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Welcome to NBA University, where our enrollment is always on the rise.
Two weeks from today the NCAA will crown its 72nd national basketball champion.
Throughout the past two decades dozens of programs have witnessed their finest athletes graduate to the NBA. Whatifsports.com wanted to know which of those colleges and universities produced the best professional basketball players of the last 20 years.
To get the discussion started, we narrowed the field. Whatifsports.com only selected NBA players who have stepped on the court sometime between 1990 and 2009. We took the players' best season over the course of the last twenty years and placed them on their corresponding All-University team. Click here to view the master roster list for all 16 programs participating in the tournament.
After sifting through dozens of eligible schools and their contributions to the NBA, Whatifsports.com settled on these top 16 programs. We then seeded the schools based on a power ranking system.
Over the next two weeks, Whatifsports.com will use its free college basketball simulation technology to play-out NBA University's Elite Eight.
Each game was simulated 1,001 times. The Whatifsports.com super-computers generated each team's winning percentage and average score in addition to example box scores you can view for yourself.
Round 2 Results
vs.
NBA Simulation Results | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Matchup | Win% | Avg Score | |
| Kentucky | 20.2 | 97.7 | Boxscore |
| @ Michigan State | 79.8 | 106.9 | Simulate Game |
Magic Johnson might be able to take the rest of the tournament off and still be a frontrunner for Most Outstanding Player.
Johnson tallied his second triple-double in as many games, scoring 16 points, dishing out 14 assists and snaring 11 rebounds as the Spartans jumped out to a 17-point halftime lead before handing the reins to Eric Snow and the cruise control.
Michigan State once again showed why it earned the No. 1 seed in the bracket as four players recorded double-doubles, including Jamie Feick, who nearly outrebounded the Wildcats by himself.
OK, that might be an overstatement, but Feick nearly got halfway there and the Spartans outboarded the Cats 63-37.
Antoine Walker had 16 points and 10 rebounds for Kentucky, but was forced to leave with the World's Best Parting Gift: the job of consoling a depressed Ashley Judd.
The favored Spartans move on to the Final Four, a place where they've been seven times in terms of the Big Dance.
vs.
NBA Simulation Results | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Matchup | Win% | Avg Score | |
| Georgetown | 45.4 | 103.2 | Boxscore |
| @ North Carolina | 54.6 | 105.8 | Simulate Game |
Do you like the kind of buzzer-beaters that include a shot leaving a players hand just before the clock hits 0.0?
How about those where the ball floats through the net just as the light surrounding the backboard flashes red?
James Worthy says you can take both of those ideas and stuff it. Literally.
In the most thrilling game yet - the closest in terms of score and the first to go to overtime - Worthy's slam dunk as time expired in the extra period sent the Tar Heels through to the semifinals and the Hoyas home in disbelief.
All of this drama came just minutes after Michael Jordan's game-tying jumper with six seconds left in regulation. Allen Iverson's desperation 3-pointer clanked off the rim in the battle between the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds.
The Hoyas went to a short bench, playing just eight players. Four of them had at least 18 points as the Hoyas nearly pulled off the first upset of the bracket.
Instead, Jordan's game-high 24 points led him to a battle that was all too familiar in the Association: Magic vs. Jordan.
vs.
NBA Simulation Results | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Matchup | Win% | Avg Score | |
| UCONN | 27.7 | 103.5 | Boxscore |
| @ UCLA | 72.3 | 110.8 | Simulate Game |
Who said "Winning Time" was reserved for Madison Square Garden and the New York Knicks?
Reggie Miller sunk five of eight 3-pointers and scored a game-high 31 points as the Bruins used a prolific fourth-quarter rally to stun the upset-bound Huskies in the quarterfinals.
UConn led by as much as eight early in the fourth quarter, but hit a cold spell at the worst possible time - just when the Bruins were heating up.
Trailing 84-76, Miller started a 21-6 run with a pair of jumpers and Baron Davis capped it with consecutive layups, sending the Huskies packing in a game that had those in attendance thinking that the bracket full of chalk was finally going to be erased.
But Kevin Love dominated the post, scoring 18 points and grabbing 21 rebounds as UCLA won the battle on the glass 61-39. Team rebounding is looking more and more like the pivotal statistic in this tournament.
The Huskies had six players score in double figures, but no one grabbed more than eight rebounds. It's something UCONN can ponder while awaiting a stronger team 10 years down the road.
vs.
NBA Simulation Results | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Matchup | Win% | Avg Score | |
| Syracuse | 18.7 | 98.2 | Boxscore |
| @ Duke | 81.3 | 109.6 | Simulate Game |
Who knew that the NBAU tournament would simply give Carlos Boozer and Carmelo Anthony one more way to claim bragging rights.
Now perennially squaring off in the NBA's Northwest Division, Boozer and Anthony each won NCAA championships and each own a gold medal.
They needed a tiebreaker and now they have one.
Boozer's 19 points and 11 rebounds led the Blue Devils past Anthony's 23 points and the Orange, keeping with the bracket's chalk-filled theme.
Trailing by one point after three quarters, Grant Hill scored nine of his 11 points in the final 12 minutes to put Duke over the top and into an East Coast/West Coast semifinal with UCLA.
The Orange(men for some of those on this team) barely shot 40% from the field and their 3-point shooting hurt them once again as they made just 5 of 17 attempts and one of them was in the final minute with the game already decided.
Speaking of decided: Carlos, You're welcome; And everybody else, stay tuned to see who reaches the championship game next week.
Round 2 Recap
This tournament has a chalky aftertaste, but when you look at the caliber of the teams remaining, they are the best of the best.
NBA University anxiously awaits the MJ vs Magic semi-final match-up. The UCLA Bruins are proving the haters wrong that their dominance on NBA courts has struggled over recent years. Kevin Love's monster rebounding game can attest to that.
We will announce the winners of the semi-finals next Monday, March 29th. Then on Monday, April 5th our NBA University champion will be crowned.
Make sure to check back Monday March 29th for Final Four Results of Whatifsports.com's NBA University Tournament.
Agree, disagree or have your own NBA University candidates in mind? Shoot us an email at BtB@whatifsports.com!
Related Features
WIS Bracket Predictions - Need some help filling out your bracket? Whatifsports.com is here to help!
Big Ten Bracket of Classics - Sixteen Big Ten classic basketball teams go head-to-head!
NCAAB SimMatchup - Who would win between J-Wall's Wildcats and Carmelo's 'Cuse? Find out here!
Hoops Dynasty - Recruit, practice and game plan as head coach of your very own college basketball program.



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