Has any d2 player made the NBA? (2023)

Has any D2 player made the NBA?

Earl “The Pearl” Monroe

Earl Monroe played college basketball at Winston-Salem State and for the NBA's Baltimore Bullets and New York Knicks between 1967-80. He totaled 926 games, scoring 17,454 points, notably playing with backcourt partner Walt Frazier for the Knicks.

Several college basketball players from lower divisions are among the 233 early entrants in the NBA draft. Six players from Division II and one from Division III declared early for the draft. There were 175 players from colleges or other educational institutions as well as 58 international players.

A select few D2 athletes also end up going pro, but D3 athletes almost never go pro.

Devean George, Augsburg (1995-99)

Devean George remains the only Division III player taken in the first round of an NBA draft – the 23rd overall pick of the Los Angeles Lakers. George became a key rotation player for three NBA championship teams in LA.

The division terms that apply when transferring from a D3 or D2 school to a D1 institution occur if you're a baseball, basketball, football or men's ice hockey player. You'll likely need to sit out a year, something that wouldn't be required if you did a switch amongst D2 and D3 colleges.

Can a D2 school become a D1 school? Yes, a Division 2 school can become a Division 1 school. To do so, it will need to meet the Division 1 requirements. This means increasing the number of sports offered and sponsoring a minimum of seven men's and seven women's sports, or six men's and eight women's sports.

Earn at least a 2.2 GPA in your core courses. Earn an SAT combined score or ACT sum score matching your core-course GPA on the Division II sliding scale, which balances your test score and core-course GPA. If you have a low test score, you need a higher core-course GPA to be eligible.

Just like high school student-athletes who go on to play D1, only about 1 percent of high-school basketball players end up securing a roster spot at D2 basketball schools. Potential recruits need to be prepared to work just as hard to compete at some of the best Division 2 basketball colleges.

Very few of the thousands of student-athletes competing in Division II will receive a full athletics grant that covers all of their expenses, but most of them will receive some athletics-based financial aid to help them through school.

Are D2 athletes better than D3?

Many talented athletes choose D2, some for a more well-rounded college experience and others for the opportunity to get more playing time or to play all four years. D3, in general, provides a student-athlete with a “normal” college experience while allowing them to still compete in athletics.

D1: The best athletes and teams with the most pro players come from this division. D2: A step below D1, but still have some really good athletes and a handful of teams that can compete with low level D1's.

Going pro from D3 is possible and has happened, but it's rare. Players without a strong desire to go pro may be more willing to consider D3 schools. Playing time. Some players opt to play D3 at a program they know they will get playing time in rather than struggle to earn minutes at D1.

In fact, players such as Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, andBen Wallace played at D2 schools.

“For division III, 99.9 percent of the players college career is usually the end of their [athletic] career, we've had one player that moved on to play professionally, Aaron Walton Moss in Iceland,” McDonald said.

However, there are no age limitations on athlete age for D-2 and D-3 colleges. Therefore, if the first time they start college is at age (for example) 35 years old, they are allowed five years to play four years of sports.

Absolutely! The NFL thoroughly scouts D2 football. If you have the talent they will find you. There have been 100's of D2 and lower players make the NFL…even to the Hall of Fame.

NCAA Division II and III, NAIA schools and Junior colleges all welcome walk-ons. NCAA Division I colleges also offer tryouts but it tends to be more difficult. There have been a number of athletes who have walked on to Division I football, basketball and baseball teams.

How much is a good D2 athletic scholarship?

NCAA Division 2 is a bit less competitive with 306 colleges and universities, awarding scholarships to about 71,306 student athletes. The average athletic scholarship for all sports of an NCAA D2 male athlete is down around $5,548 and $6,814 for females.

Very few student-athletes at Division II schools will receive full scholarships, but most will receive partial scholarships or some other form of athletic-based financial aid. Additionally, student-athletes can apply for other scholarships, like merit or academic scholarships, or other forms of financial aid.

NAIA programs are pretty closely comparable to NCAA D3 schools, and top-level NAIA programs match the talent found at mid/high-level NCAA D2 schools. Sometimes athletes will select a top 25 NAIA program over a lower ranked D2 program because the competition level is actually quite similar.

How Much Do College Basketball Referees Make? According to reports, college basketball referees take home an average salary between $58,000 and $72,000. The top officials in the bigger conferences like the SEC, ACC and Big Ten can be paid as much as $2,000 per game, but that number dwindles in smaller conference games.

Division 1 is the top level of college basketball, but Division 2 isn't far behind. The two levels are similar in many ways, but there are some differences too. We have listed as many major differences/basketball comparisons as we could come up with between Division 1 and Division 2.