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

2. Josh Huestis – Stanford

Moving forward, this 6’7 forward from Great Falls found himself playing power conference basketball for his entire career. Huestis arrived at Stanford in 2010 after an impressive high school career, and found himself playing all four seasons under Johnny Dawkins with the Cardinal.

Huestis played a minimal role as a freshman before starting to get minutes as a sophomore, helping Stanford to an NIT title in 2012. He was an important piece on this roster for his final two seasons, averaging 10.5 points and 9.0 rebounds per game as a junior, with very similar numbers for his final season. Among his highlights were an 11-point, 18-rebound effort in a win over USC. An important piece on both ends of the court, Huestis helped lead Stanford to the Sweet Sixteen of the 2014 NCAA Tournament, dropping 13 points in a Sweet Sixteen loss to Dayton.

Huestis was named to the Pac-12 All-Defense team in each of his last two seasons. He finished top 5 in the Pac-12 in rebounds and blocks in both of those seasons while putting up decent offensive numbers as well. He was certainly an important piece on the defensive end for those two postseason runs. The nation took attention, as he became a late first round draft pick by the Oklahoma City Thunder, spending parts of three seasons playing in the NBA.