Study Shows Kentucky Basketball Dominates in NBA Value

I'm a much bigger fan of college basketball than I am of the NBA. But this year, I tuned in for a sizable chunk of the playoffs. (I'll watch a regular season game as background, but it's not appointment television.)

I'm a graduate of Western Kentucky University, so I'll always have "Go Big Red" echoing through my cerebellum, but I'm also a fan of UK and Louisville hoops, too. Big fans. Murray State? Sure enough. I'm a Kentuckian, and I support.

Obviously, however, it's the Wildcats and the Cardinals that we see in the postseason more often than the rest. It's a frustrating fact of life that the other schools aren't there more often, but it is what it is.

Kentucky Schools and the NBA

Since John Calipari arrived and took over as head coach at UK in 2009, the presence of former Wildcats has increased significantly. Calipari, in my opinion, is probably in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame more for his revolutionizing the way college players are recruited and how successful he was at helping them achieve amazing professional careers than for his Final Four appearances and title at Kentucky.

But the study I referenced in the title isn't a ranking of the number of NBA pros college programs produce. Not exactly.

Kentucky Leads the League in NBA Value

There's a distinction, but not much of one. There are currently 27 players in the NBA who played collegiate hoops at UK. Their salaries total $519 million, and that's why Kentucky sits at the top of this survey. Duke comes in second. (Wildcats fans will love being ahead of the Blue Devils.)

The NBA Value Score is a composite number combining quality and quantity at the professional level. Analysts who research and report on all things college basketball have long been aware of this about Kentucky, but maybe not the casual observer.