansas, UCLA, Duke, and Indiana.
Some other powerful name brands (Texas, Wisconsin) just missed the cut, while some mid-major programs (Houston, BYU) made strong cases before ultimately landing outside the top 10.
Considering the success of their past players while they were in college and later in the pros, how many D-1 programs can make a legitimate case for the “Big Man U” crown? Here are the top 10 in my view: