Duke Basketball: Brotherhood set to seize rule over NBA from UK by 2020
By Matt Giles
Considering the current crop of youthful former Duke basketball players performing on the biggest stage — and the ones soon on the way — Kentucky has its hands full in keeping #TheBrotherhood from soon seizing the crown as the king of the NBA.
Gone are the days of rival fans snickering at Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski’s inability to produce a sizeable quantity of quality NBA talent.
That reminder is primarily directed at fans of other ACC programs.
Without the existence of 25 former Blue Devils, the ACC would not lead all other conferences with its 78 former players who have seen action in at least one NBA game this season (Pac-12 is second with 65). Without those Blue Devils, the ACC’s count would only be average amongst power conferences.
Those 25 members of #TheBrotherhood constitute the lion’s share of the ACC’s 78.
The school with the next highest total, UNC, has less than half of Duke’s amount.
Yep, only 12 Tar Heels have played in an NBA game this season.
Yikes!
And no other ACC school has more than seven.
Yowzers!
OK, now that it’s clear the comparison with other ACC schools is no comparison at all, it’s time to take a look at how former Duke Blue Devils stack up against former Kentucky Wildcats in the league.
In terms of the tally of guys who have played so far this season, the Wildcats only outnumber the Blue Devils by one.
However, in terms of the total points that each program’s alums (including anyone who transferred to or from each program) have scored this season, Kentucky holds an advantage of 9,887 to Duke’s 6,370.
Obviously, points don’t tell the whole story. And injuries — such as the one to former Wildcat DeMarcus Cousins — affect the numbers.
That being said, looking at the total number of guys who have played this season and the total points they’ve combined to score just seems to be the most effective way to simply quantify the difference that Duke must overcome in order to exceed Kentucky’s current footprint on the NBA.
But here’s why it should happen — click “NEXT” below — by this time next year…