After Duke won the title in 2010, a number of players from that team made NBA teams. Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith were drafted the following year. Brian Zoubek and Jon Scheyer both got at least some NBA interest, although both had significant injuries which ended any NBA hopes.
Later both Mason and Miles Plumlee were drafted as well.
But not Lance Thomas.
Now with the New York Knicks, Thomas had a long and difficult path to the NBA.
In this article, he discusses how he got there.
It's a pretty great story. He made some really smart decisions along the way. Anyone who would like to make a similar journey would be well-advised to study this article. It's almost a case study in how to achieve and how to stand out from your competitors. Very impressive indeed.
Actually it reminds us a bit of how former Blue Devil Kenny Dennard got noticed in high school.
Things have changed quite a bit since Dennard was in high school and it wasn't as easy to get noticed.
He was somewhere - we think it might have been Five Star - and the courts were outside (told you things have changed a lot).
And asphalt.
So to draw attention, Dennard started playing like a wild man, diving all over the place.
He ripped himself up pretty good, needless to say, but at the end of the day, coaches were certainly talking about him.