College Basketball's Winners and Losers from the 2015 NBA Draft
Thursday night was the NBA draft, but there were quite a few winners and losers from the perspective of a college basketball fan.
D'Angelo Russell was one of the biggest winners. Few people gave Ohio State much of a chance at amounting to anything before the 2014-15 season began, but he came in, took the world by storm and managed to climb all the way to the second overall pick—proof that mock drafts are a gigantic waste of time until we actually see these kids play a few months of college hoops.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, Aaron Harrison has to be one of the biggest losers, right? Once regarded as the best shooting guard in the 2013 class and the most cold-blooded assassin that the NCAA tournament has ever known, Harrison was the one member of Kentucky's septet whose name wasn't called.
We love it when guys stay for an extra year, but Harrison should have bolted for the pros last year or waited another year instead of striking when the iron was cold. ESPN's Jeff Goodman tweeted after the draft that Harrison will get a shot with the Charlotte Hornets in summer league, but he has an uphill battle ahead of him.
Read on for the rest of draft night's biggest winners and losers.
Winner: Larry Nance Jr.
1 of 8
As a national writer, one tries not to (openly) root for specific teams. For the most part, one tries to keep a neutral stance on individual players as well.
But follow the sport enough and Larry Nance Jr. was one of those guys that you just couldn't help but pull for by the end of his college career.
At first, he was like a hidden gem, toiling away in relative obscurity for a bottom-of-the-pack Mountain West squad. Wyoming went 4-12 in conference play in his sophomore season, but he put up 10.7 points and 6.9 rebounds per game with the occasional assist, block and steal too.
The following year, he developed into a stone-cold stud and had Wyoming on the outer fringe of the bubble discussion in late February before suffering a torn ACL. You never want to see any player get hurt, but especially not one who worked his butt off for 15.4 points, 8.6 rebounds, 2.1 blocks, 1.6 assists and 1.4 steals per game for one of the slowest-paced teams in the nation.
He rehabbed like a champion and was back on the court for 35 minutes in Wyoming's first game nine months later but then missed several games in mid-February after being diagnosed with mononucleosis.
He couldn't catch a break.
Not until Thursday night, that is.
Thanks to four years of hard work and a handful of eye-opening interviews and workouts, Nance earned a guaranteed contract in the NBA, getting selected with the 27th overall pick. It was a bit of a surprise pick to many of the draft prognosticators, but college fans should be thrilled to see him getting a payday.
Loser: Duke Blue Devils
2 of 8
For the past several months, it's been nothing but raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens for the Blue Devils. They won the national championship and rebuilt in quite the hurry by signing Derryck Thornton and Brandon Ingram early in the offseason to remain one of the projected 10 best teams at the start of next season.
Draft night, however, wasn't particularly kind to the reigning champs.
Jahlil Okafor—whose name might as well have been chiseled in marble as the No. 1 pick in this draft until a few months ago—slipped multiple spots to No. 3. Two teams desperately trying to rebuild said "no thanks" to the most NBA-ready center since Shaquille O'Neal. If that isn't a sign that the professional game has completely gone the way of the guards, nothing is.
After that, it was Justise Winslow's turn to slip-slide a few spots to Miami at No. 10. Not a single one of the experts in the NBA Draft Matrix had Winslow going lower than No. 7. He was the consensus No. 5 pick among those predictions.
Completing the freshman trifecta, Tyus Jones opened the offseason as a fringe lottery pick before settling into the late teens in most projections, but he fell all the way to No. 24. As compensation for that loss in compensation, at least he's going back home to Minnesota.
Last but not least, Quinn Cook didn't even hear his name called on draft night despite improving by leaps and bounds in his four seasons and performing admirably in predraft workouts.
Apparently, the heart of a college basketball champion isn't worth that much in the NBA.
Winner: John Calipari
3 of 8
John Calipari took what could have been an awkward situation and turned it into a record-matching one.
When the Harrison twins, Willie Cauley-Stein, Alex Poythress and Dakari Johnson all decided to come back for the 2014-15 season, Calipari invented the platoon system: 10 players, 20 minutes each, 40 wins. It didn't work out exactly as planned, but the end result was one of the best teams in recent memory and seven players declaring for the NBA draft.
Four of the seven (Karl-Anthony Towns, Willie Cauley-Stein, Trey Lyles and Devin Booker) were lottery picks. According to NBC Sports' Raphielle Johnson, that's the most lottery picks from one school since North Carolina also had four in 2005.
Johnson also notes that with Andrew Harrison and Dakari Johnson getting selected in the second round, the Wildcats tied an all-time record by producing six draft picks in one year.
Other coaches have jumped onto the one-and-done bandwagon, but—Aaron Harrison, notwithstanding—no one turns high school kids into pros quicker or better than Calipari.
At this point, it's kind of crazy that he even needs to do any recruiting. Without even meeting them, you would think he could start sending top recruits candy bars wrapped in scholarship offers like golden tickets and still land a half-dozen McDonald's All-Americans per year. He has the Midas touch.
Loser: The Overseas Route
4 of 8
One year ago, Emmanuel Mudiay was expected to be the best freshman guard in the country. 247Sports had him ranked behind Jahlil Okafor as the second best incoming player, period. At the time, he was widely regarded as one of the top three picks in the 2015 draft.
Because of Mudiay, ESPN.com's Eamonn Brennan had SMU at No. 11 in his way-too-early top 25 when the 2013-14 season ended, and he certainly wasn't alone on that limb. Pretty much everyone had the Mustangs penciled in as a potential Final Four dark horse.
But then, amid rumors of ineligibility from CBS Sports' Gary Parrish, Mudiay decided to take his talents to China before we ever got a chance to watch him play a college game.
When the college season ended, the No. 3 pick was considered a toss-up between Mudiay and D'Angelo Russell. Slowly but surely, Russell began to climb the draft boards, and Mudiay began to slip, eventually becoming the No. 7 pick.
Being taken in the middle of the lottery doesn't sound like a red flag for future recruits who might be considering the overseas route, but there's no doubt that his stock took a hit because he was out of sight and out of mind.
There was minor concern that Mudiay's decision might start a trend, but that probably won't be the case. One point for college basketball.
Winner: ACC
5 of 8
During the season, we have long argued over what makes a conference the best conference.
Is it the one with the best team? Is it the one with the fewest bad teams? Is it the one that sends the highest percentage of teams to the tournament? Is it the one that wins the tournament?
Different people argue different sides depending on where their favorite conference happens to be.
But there's no debating which conference was the most well-represented at the NBA draft. Despite the aforementioned slippage by Duke's draftees, the ACC had its fingerprints all over this year's draft class.
Here's the full rundown (pick number in parentheses):
Duke: Jahlil Okafor (3), Justise Winslow (10), Tyus Jones (24)
Louisville: Terry Rozier (16), Montrezl Harrell (32)
Notre Dame: Jerian Grant (19), Pat Connaughton (41)
Virginia: Justin Anderson (21)
Syracuse: Chris McCullough (29), Rakeem Christmas (36)
Boston College: Olivier Hanlan (42)
North Carolina: J.P. Tokoto (58)
In case you lost count, that's 12 ACC players drafted on Thursday night—otherwise known as 20 percent of all players drafted. Take out the 14 international players selected and 26.1 percent of the collegiate draft picks came from the ACC.
Thanks to the six Kentucky players, the SEC had a strong showing with 10 draft picks, as did the Pac-12 with seven.
One conference didn't do so well, though...
Loser: Big East
6 of 8
According to SB Nation's Big East Twitter account, at least one Big East player had been taken in each of the past 16 lotteries.
The conference was unable to extend that streak to 17.
In fact, it didn't even come close.
According to Terrence Payne of NBC Sports, this was the first time since the Big East's inception (1979) that it did not produce at least one first-round pick.
If you've been following the mock drafts, this isn't exactly surprising news. The final mock posted on Draft Express didn't have a single Big East player getting drafted in either round, so you could really consider it a win that Darrun Hilliard and Sir'Dominic Pointer kept the conference from getting completely shut out.
Still, it's a staggering realization of just how far the conference has fallen over the past few years. It wasn't that long ago that the Big East sent 11 teams to the NCAA tournament. Now, it's lucky to even be represented on draft night.
Don't expect the drought to last long, though. Henry Ellenson (Marquette) and Kris Dunn (Providence) might both be lottery picks in 2016.
Winner: Minor-Conference Scorers
7 of 8
Who is going to be the next Stephen Curry or Damian Lillard?
Three teams went searching for that minor-conference superstar in this year's draft.
Oklahoma City was the first team to dip its toes in the pool, grabbing Murray State's Cameron Payne with the final pick of the lottery. He averaged a ridiculous 20.2 points, 6.0 assists and 1.9 steals as a sophomore in helping lead the Racers to a 25-game winning streak.
The Celtics also took a first-round minor-conference flier on Georgia State's R.J. Hunter. Long before hitting the shot against Baylor that knocked his dad off his stool, Hunter was a lethal three-point shooter. His stroke suffered this past season, but the weight of the entire team was on his shoulders. He should be able to rediscover that stroke and have a solid career.
If Hunter doesn't work out, Boston also took a stab at William & Mary's Marcus Thornton. Owner of 2,178 points and a 40.2 percent career mark from the three-point arc, he might get a real shot to prove himself in the NBA.
Last but certainly not least, Orlando took Eastern Washington's Tyler Harvey with the 51st overall pick. He led the nation in scoring average this past season, but concerns over his size, strength and defense kept teams at bay.
Say, that sounds a lot like the concerns about Curry a few years ago, doesn't it?
Here's hoping one of these players amounts to something special in a hurry and it leads to the world paying more attention to guys who consistently score a ton of points against no-name teams.
Loser: Off-the-Court Issues
8 of 8
The NBA sent a clear message Thursday night: No matter how much raw talent you have, the risk isn't worth the reward for players who can't fulfill the necessary duties to stay on the floor.
The biggest surprise was Cliff Alexander.
Before the 2014-15 season began, he was a unanimous lottery pick. He was a can't-miss prospect who was going to do incredible things for one year at Kansas before moving on to the NBA.
But he got off to a slow start and had trouble getting out of Bill Self's doghouse. Then, he missed the final few weeks of the season while dealing with an impermissible benefits inquiry. By the time the season ended and he declared for the draft, he had dropped to the late first-round, early second-round range.
When all was said and done, no team wanted to invest in him at all.
Florida's Chris Walker was a 2013 McDonald's All-American, but he dealt with eligibility issues as a freshman and struggled as a sophomore before going undrafted. Washington's Robert Upshaw was one of the most unstoppable big men in the country for two months and was rapidly climbing in the mock drafts before being dismissed from the team and subsequently going undrafted.
We hope Emmanuel Mudiay serves as a lesson to keep kids from pursuing a season overseas, but we really hope that Alexander, Walker and Upshaw serve as a reminder that talent only goes so far.
Don't squander the opportunities you're given.
Kerry Miller covers college basketball for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @kerrancejames.
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
