For decades, college basketball has been a ready pipeline for NBA players, and several great players have made the move to the professional leagues and gone on to become legends. As a result, creating a list of the seven greatest players of all time is a difficult undertaking given these individuals' collegiate and professional careers.
#7. Oscar Robertson – The Big O was a record-breaking machine, and he averaged 35.0 points and 15.0 rebounds per game during his freshman year as a Bearcat. Oscar Robertson led the team in scoring during all his years there and led Cincinnati to two Final Four appearances.
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#6. Larry Bird – Larry Bird, who opted out of playing for the Indiana Hoosiers, was a vicious shooter for Indiana State. As a rookie, he averaged 32.8 ppg and 13.3 rpg, and as a sophomore, he averaged 30.0 ppg and 11.5 rpg. Despite losing the 1979 NCAA Tournament final game to Magic Johnson's Michigan, he helped make the Sycamores relevant.
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#5. Bill Russell – Bill Russell was an athletic freak with great speed who was dangerous on both ends of the court. Russell led San Francisco to the NCAA tournaments in 1955 and 1956 and was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player in 1955. The St. Louis Hawks selected him second overall.
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#4. Wilt Chamberlain – Wilt the Stilt averaged 29.3 points per game and 18.3 rebounds per game as a Jayhawk while playing in the most hostile environment possible, with spectators yelling racist slurs at him and his teammates throughout games. Despite this, the Big Dipper was voted the NCAA Tournament's Most Outstanding Player before moving on to professional basketball, where he smashed multiple records.
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#3. Magic Johnson – Magic Johnson could have chosen the UCLA Bruins, but instead chose the Michigan State Spartans, where he led them to the Elite Eight as a freshman. Johnson's college basketball career sparked one of the most intriguing rivalries in sports history. In 1979, he guided his team to the NCAA title, defeating Larry Bird's Indiana State. He was a unanimous All-American and the tournament's Most Outstanding Player before heading to the NBA, where he rekindled his rivalry with Bird while playing for the Los Angeles Lakers.
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#2. Michael Jordan – His later NBA accomplishments drive His Airness up the rankings. Between 1981 and 1984, Michael Jordan played for the North Carolina Tar Heels, winning the NCAA title in his first year against Patrick Ewing's Georgetown. Of course, he hit the game-winning jumper and went on to win the Naismith Award and become possibly the greatest basketball player of all time.
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Jordan was unanimously voted to the NCAA All-American First Team as a sophomore (1983) and junior (1984). Jordan left North Carolina one year before his anticipated graduation to enter the 1984 NBA draft after earning the Naismith and Wooden College Player of the Year awards in 1984.
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#1. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar outperforms everyone on this list of the greatest collegiate basketball players of all time. He possesses the most extensive college basketball resume of any athlete. He won the NCAA tournament three times, was named NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player three times, and was named National Player of the Year three times.
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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar personifies domination, as he scored 56 points in his UCLA Bruins debut game, setting the tone for his college career. Given the sheer amount of players who progress from college to the NBA, this is perhaps one of the most difficult lists to crack, but the seven players listed above have carved out their own identities in both arenas.
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