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2016 NBA Draft: Which Conferences Produced The Most Draft Picks?

The draft was finally here, from #1 pick Ben Simmons to the last pick of the draft, there was plenty of intrigue, but how'd the Big Ten fair against all of the other conferences?

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Thursday night's NBA Draft was filled with a lot of excitement and some disappointment for the 60 draft selections, but which NCAA conferences enjoyed draft night success.

Let's look at how the Big Ten stacked up against the other conferences:

Big Ten

--Picks: Denzel Valentine, Caris LeVert, Deyonta Davis, Diamond Stone, A.J. Hammons, Jake Layman

The Big Ten had a solid night being 1 of 3 conferences who had at least six players selected. The most known Big Ten prospect was Michigan State's Denzel Valentine who went 14th overall to the Chicago Bulls, where he'll bring his Draymond Green-like versatility to a Bulls team in desperate need of a guard. Also, Michigan Wolverines guard Caris LeVert was the only other Big Ten player to be selected in the first round.

Valentine was the only lottery pick drafted, while the most shocking fall in the entire draft just so happened to be his Michigan State teammate Deyonta Davis, who was a projected lottery pick. He surprisingly fell out of the first round being selected as the 31st pick just missing the cut.

Maryland's Diamond Stone then went 40th overall to the New Orleans Pelicans, but was dealt to the Los Angeles Clippers via trade. His size and length will be of much help to a team who lacks front-court depth, as we saw during the NBA Playoffs after Blake Griffin's injury. Though Purdue's A.J. Hammons was also selected in the second round (46th) to the Dallas Mavericks many people applauded the Hammons pick including ESPN's own Jay Bilas.

Pac 12

--Picks: Jaylen Brown, Marquese Chriss, Jakob Poeltl, Dejounte Murray, Tyrone Wallace

The Pac 12 had three players go in the top 10, the most in the draft, and four players selected in the first round. You can definitely say they had a great night. The Boston Celtics stunned everyone taking Jaylen Brown 3rd overall, but he's been compared to guys like Jimmy Butler and Kawhi Leonard so that's good company.

SEC

--Picks: Ben Simmons, Jamal Murray, Wade Baldwin, Skal Labissiere, Damian Jones, Tyler Ulis

The SEC had one of the best nights with Ben Simmons going No.1 overall and Jamal Murray being in the lottery as well. With those two, they had the most first round draft picks (5) of any conference.

ACC

--Picks: Brandon Ingram, Malik Beasley, Malachi Richardson, Brice Johnson, Malcolm Brogdon, Chinanu Onuaku, Demetrius Jackson, Michael Gbinije, Marcus Paige

Brandon Ingram was the only ACC lottery pick, going 2nd overall to the Los Angeles Lakers, but the ACC had the best night in terms of players drafted (9), four in the first round and five in the second.

Big 12

--Picks: Buddy Hield, Taurean Prince, Cheick Diallo, Georges Niang, Abdel Nader, Isaiah Cousins

Buddy Hield was the obvious highlight of the Big 12's night and though they had six players drafted this group is highlighted by the star-quality Hield possesses.

Big East

--Picks: Kris Dunn, Henry Ellenson, Isaiah Whitehead, Ben Bentil

The Big East didn't do that great as a whole.They did have two first rounders, but with Kris Dunn being drafted in the top-five, it makes this look much better than it is.

Here are the other conferences:

Atlantic 10: DeAndre' Bembry

AAC: Daniel Hamilton

Big Sky: Joel Bolomboy

Horizon League: Kay Felder

MWC: Patrick McCaw, Stephen Zimmerman

WCC: Domantas Sabonis, Pascal Siakam

A total of 10 NCAA conferences saw at least one player drafted during Thursday night and if you're the Big Ten comparing yourself to other conferences, despite a down year of top NBA talent, you have to be excited with the outcome.