All of the attention in the world of college basketball goes to Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, UCLA, and North Carolina… you know, the “Blue Bloods”. This tends to trickle into the NBA Draft rankings, too.
As a result, not enough attention goes to the “mid-majors” where some of the league’s best talents end up coming from. Sure, you have Jordan who went to UNC, Kareem who went to UCLA, and then guys like Wilt Chamberlain, Grant Hill, J.J. Redick, Kyrie Irving, Russell Westbrook, Vince Carter, Anthony Davis, Paul Pierce, and the list goes on and on of guys who went to “Blue Bloods” in college, but there are plenty of “mid-major” talents in the NBA.
You know that guy Stephen Curry? He went to Davidson. What about Damian Lillard? He went to Weber State. How about “The Claw, Kawhi Leonard? No, he did not go to Duke, nor Kentucky, or even Kansas. Leonard went to San Diego State.
The point is that just because you go to one of the “top” colleges to play basketball, does not necessarily mean you are going to be the best NBA player.
One school that always flies under the radar in college hoops is Virginia Commonwealth University, better known as VCU, and they always seem to put solid players in the NBA. Now, Nah’Shon “Bones” Hyland is looking to cement his legacy as the best NBA talent to come out of VCU.
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Entering the pre-draft process, not many people were paying attention to Hyland, even though he put on some shows in the Atlantic-10 Conference, but that quickly changed after he went out and absolutely dominated the first day of scrimmages at the NBA Combine. In fact, “Bones” was so good that one NBA scout told NBA Analysis Network at the time that he had played himself into the first round of the NBA Draft.
Well, he seemed to be right as Hyland continued to impress scouts and executives every time he participated in a workout and as a result, Nah’Shon Hyland heard his name called as the 26th overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft by the Denver Nuggets.
