Northwestern first fielded a men’s basketball team more than 120 years ago in 1904. Seventy-seven years later, NU established a women’s team in 1981. In that time, the two programs have been to a combined 11 NCAA tournaments, although they have yet to advance past the second round.
While NU has never made a deep NCAA tournament run, it has a legacy of standout players who have gone on to play basketball professionally across the world. Today, there are NU alumni playing professional basketball at the highest leagues in the United States and internationally.
The Daily dug into the accomplishments of Wildcats in professional basketball leagues, displayed through early February 2025.
Twenty-three NU alumni actively play professional basketball. They are spread across 14 leagues around the world. The B. League in Japan has four Wildcats, the most of any league. The player with the most professional league experience is John Shurna (SESP 2012), who has played 369 professional games. Seven of the 23 players — just over 30% — transferred to a different school to finish their collegiate career. Out of all the players, Vic Law (SESP 2019) is averaging the most points in the 2024-2025 season with 15.75.
Northwestern’s 23 active professional basketball players are spread across 12 countries around the world. Just over a quarter of them — six in total — remained in the United States. The average distance of each player’s most recent home arena to Welsh-Ryan Arena is 6,373 kilometers. The furthest player from Evanston is Law, playing 11,574 kilometers away in Okinawa, Japan. Nia Coffey (SESP 2017) is the only player less than 1,000 kilometers away in Atlanta.
Out of all former Big Ten West schools, Minnesota has produced the most NBA and WNBA players of all time at 60 total players. Meanwhile, Iowa has produced the most WNBA players at 16, with some big names like Caitlin Clark. NU has produced the least total NBA and WNBA players at only 22.
The most common position for NU alums playing professionally is forward, followed by guard, then center. These numbers are not surprising or specific to NU’s program, given that each roster needs more forwards and guards than centers.
A dream roster of NU alums past and present, based on professional experience by the number of professional games played, would see Evan Eschmeyer as the center; Don Adams and Coffey as forwards; and Billy McKinney and Rex Walters as guards. With professional careers ranging from 1971 to the present and a combined 1,704 games under their belts, this theoretical roster would have played an average of around 340 games and scored an average of almost 2,300 points each in professional leagues — almost seven points per player per game.
These alumni were selected based on their contributions to Northwestern’s basketball programs as well as their statistics in professional leagues. Both men and women were included to showcase alumni from each program. Also, legacy players were included to give examples of past success stories from the programs. All in all, these players make up some of the best to have played for Northwestern’s two basketball teams.
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