Bruised Egos: Timme Becomes 1st 3-Time All-American Failing to Be Drafted

There was terrible timing for the "Big Three T's" (Gonzaga's Drew Timme/Kentucky's Oscar Tshiebwe/Arizona's Azuolas Tubelis). The NCAA consensus All-Americans weren't among the chosen few in this year's NBA draft along with fellow A-A guards Antoine Davis (Detroit) and Markquis Nowell (Kansas State) plus Final Four Most Outstanding Player Adama Sanogo (Connecticut). K-State's Keyontae Johnson (50th pick overall), Miami's Isaiah Wong (55th) and Indiana's Trayce Jackson-Davis (57th) were All-Americans who barely made it in the draft. Of course, the NBA is a difficult nut to crack. Although this gifted group sported great credentials, there was no guarantee they would be selected this year; primarily because of the continued emphasis on international players and proliferation of largely untested young prospects.

With or without a college diploma in tow, were misguided undergrads thinking with same adeptness as embarrassment-to-village-idiots Jussie Smollett? Were they as delusional as compromised Congressman Adam "Shifty" Schiff exhibiting his impeachment expertise getting punked by Russian prankster? Denied sneaker honorariums during an FBI probe, undrafted scholars may be swayed to join lunatic leftist leeches seeking reparations from NBA "owners" or boycotting "one-percenter" NBA foreigners stealing their jobs. Amid truly smelly progressive puke convulsing after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death left vacancy on Supreme Court impacting bloodthirsty #PlannedMurderhood obsession with butchering innocent babies in womb, it could blossom into one of those get in line behind the other kneeling mindless "diverse" robot routines and stand by for further "Strzok-out" instruction.

Timme, Tshiebwe and Tubelis increased the number of NCAA consensus All-Americans to go undrafted in a 14-season span to 20. Do you need any more evidence that the quality of play at the collegiate level has diminished in recent years? The NBA draft was reduced to seven rounds in 1985, three rounds in 1988 and to its present two rounds in 1989. Centers Bill Spivey of Kentucky and Sherman White of LIU, All-Americans in the early 1950s, went undrafted by the NBA allegedly because of possible repercussions stemming from a game-fixing scandal. A total of 55 All-Americans, also five in 2011, have gone undrafted by the NBA thus far in the 21st Century. Granted, there were additional rounds but more A-As went undrafted in 2011 and this season than cumulatively in a 30-year span from 1957 through 1986 (four - SMU's Max Williams in 1960/Texas Western's Bobby Joe Hill in 1966/Kentucky's Mike Pratt in 1974/Memphis State's Dexter Reed in 1977).

Sherron Collins (Kansas) and Scottie Reynolds (Villanova) became the initial NCAA consensus first-team All-Americans not to be selected in the NBA draft 12 years before Timme became the first-ever three-time NCAA consensus A-A failing to be chosen. They're not a motley crew as Duke coach Jon Scheyer is among the following alphabetical list of All-Americans who weren't selected in an NBA draft:

*NCAA consensus first-team All-American.
**NCAA consensus second-team All-American.
NOTE: About half of the players on this list - Bell, Booker, Clemons, Collins, Dotson, Ferrell, Hansbrough, Haslem, Howard, Jennings, Jones, Juzang, Kilpatrick, Landale, Lucas, McNeal, Motley, Powell, Ray, Sanchez, Smith, Uthoff, VanVleet and Wiltjer - went on to play in the NBA after signing as free agents. Pratt played in the ABA.