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Out of current NBA players, which NCAA conference can field the best team?

I’ve made a list of who I think would be the teams for each of the following conferences: ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac 10 and SEC. Starters listed with (backups). I apologize in advance for any errors and/or players I missed.

Also: International Players vs High Schoolers 

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ACC – Easily the best conference in my opinion. The only weak spot on the first two teams would be back up PG. The ACC team can go about 4-5 deep at every other position with legit NBA players.

C – Tim Duncan (Elton Brand)
F – Chris Bosh (Rasheed Wallace)
F – Carlos Boozer (Antawn Jamison)
F – Josh Howard (Vince Carter)
G – Chris Paul (Sam Cassell)

Other notable players – Luol Deng, Shane Battier, Grant Hill, Corey Maggette, Steve Francis, Jerry Stackhouse, Mike Dunleavy, Chris Duhon, Rashad McCants, Stephon Marbury, Steve Blake, Jarrett Jack, Chris Wilcox, Matt Harpring, Brendan Haywood
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Big East – A resurgence in recent years of Big East players in the NBA adds to some established vets. This team would probably give the ACC the toughest game.

C – Emeka Okefor (Samuel Dalembert)
F – Caron Butler (Rudy Gay)
F – Carmelo Anthony (Ron Artest)
G – Ray Allen (Richard Hamilton)
G – Allen Iverson (Ben Gordon)

Other notable players – Alonzo Mourning, Randy Foye, Pat Garrity, Ryan Gomes, John Salmons, Troy Murphy, Charlie Villanueva, Hakim Warrick, Tim Thomas, Jeff Green

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Big Ten – The Big Ten fields a pretty weak team for a major conference, especially at the center and forward positions. Its been a rough stretch of years for this conference since the early to mid-90s.

C – Brad Miller (Greg Oden)
F – Zach Randolph (Reggie Evans)
F – Jason Richardson (Ricky Davis)
G – Michael Redd (Morris Peterson)
G – Deron Williams (Devin Harris)
Other notable players – Bobby Jackson, Michael Finley, Joel Pryzbilla, Jamal Crawford, Chris Webber

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Big 12 – I figured the Big 12 would have been much stronger than it is. Great point guards but very thin up front.

C – LaMarcus Aldridge (Mikki Moore)
F – Kevin Durant (Chris Mihm)
F – Drew Gooden (Desmond Mason)
G – Paul Pierce (Kirk Hinrich)
G – Chauncey Billups (TJ Ford)

Other notable players – Jamal Tinsley, Eduardo Najera, Daniel Gibson, Kurt Thomas, Linas Kleiza, Tony Battie, Scot Pollard

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Pac 10 – The Pac 10 is loaded at guard, but up front they are worse off than the Big 12.

C – Channing Frye (Shareef Abdur-Rahim)
F – Richard Jefferson (Luke Walton)
F – Andre Iguodala (Josh Childress)
G – Gilbert Arenas (Brandon Roy)
G – Jason Kidd (Baron Davis)

Other notable players – Mike Bibby, Jason Terry, Eddie House, Matt Barnes, Jordan Farmar, Damon Stoudamire, Brian Scalabrine, Mark Madsen, Brevin Knight, Fred Jones, Brent Barry, Luke Ridnour, Nate Robinson, Earl Watson, Jason Kapono, Trevor Ariza

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SEC – A solid team with decent depth, but no players who are truly superstars – at least at this point in their careers.

C – Shaquille O’Neal (Antonio McDyess)
F – Gerald Wallace (Kelenna Azubuike)
F – Tayshaun Prince (Robert Horry)
G – Joe Johnson (Mike Miller)
G – Mo Williams (Ronnie Brewer)

Other notable players – Al Horford, Robert Horry, Rajon Rondo, Jason Williams, Keith Bogans, Tyrus Thomas, David Lee, Antoine Walker, Damien Wilkins, Udonis Haslem, Jamal Magloire

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Based on the teams you could put together with current NBA players, I would rank the conference like this:

1. ACC
2. Big East
3. SEC
4. Pac 10
5. Big 12
6. Big Ten

You could obviously make a killer team with either High Schoolers or International players who didn’t attend college. I will post those teams tomorrow or later this week.

As far as other conferences go, the Atlantic 10 is the best of the rest and could probably beat the Big Ten, based on the fact that they would have 5 solid starters playing at the proper positions (Camby, David West, Odom, Mobley and Jameer Nelson) and a decent bench (Posey, Hughes, Mike James, Delonte West, Eddie Jones).