When it comes to big time college basketball, the Old Dominion has always drastically trailed its confederates to the south in North Carolina. However, this may be starting to change, as this year's NBA Draft marks the second year in a row where a player from tiny VCU has been selected in the first round. David Teel of the Daily Press Points has the story:
↵↵↵The Milwaukee Bucks' selection of VCU junior center Larry Sanders with the 15th pick makes the Rams the first program in Virginia to produce first-round choices in consecutive years -- the Utah Jazz chose VCU point guard Eric Maynor at No. 20 last year.
↵Moreover, the Rams join a club of four programs from outside the six major conferences to have first-rounders in back-to-back seasons. The others are Memphis, Utah and Nevada-Las Vegas.
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Personally, I had no idea that the Virginia state schools produced so few NBA players. Virginia's last player to be drafted was Cory Alexander in 1995, while Virginia Tech is represented by Del Curry, drafted way back in 1989. There have been players like Roger Mason who have been selected in the second round of the draft, and have have gone on to future NBA success.
↵Conspiculously missing from this list is my alma mater, William and Mary, one of the few teams to never make the NCAA Tournament.
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