Oklahoma standout Blake Griffin, the consensus national player of the year this past season, was selected as the No. 1 pick in the 2009 NBA Draft.  He is the first player in Big 12 history to be chosen No. 1 overall and it marks the fourth straight year that a league player has been taken among the top two selections.  Overall, four players from the Big 12 were chosen in the 2009 Draft.

A year ago, Michael Beasley of Kansas State was picked second by the Miami Heat.  In 2007, Seattle drafted Kevin Durant of Texas at No. 2 en route to his earning NBA Rookie of the Year honors.  Former Longhorn LaMarcus Aldridge was at No. 2 in 2006 by the Chicago Bulls and later traded to Portland.   No other conference in the country has had top two selections in each of the last four years.

Missouri’s DeMarre Carroll gave the Big 12 multiple first-round draft picks for the third straight season when he went at No. 27 to the Memphis Grizzlies.  His selection gives Mizzou a first-round draftee in the NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball drafts this season.  It is just the third time in Big 12 history (Oklahoma State, 2004; Texas 2006) that one school has accomplished that feat in the same year.  Carroll is the first draft pick from MU since Linas Kleiza in 2005.

Blake’s brother, Taylor, was the third Big 12 player chosen after going with the No. 18 pick (48th overall) of the second round to the Phoenix Suns.  It marks the first time in Big 12 history that OU has had more than one player drafted in the same season.  It is also the first time two brothers who played in the Conference were selected in the draft.

Chinemelu Elonu from Texas A&M went to the Los Angeles Lakers at No. 59 overall and the second-to-last pick of the draft.  This is the third straight season an Aggie has been drafted after A&M had just one player chosen in the first 10 years of the league.  

This year’s draft is also the 12th time in 13 years the Big 12 has had at least one first-round choice.  A total of 61 players from the Big 12 have been selected since the first season in 1996-97.       Kansas has had 16 players chosen in the past 12 years - the most of any team in the Conference.  Texas is next with 10, followed by Iowa State (6), Missouri (5), Oklahoma (5), Oklahoma State (4), Texas A&M (4), Colorado (3), Texas Tech (3), Kansas State (2), Nebraska (2) and Baylor (1).

The Big 12 has had at least four players drafted in each of the last six years.  In addition, there has been at least one league athlete among the top 10 overall selections in nine of 13 seasons.  Eighteen players from the Big 12 have been drafted in the last three years.  

THE BIG 12 IN THE 2009 NBA DRAFT