Runnin’ Utes still hold enviable place in NBA draft history
When it comes to producing the highest-caliber NBA prospects, the University of Utah’s basketball program remains one of the best in history.
Following Thursday night’s 2023 NBA draft, which saw French pro Victor Wembanyama go No. 1 overall to the San Antonio Spurs, the Runnin’ Utes remain tied for third among college programs for the most No. 1 picks produced of all time.
With former top picks in Billy McGill (1962) and Andrew Bogut (2005), Utah is tied with UNC, UCLA, Kansas, Indiana, Michigan, Maryland, UNLV, LSU, Georgetown, Cincinnati, Purdue, Kansas State, West Virginia, UTEP and Duquesne.
Only two schools have more No. 1 draft picks than Utah — Duke (five) and Kentucky (three).
The Utes aren’t the only basketball program in Utah to have a No. 1 pick. Utah State’s Nate Williams was selected first in the 1971 draft.
BYU has never had a player taken No. 1 overall, but has had two No. 2 selections in Mel Hutchins (1951) and Shawn Bradley (1993).
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Weber State’s highest pick came in 2012, when Damian Lillard was selected No. 6 by the Portland Trail Blazers.
Of all the in-state teams, Utah has produced the highest number of top-10 picks as well, including McGill and Bogut, as well as Vern Gardner (No. 6 in 1949), Jerry Chambers (No. 7 in 1966), Mike Sojourner (No. 10 in 1974), Danny Vranes (No. 5 in 1981), Tom Chambers (No. 8 in 1981), Keith Van Horn (No. 2 in 1997), Andre Miller (No. 8 in 1999) and most recently Jakob Poeltl (No. 9 in 2016).
BYU has four top 10 picks all-time in Hutchins, Bradley, Rafael Araújo (No. 8 in 2004) and Jimmer Fredette (No. 10 in 2011), while Utah State and Weber State have one apiece.
No in-state program has had much success producing top-level draft picks in recent years though.
Since Poeltl was selected in 2016, the highest draft pick produced by a university in Utah was Kyle Kuzma, who went No. 27 in 2017.
College programs that are producing of late? That would be Kentucky, Duke, Kansas, Baylor and Santa Clara, which, per ESPN’s Jeff Borzello, are the only college teams with multiple top-20 picks in the last two drafts.
In addition to those schools, Michigan had two top-20 picks Thursday night (Jett Howard at No. 11 and Kobe Bufkin at No. 15), while Alabama barely missed the cut with Brandon Miller (No. 2) and Noah Clowney (No. 21).
French professional club Metropolitans 92 had two top picks in Wembanyama and Bilal Coulibaly (No. 7 to Indiana), while Overtime Elite (a professional league based out of Atlanta) had two top-five picks in twins Amen Thompson (No. 4 to Houston) and Ausar Thompson (No. 5 to Detroit).
