Each year I welcome football-first fans back to the wonderful world of college basketball once their season is over. If you qualify, I joke that you haven’t watched college basketball since the 1990s. Last year, I compared NCAA players to the 1992 NBA Roster. This year I see similarities between the 2002 NBA Finals and some current NCAA players. See below and enjoy!
Nets Spurs
| 2002 NBA Finals | 2015 NCAA Comparison | School | |
| NETS | Richard Jefferson | Rondae Hollis-Jefferson | Arizona |
| Reason | A Wilcat, part-Jefferson, extremely athletic and developing a jump shot | ||
| Keith Van Horn | Sam Dekker | Wisconsin | |
| Oversized small forward, scorer, perhaps less aggressive than coach would like | |||
| Kerry Kittles | Rayvonte Rice | Illinois | |
| Thrives in transition scoring, mostly below-the-rim, great shooter | |||
| Jason Kidd | Fred VanVleet | Wichita State | |
| Smooth distributor, deceptive scorer, clutch | |||
| Kenyon Martin | Montrezl Harrell | Louisville | |
| Strong, plays angry, rebounds, defends | |||
| Brandon Armstrong | Chasson Randle | Stanford | |
| Pass first point guard who can drop 20 points if you need | |||
| Brian Scalabrine | Jake “The Snake” Kurtz | Florida | |
| Hard-woker, forward who can stretch the floor yet do the dirty work | |||
| LAKERS | Rick Fox | J.J. O’Brien | San Diego State |
| Quintessential “glue guy,” fills up a stat sheet, rebounding small forward | |||
| Derek Fisher | Will Cummings | Temple University | |
| Experienced, heady point guard who can score as shot clock winds down | |||
| Shaquille O’Neal | Isaac Haas | Purdue | |
| Huge, sometimes a double-team just won’t get it done | |||
| Kobe Bryant | Michael Qualls | Arkansas | |
| The best athlete on the floor at shooting guard, above the rim, scorer | |||
| Robert Horry | Justin Anderson | Virginia | |
| A defense-first power forward who can hit the 3 pointer | |||
| Mitch Richmond | Caris LeVert | Michigan | |
| A shooting guard who gets his shot off best off-the-ball, but can break down defender | |||
| Mark Madson | Adam Woodbury | Iowa | |
| Not a scoring option at center, but a strong guy who can get you rebounds and assists | |||
