It is lunchtime somewhere. So, welcome back to the lunch hour read of the Meat & Three. Every weekday I dive into a big picture topic and three things to get you through a quarantine spring. 

Today we dive into what will be a constant here in this space for a while - NBA Draft data. How much value do drafted players hold in the college game? We’ve seen a shift in that data. Today’s stream of the day features some great stories from Vanderbilt head coach Jerry Stackhouse. And, of course, the Stan Johnson photo of the day. 

THE MEAT: NBA DRAFT DATA, PART II 

My career in basketball started at the NBA Draft. I began my career in media covering the annual summer night of dreams coming true. I’ve always loved it. If you’re a hoophead, it’s hard not to like. It blends our college game with the pro game on one amazingly fun night. 

With the time inside and away from the court, I’ve poured into some data from the NBA Draft. I’ve gone back to 2000 so we have 20 years of data to sort through. There’s a lot to look at, a lot to think about and a lot to discuss. 

I ran through the data of which schools have had the most NBA Draft picks since 2000. The top 10 made up the blue bloods, no shocker there. But several people had asked via social media, texts or phone calls about winning and how those teams did in the NCAA Tournament. 

So, let’s explore that data. 

The schools are: Kentucky, Duke, UCLA, Kansas, North Carolina, Arizona, Syracuse, UConn, Texas and Michigan State. 

These blue bloods have accounted for 13 of the 20 National Championships over the last two decades. Duke, North Carolina and UConn each have three titles. Kentucky, Kansas, Syracuse and Michigan State each have one. 

Each of the 10 teams have made it to the Final Four at least one time. Michigan State leads the way with seven appearances. North Carolina has been to the Final Four six times over the last two decades. Kentucky, Duke and UConn have been four times. ULCA and Syracuse have each been three times. Arizona and Texas have been just once. 

Kansas leads the way with the most Elite Eight appearances with 10. Kentucky and North Carolina each have nine. Duke checks in with seven. Arizona and UConn both have six. Syracuse has four times. UCLA and Texas round it out with three each. 

From a Sweet 16 appearances standpoint, Duke leads the way with 15. Kansas has 13, Kentucky and Michigan State have 12 each. North Carolina has 11. Arizona has 10. Syracuse and UCLA each have nine. UConn has been to the Sweet 16 seven times while Texas rounds out the group with five. 

Three of those teams - Duke, Kansas and Michigan State - have made it to the NCAA tournament every single year from 2000-2019. That’s every year for two straight decades. 

Players matter. They always have. 

But what has been interesting is watching the shift from star power to established teams as they battle to win the NCAA tournament. Duke and Kentucky are winning recruiting battles year after year but neither program has won a title since the Blue Devils did it in 2015. 

Since 2016, there are only two players that have been taken in the lottery who have won a National Championship. 

Mikal Bridges won two titles during his time at Villanova. He was the No. 10 overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. De’Andre Hunter won a title at Virginia in 2019 and was drafted No. 4 overall in 2019. 

THE NOTE

More and more players are announcing their decisions to “test the waters” of the 2020 NBA Draft. But who are they? Here’s a working list of the early entries for the summer* night of dreams coming true. 

THE STREAM 

Let’s pivot from video to audio for the Stream of the Day this week. If you’re not a podcast listener, now is the perfect time to become one. This week’s streams are a run back of some of my most favorite listens over the last couple of years. 

Jerry Stackhouse has been a regular at our HoopSeen events over the years, coaching his travel program to titles at events like the Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions, HoopSeen Tip-Off and others. 

The former North Carolina great has moved on to winning a G-League championship with the Toronto franchise, coaching at the NBA level and now leading the Vanderbilt program. 

He’s never shy about sharing his opinions and his competitive streak is one of the best I’ve ever seen. He caught up with Adrian Wojnarowski on the Woj Pod and has some classic stories about Kobe Bryant and some interesting thoughts on playing alongside Michael Jordan. 

THE STAN JOHNSON PHOTO OF THE DAY 

I asked our guy Stan Johnson to send me some of his favorite shots from the 2019 season on our HoopSeen platform. We begin his gallery today in the Meat & Three.