College Stars From Kentucky Dominate Top Five of NBA Draft, While UNC Dominates Top 20

The NBA Draft features a collection of some of the most well-known college basketball players in the game, and also features some of those shocking picks who jump into the lottery, and other shockers when players fall down multiple picks as well.  One of the shockers of the NBA Draft on Thursday night came within the first two picks though.  As expected, Anthony Davis from Kentucky was the first player chosen off of the board by the New Orleans Hornets, who won the draft lottery.  After that though, the Charlotte Bobcats, who won a measly seven games were up, and many expected them to trade the pick, or to draft Thomas Robinson from Kansas.

Not so fast said Michael Jordan and Rich Cho.  The Bobcats went a direction that shocked everyone, and showed why the Kentucky Wildcats were the favorites throughout the season to win the NCAA Championship, and then went on to do just that.  The team with the worst record in the NBA drafted a player in Michael Kidd-Gilchrist who really just refuses to loses.  It seems that anywhere this kid goes, that team ends up winning, which is something that the Bobcats are going to desperately need.  Kidd-Gilchrist is a slasher, a strong rebounder, an excellent defender, and really just the type of player that you want on your team.

This meant that the top two picks in the 2012 NBA Draft were both from the Kentucky Wildcats, leaving expectations that they were prepared to dominate the draft.  Once again we had a major swing though, as another Wildcats player wasn't drafted until Terrence Jones went 18th to the Houston Rockets.  Instead of the Wildcats though, it was another popular team who dominated, in the North Carolina Tar Heels.

Out of the top 17 picks in the draft, the Tar Heels had four drafted.  It started with Harrison Barnes going at seven to the Golden State Warriors, and then Kendall Marshall going to the Phoenix Suns at 13, John Henson going at 14 to the Milwaukee Bucks, and Tyler Zeller going at 17 to the Cleveland Cavaliers.  The Tar Heels dominated the first round when all was said and done, and now we'll have to see how these players pan out in the upcoming seasons.

Many people are expecting big things from the two big names out of Kentucky, but there are questions surrounding many of the UNC players, so only time will really tell.