NCAA Riches to NBA Rags is The Dagger's countdown of the best college basketball players who went on to have disappointing NBA careers. For an explanation of the criteria used in compiling this list, check out our introductory entry. Today we look at No. 9, Gonzaga's Adam Morrison. 

For a moment on the night of March 26, 2006, Adam Morrison was on top of the basketball world. Morrison -- an All-American, national player of the year candidate, two-time Sports Illustrated cover boy, the latest "next Larry Bird" -- and his third-seeded Gonzaga Bulldogs had a nine-point lead on No. 2 seed UCLA with three minutes to play in their Sweet 16 game in the NCAA tournament. It's all been downhill from there.

Morrison infamously cried on the court after Gonzaga's loss, but things were looking up three months later when he was selected with the No. 3 pick in the NBA draft by the Charlotte Bobcats.

His first season in the league wasn't terrible (he made the All Rookie second-team on 11.8 ppg), but a devastating knee injury later that year kept him out for his sophomore campaign. He was used sparingly in Charlotte during this, his comeback season, and played even less after getting traded to the Lakers in February. He's been watching the NBA finals from the end of the bench in street clothes, his trademark shaggy hair shorn down to a buzz cut. That's a long fall for a guy that scouts once called "literally unguardable". (I think they meant figuratively.) 

It's too early to call Morrison's career a complete wash, but it seems highly unlikely that his time in the NBA will be anything but a disappointment. Morrison is a scorer who can't score. To even say that he plays defense suggests he is somewhat familiar with the concept.

Morrison's old video game-partner J.J. Redick, who was a superior college player, didn't make this top 10 because it still seems possible that he can carve out a niche in the NBA (although it's still amazing that Stan Van Gundy gives him crunch-time minutes). For Adam Morrison to do that, it would be as miraculous as UCLA's comeback on that March evening three years ago.

NCAA Rags to NBA Riches countdown:

No. 10 -- Danny Ferry

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