Harvard product Jeremy Lin, who signed with the Warriors last week, is set to become the first Ivy League player in seven years to play in an NBA game. (AP)

When Harvard product Jeremy Lin turned heads at the Las Vegas Summer League earlier this month and earned an NBA contract from his hometown Warriors, he became the latest Ivy Leaguer looking to break through at the sport’s highest level. It wasn’t always this tough for products of the Ancient Eight. Ivy League players in the NBA were not that uncommon in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s. Even in the 1980s, 14 Ivy Leaguers were drafted (granted, the draft used to have many more rounds than it does now), including three Harvard players (1985 seventh-rounder Bob Ferry, 1985 sixth-rounder Joe Carrabino and 1987 seventh-rounder Keith Webster). However, not many stuck around.

Jerome Allen from Penn remains the last Ivy Leaguer to be drafted. Allen was selected 49th overall in 1995 by the Timberwolves, and he didn’t stick around for more than one season. The last Ivy Leaguers in the NBA were Chris Dudley and Matt Maloney, who both played their final seasons in 2002-03. As for Harvard, there have been only two Crimson players to appear in the nation’s top pro league: Saul Mariaschin, who played 43 games for the Celtics in 1947-48, and Ed Smith, who played 11 games for the Knicks in 1953-54.

With all that said, here is our list of the top NBA players from Ivy League schools. Note that our list has a decided New York City flavor to it, with half of the players on our list growing up in the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area.

10. Dave Wohl, Penn

In seven NBA seasons with six teams, Wohl, a 6-foot-2 guard, averaged 6.2 points and 3.4 assists. A third-round pick of the 76ers in 1971, Wohl had his best season in 1972-73 with the Buffalo Braves, as he averaged career highs of 8.8 points and 4.6 assists. He went on to become a coach, serving as a Celtics assistant from 2004-07. He then became the C’s assistant general manager before leaving last year to join the Timberwolves as an assistant coach. He edges out his former Penn teammate Corky Calhoun for the 10th spot on our list.

Armond Hill, now a Celtics assistant coach, spent eight years in the NBA.

9. Armond Hill, Princeton

Hill, like Wohl, joined the Celtics coaching staff in 2004, and he remains a trusted sidekick to Doc Rivers. The Ivy League Player of the Year in 1976, the 6-foot-4 guard was drafted ninth overall by the Hawks that year and went on to play eight NBA seasons, including six in Atlanta, averaging 6.9 points and 4.7 assists.

8. John Hummer, Princeton

After a standout career at Princeton in the late 1960s, Hummer was the third Ivy Leaguer to be drafted in 1970, behind Geoff Petrie (8th) and Jim McMillian (13th). The Braves passed on Calvin Murphy from nearby Niagara University to select Hummer, which didn’t go over well then and looked worse when Murphy went on to have a Hall of Fame career. Hummer wasn’t bad, averaging 11.3 points and 8.9 rebounds in his rookie season. The 6-foot-9 forward lasted six NBA seasons before getting his MBA from Stanford and becoming a venture capitalist.

7. Chris Dudley, Yale

Dudley, a fourth-round pick of the Cavaliers in 1987, somehow hung around for 16 seasons in the NBA, playing for six teams. He peaked in the early 1990s with the Nets, averaging 7.1 points and 8.4 rebounds for the 1990-91 squad. He finished with career averages of 3.9 points and 6.2 boards. The 6-11 center also was known for his horrendous free throw shooting, as he averaged .458 from the line, including a career-worst .319 (58-for-182) in 1989-90 for the Cavaliers and Nets. Now, he is running for Governor of Oregon as the Republican nominee.

6. Matt Maloney, Penn

The 1995 Ivy League Player of the Year went undrafted but had a more successful NBA career than his backcourt mate at Penn, second-round draft pick Jerome Allen. Maloney’s timing was perfect, as he hooked on with the Rockets after a year in the Continental Basketball Association and started all 82 games his rookie season on a team that featured Clyde Drexler, Hakeem Olajuwon and Charles Barkley. After three seasons in Houston, Maloney played one year in Chicago and two in Atlanta before calling it quits. He averaged 7.4 points and 2.9 assists, upping those marks to 10.1 points and 3.2 assists in 21 career playoff games, twice scoring 26 points in a postseason game.

5. Brian Taylor, Princeton

A second-round pick of the Seattle SuperSonics in 1972, the 6-foot-2 guard decided to take his chances with the ABA instead, joining the New York Nets and averaging 14.0 points over four seasons. In his first NBA season in 1976-77, he averaged a career-high 17.0 points as a member of the Kansas City Kings. He played six NBA seasons, the final four with the San Diego Clippers, and finished with career averages of 12.3 points and 4.5 assists.

4. Rudy LaRusso, Dartmouth

LaRusso was a second-round pick of the Lakers in 1959 and was a key part of the successful Los Angeles teams of the 1960s that kept losing to the Celtics in the finals. The 6-foot-7 LaRusso was a five-time All-Star who averaged a double double three consecutive seasons starting in 1961-62. He spent his last two seasons with the San Francisco Warriors, averaging a career-best 21.8 ppg in 1967-68, and retired after the 1968-69 season with career averages of 15.6 points and 9.4 rebounds over 10 years.

3. Jim McMillian, Columbia

McMillian, a 6-5 forward who was a first-round pick of the Lakers in 1970, was on the powerful Lakers teams of the early 1970s. He averaged 18.9 points per game for the 1972-73 NBA champions, and it was when he replaced Elgin Baylor (who retired) in the lineup that the Lakers embarked on their NBA record 33-game winning streak. The following season, he began a three-year stint with the Buffalo Braves. He wrapped up his career by playing two seasons with the Knicks and one for the Trail Blazers. In nine NBA seasons, he averaged 13.8 points and 5.3 rebounds.

2. Geoff Petrie, Princeton

A 6-foot-4 swingman, Petrie was the eighth pick in the 1970 NBA draft by the expansion Trail Blazers and shared Rookie of the Year honors with Celtics center Dave Cowens after averaging 24.8 ppg. In six seasons, all in Portland, he averaged 21.8 points and 4.6 assists. In 1976 Petrie was traded to the Hawks, but he suffered a career-ending knee injury before appearing in any games in Atlanta. He joined the Blazers front office the late 1980s and moved over to the Kings in 1994. He was named NBA Executive of the Year in 1999 and 2001 for Sacramento and now serves as the Kings’ team president. His No. 45 was retired by the Blazers in 1985.

1. Bill Bradley, Princeton

The national Player of the Year in 1965, Bradley went to Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship for two years before returning and playing in the NBA. The 6-foot-5 forward played all of his 10 NBA seasons with the Knicks, winning championships in 1970 and ‘73 and averaging 12.4 points, 3.4 assists and 3.2 rebounds. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1983 and had his No. 24 jersey retired by the Knicks in 1984. He went on to become a three-term U.S. Senator from New Jersey and mounted an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2000.

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