For high school recruits today, one of the biggest factors in their decision is how a college coach and program will prepare them for the NBA. Even if they aren't NBA material, it very well might be the biggest factor for recruits making their college choice.
A poster on our message board, fenwayfrank, did some excellent research in regard to preparing players for the NBA during Ben Howland's tenture at UCLA, and comparing it to other prominent college coaches and programs.
Howland's first recruiting class was the high school of 2004. Since that time he has signed 19 players (not counting the 2010 class that signed this November and are still high school seniors) -- 11 are on this year’s team, five are in the NBA, one is playing professionally elsewhere, and two have transferred.
Here are some intriguing stats of the five ex-Bruins under Howland who are currently playing in the NBA. Emphasized are minutes per game as a good indicator of their value to their NBA team, while also listed are PPG and RPG.
Below are average minutes/PPG/RPG:
UCLA
Russell Westbrook 29/13/4
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute 27/9/7
Kevin Love 23/8/8
Jordan Farmar 20/8/2
Arron Afflalo 17/5/2
Total 116/43/23
Below are the statistics of six other major programs that have had the same coach since Howland joined UCLA, including only the players who emerged from the high school class of 2004 or later:
North Carolina
Marvin Williams 35/14/6
Brandan Wright 17/8/4
Total 52/22/10
Duke
Josh McRoberts 9/2/2
DeMarcus Nelson 13/4/2
Total 22/6/4
Connecticut
Rudy Gay 37/20/6
Total 37/20/6
Florida
Al Horford 33/11/9
Joakim Noah 17/4/5
Corey Brewer 20/6/3
Marreese Speights 15/8/4
Total 85/29/21
Memphis
Derrick Rose 38/17/4
Chris Douglas-Roberts 13/3/0
Joey Dorsey 2/1/0
Total 53/21/4
Texas
Kevin Durant 38/23/5
LaMarcus Aldridge 35/17/7
D.J. Augustin 29/12/2
Daniel Gibson 24/9/2
Total 126/61/16