College basketball has been overtaken by future NBA prospects, ever since the one-and-done rule went into effect in 2006, and as a result, many national champions have featured NBA-ready prospects. Last year’s Duke team won the national championship with three freshmen who were taken in the first round of the NBA Draft.
Villanova has the least NBA talent of any national champion in history
The Wildcats are unlikely to have any players drafted this season.
Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
But this year’s Villanova team has very little — if any — NBA talent at all, much less among its freshman class. In fact, it has less NBA talent than any other champion, possibly ever.
There is very little chance that any Villanova player gets picked in the 2016 NBA Draft. The Wildcats' next draftee is likely to be Josh Hart, who is projected to be the 41st pick in the 2017 draft by Draft Express.
Every National Champion has had a pick in the next year’s draft since 1997, and since the draft began in 1950, every champion has had a player who would eventually be drafted in the top 40. Even Villanova’s last national champion — a Cinderella and No. 8 seed that is still the lowest seed to ever win the NCAA Tournament — had a first and second rounder in the following NBA Draft.
It would be unlikely for this kind of roster to ever win a national championship, much less in the one-and-done era. It’s safe to say this won’t happen again for a very long time.
(h/t @kylerrobins)
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