Which ACC Team Produced the Most NBA Playoff Points?

Yesterday, we saw that Wake Forest has produced more points in this year’s NBA Playoffs than any other current ACC school. 

But where does Wake rank all-time among ACC schools in the postseason?

The 15 current ACC members have produced 512 NBA players all-time. They’ve combined for 1.6 million points in the regular season and just under 100,000 in the playoffs. ( 1,618,239 and 97,557 respectively, to be exact) 

School

NBA Players

Postseason points

Scoring Leader (Second, third)

North Carolina

81

32,864

Michael Jordan 5,987 (James Worthy, Rasheed Wallace)

Duke

60

9,183

Carlos Boozer 1,420 (Jeff Mullins, Luol Deng)

Wake Forest

28

8,791

Tim Duncan 4,688 (Josh Howard, Chris Paul) 

Notre Dame

52

7,248

Adrian Dantley 1,558 (BIll Laimbeer, Tom Hawkins) 

Georgia Tech

37

6,591

Chris Bosh 1,148 (John Salley, Mark Price) 

Clemson

15

5,452

Horace Grant 1,907 (Larry Nance, Dale Davis) 

Louisville

49

5,190

Wes Unseld 1,260 (Junior Bridgeman, Jack Coleman)

Syracuse

42

4,528

Carmelo Anthony 1,693 (Derrick Coleman, Danny Schayes) 

NC State

40

4,417

David Thompson 962 (Thurl Bailey, Nate McMillan) 

Florida State

30

4,380

Dave Cowens 1,684 (Sam Cassell, Charlie Ward) 

Miami

10

3,558

Rick Barry 2,870 (James Jones, John Salmons)

Virginia

18

1,855

Ralph Sampson 711 (Wally Walker, Olden Polynice) 

Pittsburgh

17

1,655

Charles Smith 616 (Billy Knight, DeJuan Blair)

Boston College

22

1,602

Howard Eisley 461 (Michael Adams, Reggie Jackson)

Virginia Tech

11

1,437

Glen Combs 769 (Dell Curry, Allan Bristow)

Bitter Knick fans will recall that Pitt postseason scoring leader Charles Smith’s total should be two points higher.

North Carolina alumni have one third of the points scored by ACC schools, and the Tar Heels’ postseason scoring leader, Michael Jordan, has scored more postseason points than 10 ACC schools.

Jordan also heads the list of 13 players who have scored more points in the playoffs than all 11 of Virginia Tech’s players combined. 

Wake Forest’s strong 2014 NBA postseason is not an aberration. Despite having the ninth-most players make it to the league, the Deacs have the third-most points scored. If Duncan and Paul advance far enough, Wake has an outside chance of passing Duke into second place. 

Clearly, the key reason behind Wake’s placing is Duncan. The Demon Deacons are one of only three ACC schools to have one player with more than half of their alumni points in the playoffs. Virginia Tech and Miami are the others.