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Even though the NBA commenced with the 1946-47 season, it took the league several years to crown the first-ever Rookie of the Year. Don "Monk" Meineke was the first official recipient of the award in 1953. He's also the only player from the University of Dayton to win the award.
Over time, winning Rookie of the Year seems to have become a sound indicator of how successful a player will be throughout his career. Since the award's inception, 71 NBA players from 47 different colleges have been named the Rookie of the Year. Out of all these winners, 58 made it to at least one All-Star team, while 29 went on to become Hall of Famers.
College basketball programs play a huge part in preparing athletes for their jump to the NBA. A good program can help players hone their craft, learn vital intangibles and improve their feel for the game. On that note, let's take a look at the five colleges that have produced the most ROTYs in NBA history.
#5 Louisiana State University (Three)
The LSU Tigers are not exactly renowned as a powerhouse program in NCAA Men's Basketball. In fact, they are the only college on this list to have never won a national championship.
Regardless, the Tigers have had a host of generational players come through Baton Rouge. Three of those players went on to win NBA Rookie of the Year honors, namely Bob Pettit (1955), Shaquille O'Neal (1993) and Ben Simmons (2018).
Both Pettit and O'Neal went on to win the NBA Most Valuable Player award at least once in their careers and were elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in their first year on the ballot. Meanwhile, Simmons is playing his fourth season with the Philadelphia 76ers and is their floor general. He has already been named an All-Star three times.
#4 Syracuse University (Three)
If Jim Boeheim returns as Syracuse's men's basketball head coach for this upcoming season, it'll be his 46th campaign with the Orange, an NCAA record among active head coaches. Boeheim is simply synonymous with Syracuse and has accumulated 982 wins during his tenure, the second-most among active head coaches.
Boeheim has had a fair share of phenomenal collegiate talent under his tutelage, from Dwayne "Pearl" Washington to Lawrence Moten to Carmelo Anthony. However, none of the players mentioned above were awarded the NBA Rookie of the Year.
Those honors were won by Dave Bing (1967), Derrick Coleman (1991) and Michael Carter-Williams (2014). All three players earned at least 70% of the votes during their respective seasons in which they were awarded Rookie of the Year.
#3 Duke University (Three)
Over the past 41 years, Duke's head coach Mike Krzyzewski has transformed the Blue Devils into arguably the most prestigious program across the nation. Therefore, it shouldn't come as a surprise that Duke holds a place on this list.
Grant Hill was the first Blue Devil to win NBA Rookie of the Year in 1995 while Elton Brand won in 2000. Hill and Brand featured in two out of just three instances in NBA history where where co-Rookies of the Year were named. Jason Kidd and Grant Hill were named winners of the 1995 ROTY. Five years later, Steve Francis and Elton Brand were named co-winners of the 2000 ROTY.
Kyrie Irving is the last player from Duke to have won the NBA Rookie of the Year, which he did in 2012. Irving has already won an NBA Championship in 2016 and is a seven-time All-Star. Zion Williamson was a favorite for ROTY honors last year, but injuries prevented him from playing enough games.
#2 University of California, Los Angeles (Three)
Although the UCLA Bruins Men's Basketball Team hasn't won a single national championship since 1995, their 11 titles are still NCAA-best for Division I men's college basketball.
From 1964 to 1975, Hall of Famer John Wooden led the Bruins to 10 NCAA Championships within a 12-year period. During that time span, Coach Wooden rostered UCLA's three Rookie of the Year winners in Lew Alcindor (later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 1969), Sidney Wicks (1972), and Jamaal Wilkes (1975).
UCLA is the lone college on this list where at least two of their Rookie of the Year winners were teammates in the NBA. Abdul-Jabbar and Wilkes were teammates at the Los Angeles Lakers from 1977 to 1985. In fact, the two Hall of Famers won three championships together - in 1980, 1982, and 1985.
#1 University of North Carolina (Five)
The top spot on our list is occupied by the University of North Carolina, which has produced a record five winners of NBA Rookie of the Year honors. The first of those five was Hall of Famer Bob McAdoo (1973), who garnered 75.3% of the votes.
Next up were Walter Davis (1978) and Phil Ford (1979). This marked the first time in NBA history where back-to-back ROTYs attended the same college. They were joined by a future Hall of Famer in Vince Carter (1999), the most recent winner on the UNC list; Carter won the award after receiving 113 out of a possible 118 votes.
Rounding out the UNC list is none other than arguably the greatest basketball player to ever grace the hardwood. Michael Jeffrey Jordan. Jordan took home the award in 1985 after edging out Houston's Hakeem Olajuwon.
Also read: Top 5 active NBA players to come out of Duke University
