For decades, the University of Illinois men's basketball team has maintained a winning program. It has reached the NCAA Tournament 36 times, and under current coach Brad Underwood, it has gotten to the tournament in each of the last six years while reaching the Final Four this past season.
A whopping 74 of its players have been drafted into the NBA, including the Minnesota Timberwolves' Ayo Dosunmu and former stars John "Red" Kerr, Derek Harper and Deron Williams. Of those 74, three were taken by the Los Angeles Lakers. Here is a look at those three.
Rod Fletcher -- forward
Fletcher spent three years with the Fighting Illini and averaged 9.5 points a game with them. The Lakers took him in the sixth round of the 1952 draft, but he never played in the NBA.
Harvey Schmidt -- forward
In three years
with the University of Illinois, Schmidt put up 12.4 points per game. The Lakers selected him in the second round of the 1957 draft, and while he never played in the NBA, he went on to coach the Illini from 1967 to 1974.
Brian Cook -- power forward/center
Cook spent four years at the University of Illinois and put up 13.2 points and 6.2 rebounds a game while there. After the Lakers took him with the No. 24 pick in the 2003 draft, he spent four years and change there and found a spot in their rotation as a big man who could stretch the floor.
They traded him to the Orlando Magic along with Maurice Evans early in the 2007-08 season for Trevor Ariza. Cook played nine seasons in the NBA, and for his career, he averaged 5.5 points and 2.6 rebounds in 13.4 minutes a game while shooting 38.2% from 3-point range.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Every University of Illinois player drafted by the Lakers
