Keeping It Heel
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10 biggest North Carolina basketball NBA Draft busts of all time

By Joey Loose

Jun 23, 2022; Brooklyn, NY, USA; A general view after the first round of the 2022 NBA Draft at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 23, 2022; Brooklyn, NY, USA; A general view after the first round of the 2022 NBA Draft at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports /
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CHAPEL HILL, NC – NOVEMBER 29: Members of the 1957 North Carolina Tar Heels championship team, including Lennie Rosenbluth, center, during a game against the Michigan Wolverines on November 29, 2017 at the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. North Carolina won 86-71. (Photo by Peyton Williams/UNC/Getty Images)
CHAPEL HILL, NC – NOVEMBER 29: Members of the 1957 North Carolina Tar Heels championship team, including Lennie Rosenbluth, center, during a game against the Michigan Wolverines on November 29, 2017 at the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. North Carolina won 86-71. (Photo by Peyton Williams/UNC/Getty Images) /

North Carolina basketball NBA Draft bust No. 5: Pete Brennan (1958: Round 1, Pick 4)

Born in Brooklyn, Pete Brennan was one of North Carolina’s fantastic athletes in their earliest seasons of success. Standing 6’6 and starring at small forward, he played three fantastic seasons with the Tar Heels back in the 1950s and left his mark on this program.

He averaged greater than a double-double in his college career and helped the Tar Heels to the national championship in 1957, with an 11-point, 11-rebound effort in their title game win over Kansas. As a senior, he was named ACC Player of the Year and was a Second Team All-American.

The landscape was very different sixty-five years ago, but Brennan was a fantastic collegiate athlete and became the 4th pick of the 1958 NBA Draft, heading to his hometown New York Knicks. However, Brennan truly did not stick around in the NBA, playing just 16 games in his career, all during that rookie season with the Knicks. His career lasted less than 150 minutes and saw him with just 40 points and 31 rebounds.

Basketball was very different back in 1958, though the first two picks of this draft (Guy Rodgers and Elgin Baylor) both sit in the Hall of Fame. The Knicks landed someone who just didn’t work out in the NBA and Brennan is clearly a major bust.

The reason he’s not higher on this list is because of the era; things were just so different back then. Brennan sadly passed away in 2012, but his impact on that championship team in 1957 will not be forgotten and he’ll remain in Tar Heels history forever.

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