5 Great College Basketball Teams That Could've Been
3. 2014-15 Kentucky Wildcats
In contrast to the usual Kentucky one-and-dones, Tyler Ulis played two seasons in Lexington under coach John Calipari. In his second season, the small-but-determined point guard averaged 17.3 points, 7.0 assists and 1.5 steals in 36.8 minutes per game. He won the SEC's Player of the Year Award before heading to the draft.
Ulis was selected 34th overall by the Phoenix Suns for whom he's played as a backup point guard, with only 264 minutes to his name. He has 88 points and 32 assists in that time. His -1.5 nERD is typical for a rookie, but if Ulis produces like he did in college, he'll be a solid backup -- or maybe even a starting -- floor general for years to come.
With Ulis handling the leadership aspect of the squad, you bet Devin Booker has the pure talent position on lock. In his single season at Kentucky, he averaged 10 points in just 21.5 minutes per game, with 47% shooting from the floor and 41.1% from three. Beyond limited time, that's 18.7 points and 2.8 threes per 40 minutes (length of a college game) of play.
Through one-plus season in the NBA, Booker has been highly inefficient, with nERD scores of -5.4 and -4.0, respectively. Nonetheless, he's averaging 16.2 points 2.8 assists and 1.5 threes per game before his 21st birthday. Booker's the great shooter this set of players would need to take them to the next level -- further than the Elite Eight, where he (along with many of his Kentucky teammates) played his last collegiate game.
One of those players was another freshman, Trey Lyles. Lyles, in his one season, scored 8.7 points and secured 5.2 rebounds in 23 minutes a game. Again, if given more minutes, that's 15.1 points and 9.1 rebounds per 40 minutes. And, in terms of value, he was even more impressive given his .213 win shares per 40.
At 19 years old, Lyles went 12th overall to the Utah Jazz in the 2015 draft. In his two years since, the versatile forward has averaged 6.8 points and 3.8 rebounds in 18 minutes per game in a reserve role. His -1.1 nERD in both of his first two years is a very positive sign for years to come and for what Lyles could bring to a team full of recent Kentucky standouts and respectable NBA players.
The only player who wasn't a part of that Elite Eight run in 2014-15 was Julius Randle, who actually made in appearance in the national title game in 2013-14. In 30.8 minutes per game, the 6'9" forward went for 15.0 points and 10.4 rebounds a game. He earned a PER of 24.5 and 5.9 win shares.
The Los Angeles Lakers picked Randle seventh overall, and he has since tallied 11.9 points and 9.5 rebounds per game in 103 career starts. He's been on a relatively poor Lakers team, so his -8.2 nERD might not tell us exactly how good he's been thus far. What we do know is that Randle was really good in his time at Kentucky and would make for an All-American power forward on this hypothetical team.
As a frontcourt duo with Karl-Anthony Towns, who knows what could've happened. In the year following Randle's departure, Towns led the team with .311 win shares per 40, as well as averages of 10.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and 2.3 blocks in 21.1 minutes a game. In other words, 19.5 points, 12.7 rebounds and 4.3 blocks in 40 minutes of play.
Towns went first overall in 2015 to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Through 126 games, Towns is averaging 19.8 points, 11.0 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in 33.5 minutes. His combined nERD of 10.7 is super-impressive for a player who just turned 21 years of age. What the future holds, who knows, but putting Towns and his 2014-15 teammates with Randle would likely make for an unstoppable Kentucky team.
