If I showed you a picture of Jeremy Lin and then told you that person was averaging 25.3 points and 8.3 assists in their last three games in the NBA, you'd be within your rights to kill me where I stood. And although I might be dead, I wouldn't be a liar. Jeremy Lin, Harvard grad, is turning into a bona fide fan favorite in New York. His success got me curious about other nerds (read: people that are smarter and more athletic and richer than me) that went to great schools and still found their way to the NBA. Let's take a look at NBA rosters (past and present) and see what we can find.
Jeremy Lin - Harvard - Crossing over and dunking on John Wall
Bill Bradley - Princeton - NBA Champion? Hall of Famer? U.S. Senator? Real cool Bill. How about that nickname though? Dollar Bill could have shown Pac-Man Jones a thing or two about making it rain.
Matt Maloney - Penn - Look at him crossover The Glove at the :40 mark. Payton later found Maloney in the visitor's shower and beat him with a sock full of quarters.
(what are the chances that the creator of this Matt Maloney highlight tape isn't Matt Maloney's mother using IMovie?)
Chris Dudley - Yale - The dunk to balls on chest to shove to the ground move is rarely seen and even more rarely properly executed, but when it is, it's a thing of beauty. Shaq could have brought Maury down from the stands to reveal that he fathered three of Dudley's kids and disrespected him less than he did in that video.
Geoff Petrie - Princeton - "I totaled all 1970 points I scored in 1972-73 on hand made abacus that I fashioned out of driftwood..." NEEERRRRRDDDDDDDDD.
Jason Collins - Stanford - "I believe that was an over the back on Dwight, Mr. Javie..." NEERRRRDDD
BLAST FROM THE PAST: Kurt Rambis - If the best NBA memory of you involves you getting clotheslined, you might be a nerd:
Luke Harangody - Notre Dame - I don't care if it's a Summer League game, I flat out refuse to make fun of Luke Harangody. He took the hair of Johnny Unitas, the body of a college-aged Glen Davis, and the pallor of Emily Dickenson and turned himself into NBA-level talent.
Troy Murphy - Notre Dame - Not to pick on Notre Dame guys, but...
Josh Childress - Stanford - He went extra nerd on the NBA and backpacked (presumably) through Europe after college:
Roger Mason Jr. - Virginia - Your mini dreds fool no one, you need about a 1500 (based on the old scoring system, I'm too old to know anything about the new one) on your SAT to get into Virginia.
Ryan Anderson - Cal - This is what happens when you step inside the 3 point line Ryan
To close things out, I want to give Chris Dudley a chance at redemption on the fast break against fellow nerd Will Perdue (Vanderbilt)
I should reiterate that all of these gentlemen might be a real hoot off the court and I'm putting them in the nerd category simply because they're smarter than me and 3-400 times more athletic as well.
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