UNC Athletics tops ESPN ranking of draft talent
By Zack Pearson
A new survey from ESPN praises the UNC Athletics program for producing some top talent in drafts across all sports.
For fans of the University of North Carolina, we are used to seeing top talent in all sports at the collegiate level. There are times where we are mad when other schools, like that one down the road in Durham, are praised for “producing” one-and-done players in the NBA. But overall life is good for UNC.
The university has several excellent athletic programs and have recently won national championships in basketball, men’s lacrosse, women’s lacrosse, men’s soccer and women’s soccer. In all, the Tar Heels have won 43 NCAA team championships in the school’s rich history with a few others not bestowed by the NCAA.
The university has churned out several talented athletes over the years and when it comes to recent success with professional drafts, no one has done it better.
ESPN recently put together an ultimate draft ranking with Division I programs having players selected in the following leagues: NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, WNBA, MLL (lacrosse) and NFP (softball) from 2009-18. The site explained that the draft choices from the survey were weighted with a formula that takes the size of the draft pool into account.
In the end, UNC topped the list with an ultimate draft score of 1706.6 as they beat out No. 2 Maryland (1580.4), No. 3 Duke (1482.0), No. 4 Kentucky (1351.9), and No. 5 Notre Dame (1291.7).
The biggest draft-producing sports for UNC were men’s basketball, men’s lacrosse and soccer in the 10-year span.
Here’s a little of what ESPN had to say about the Tar Heels:
"While college hoops is the unquestioned king when it comes to North Carolina’s athletics program, its success in several other sports has the Tar Heels sitting at No. 1 in the Ultimate Draft Rankings. In terms of total draft picks the past decade, UNC has been a football school, with 37 players selected in the NFL draft."
It’s really no shocker that the men’s basketball program continues to churn out talent, all while being able to win national championships. The Tar Heels have been a basketball factory for years and years, but it’s other programs that are having success making it that much sweeter.
While UNC didn’t have any players selected in the 2018 NBA Draft, they did have two first-round selections in 2017 with Justin Jackson and Tony Bradley Jr.
As for the football program, the Tar Heels had a few players drafted in both 2017 and 2018 including Mitchell Trubisky (No. 2 overall) in last year’s draft to the Chicago Bears. Trubisky will be the starter in Chicago to begin the 2018 season and has the chance to finally give the Bears a franchise quarterback.
More recently, UNC lacrosse standout Marie McCool was selected with the No. 2 overall pick in the WPLL draft. McCool is one of UNC’s best lacrosse players and helped guide the Tar Heels to another Final Four appearance in 2018.
Next: UNC gaining ground for big 2019 recruit?
To see the entire Top 25 list, please visit ESPN’s article as it breaks down each school by score and most successful programs.