NCAA Basketball: 10 best players from state of Michigan of last decade

8. Kyle Kuzma – Utah

Long before his NBA days, Kuzma was a 6’9 forward from Flint who found his way west to the Pac-12. He played his collegiate career at Utah, redshirting his first season on campus before spending the next three years playing basketball for the Utes. A bench piece in his first year, Kuzma developed into quite the impact player by the time his career was over.

Kuzma had a minimal impact in his freshman season but was a more important piece as a sophomore, including a 23-point, 12-rebound effort in his first career start. He scored 15 points in an NCAA Tournament loss to Gonzaga before breaking out the following year. In his third and final collegiate season, he averaged 16.4 points and 9.3 rebounds per game, including a 22-point, 15-rebound effort against Washington and a 21-point effort in Utah’s NIT loss to Boise State.

That breakout season earned Kuzma All-Pac-12 First Team honors as he finished top 5 in the conference in points and rebounds per game. He was a very solid defensive player and certainly developed his skills while playing for Larry Krystkowiak and the Utes. He was a late first-round draft pick of the Los Angeles Lakers and is already an NBA champion, continuing his NBA career five years later.