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Last night, the Kentucky Wildcats made history again, seeing six players drafted by NBA teams, four of them in the first round. This represents the highest number of draftees across two rounds ever in an NBA Draft, as well as tying the Wildcats for the most draftees in the first round ever from a national championship team. Yet another "first" was the combination of Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist at #1 and #1 respectively. That's never happened before from the same team.
Currently, by my count, the Kentucky Wildcats have 16 active NBA players as of the end of this year. Assuming Doron Lamb and Darius Miller make their team, that number would increase by 6 to 22. The North Carolina Tar Heels had 12 active players before the draft, and that would increase by 4 to 16. The Louisville Cardinals have 5 current NBA players, and added zero last night. The Indiana Hoosiers currently have 3 active players, and added zero last night. Florida has 10 active NBA players and added one last night. Kansas has 14 active players, and added 2 last night.
Also, the SEC wound up having a 12 players drafted in the two rounds. The Big 12 was second with 9. The rest were: ACC - 8, Big East - 8, Big 10 - 4, Pac-12 - 3. All other conferences represented had only one each. So is the SEC still a "weak" basketball conference? Maybe not so much as many had thought.
Let's look at each player drafted and the comments made by SB Nation's team site:
New Orleans Hornets -- At The Hive:
As expected, the New Orleans Hornets selected Kentucky power forward Anthony Davis with the #1 overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft. Davis has been widely expected as the selection for a month now, since New Orleans won the NBA draft lottery at the end of May.
Draft Express hinted as recently as March that Miller could be a fringe top-30 prospect, though he was largely overshadowed at Kentucky by forwards Terrence Jones and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, the 2nd overall pick. Miller figures to challenge the underwhelming Al-Farouq Aminu immediately, but at this point, the Hornets probably don't have a starting caliber small forward on the roster.
Charlotte Bobcats -- Rufus On Fire
While the Charlotte Bobcats wont improve in their scoring immediately, he will help them all over the floor as the organization bides their time to find the scoring they need. This is building a team for the long-term, and MKG will be a vital second, or third option in a winning NBA culture.
Houston Rockets -- The Dream Shake
The Rockets aren't concerned with positions when they draft, in case you haven't noticed over the past few years. They took the player they thought was the best available, even though I might disagree. Jones III has a chance to become a much better player on both ends given his height and athleticism. Yeah, he disappears sometimes, but didn't Terrence Jones? Let's hope the Rockets have a deal with another team that centers around Jones, because I just can't agree with the pick otherwise.
Chicago Bulls -- Blog A Bull
Teague isn't big enough to play the wing. He's only 6' 2", but a -- well -- freakish athlete. And not a circus act that will never translate to the NBA, but a player with speed, agility, and insane hops that ought to translate very well to the NBA, as a dangerous player in the open floor with pick n' roll penetration skills to fit right in to the Bulls' inside-out, board crashing second-chance game, Mike Schmitz's scouting report with the help of John Calipari and Jay Bilas suggests:
Milwaukee Bucks -- Brew Hoop
What if I told you Doron Lamb (No. 21 on DX) graded out as a better NBA prospect than Jeremy Lamb (No. 22) according to Draft Express? It's true, and that certainly can't be a bad thing.
We'll have more on the Wildcats' new homes throughout the coming days as we talk to our various SB Nation bloggers about how they see the players fitting in with their respective new teams.