Player of the Year
Not really following college basketball, I knew that putting up good numbers in college has only a vague relationship to being a great NBA player, but just this morning I saw the actual list of college Player of the Year award winners. It's sobering:
- 1988 - Danny Manning, Kansas
- 1989 - Danny Ferry, Duke
- 1990 - Lionel Simmons, LaSalle
- 1991 - Larry Johnson, UNLV
- 1992 - Christian Laettner, Duke
- 1993 - Calbert Cheaney, Indiana
- 1994 - Glenn Robinson, Purdue
- 1995 - Joe Smith, Maryland
- 1996 - Marcus Camby, Massachusetts
- 1997 - Tim Duncan, Wake Forest
- 1998 - Antawn Jamison, North Carolina
- 1999 - Elton Brand, Duke
- 2000 - Kenyon Martin, Cincinnati
- 2001 - Shane Battier, Duke
- 2002 - Jason Williams, Duke
- 2003 - T. J. Ford, Texas
- 2004 - Jameer Nelson, St. Joseph's
- 2005 - Andrew Bogut, Utah
- 2006 - J.J. Redick, Duke
There are some good players on this list. Elton Brand doesn't get the recognition he deserves and Marcus Camby's contribution to Denver is, I think, frequently understated. Nevertheless, it's hard to avoid noticing that of the guys on this list only Tim Duncan is a legit franchise player.