Of this group, only Miles Plumlee was a four-year college player.

For more on this phenomenon, read my story here.

No. 12 – Jeremy Lamb

No. 13 – Kendall Marshall

No. 16 – Royce White

No. 18 – Terrence Jones

No. 22 – Fab Melo

No. 23 – John Jenkins

No. 24 – Jared Cunningham

No. 25 – Tony Wroten Jr.

No. 26 – Miles Plumlee

No. 27 – Arnett Moultrie

No. 28 – Perry Jones III

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Six of them altogether.

Well, three of them are now in the NBA D-League after the Milwaukee Bucks sent Doron Lamb down to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants on Saturday.

Lamb joins Terrence Jones (Houston Rockets) — the No. 18 overall pick — and Darius Miller (New Orleans Hornets) — the No. 46 pick — as members of the 2012 NCAA champions on D-League rosters.

All told, 25 players from the 2012 NBA Draft class have been assigned to the D-League so far this season.

The 6-foot-4 Lamb, a Queens, N.Y. native, was the No. 42 overall pick in last year’s NBA Draft. He has appeared in 23 games for the Bucks this year, averaging 3.4 points and 12.2 minutes. He scored a season-high eight points on four occasions.

Of the six Kentucky players drafted, only Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist — the No. 1 and 2 overall picks — are contributing meaningfully to their teams.

Davis is averaging 13.2 points and 7.7 rebounds for the Hornets, who visit the Knicks Sunday.

Kidd-Gilchrist, the former Elizabeth (N.J.) St. Patrick star, is averaging 11 points and 6.4 boards for the Charlotte Bobcats.

Marquis Teague, the No. 29 overall pick, is averaging 2.3 points and 1.5 assists for the Chicago Bulls and got a DNP in Friday night’s 108-101 win over the Knicks.

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The 6-foot-9 Jones was selected by the Houston Rockets with the No. 18 pick in the 2012 NBA Draft out of national champion Kentucky, one of six Wildcats drafted.

He rejoins the Rio Grande Valley Vipers following a two-game stint there earlier this season in which he averaged 22.5 points and 17.5 boards. He played in eight games with the Rockets, averaging 4.3 points and 2.1 rebounds.

The Oklahoma City assigned both Orton, the No. 29 pick in 2010 out of Kentucky, and Lamb, the No. 12 pick in 2012 out of UConn, to the Tulsa 66ers.

All told, 20 picks in the 2012 Draft have been assigned to the D-League this year.

For more, read my recent feature on the topic.

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In order to make room for Adrien, Rod Higgins, the Bobcats’ president for basketball operations, said the team had waived his son, Cory Higgins, in his second season with the team.

The 6-foot-7 Adrien has appeared in five games for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, averaging team-highs of 17.6 points and 11.2 rebounds. He led the team in scoring in two of the team’s five games.

Adrien last played in the NBA with Golden State and Houston during the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons. In 31 career games, he averaged 2.5 points and 2.6 rebounds.

Undrafted in 2009, Adrien played in 133 games for UConn, averaging 12.1 points and 8.5 rebounds.

(The AP contributed reporting)

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On Thursday, Lamb, out of UConn, and Marshall, from North Carolina, were among the latest in a parade of  2012 draft picks sent to the NBA D-League.

On Saturday, the Atlanta Hawks assigned both Jenkins, the No. 23 pick in the draft out of Vanderbilt, and Mike Scott of Virginia, the No. 43 pick, to the D-League.

And on Monday, the Oklahoma City Thunder sent down Perry Jones, the former Baylor star picked No. 28 in the draft.

All told, seven first-round picks from last year’s draft have been assigned to the D-League, and 13 drafted players overall. Only one of the seven first-rounders — Duke’s Miles Plumlee — spent four years in college.

“We’ve certainly seen an increase in the number of assignments this year,” Chris Alpert, Vice President of Basketball Operations and Player Personnel, told SNY.tv by phone.

“It certainly says a lot about the philosophy [of NBA franchises]. They see that the NBA D-League is a great place, a very competitive environment for players to accelerate their development as basketball players.”

Alpert said more first- and second-round picks could still be sent down to develop their games.

“I think they definitely could,” he said. “It’s just a question of each individual NBA team’s situation and whether they can afford to send them down. And when I saw afford, I mean is the team going on the road, is the player going to be playing at all over the next couple of weeks. And every NBA team’s situation is a little bit different.”

Earlier this year, the Boston Celtics sent No. 22 pick Fab Melo and No. 51 pick Kris Joseph, both of whom played at Syracuse, to the Maine Red Claws. (Joseph was recalled by the Celtics on Friday.)

Tony Wroten, the No. 25 pick out of Washington by the Memphis Grizzlies, and Plumlee, the No. 26 pick out of Duke by the Indiana Pacers, were also sent down.

In addition, former Santa Barbara star Orlando Johnson, the No. 36 pick of the Sacramento Kings; former Baylor star Quincy Miller, the No. 38 pick of the Denver Nuggets; former Tennessee Tech standout Kevin Murphy, the No. 47 pick of the Utah Jazz; former Marquette star Darius Johnson-Odom, the No. 55 pick of the Dallas Mavericks; and Robert Sacre, the No. 60 pick of the Los Angeles Lakers, were all sent down.

The Nets are also reportedly planning on sending rookie point guard Tyshawn Taylor of Kansas, the No. 41 pick, down soon.

The Knicks sent several of their training camp invites — Oscar Bellfield, Mychel Thompson and Henry Sims — to the Erie Bayhawks, but none have been recalled.

There is good news for guys in the D-League.

Last season, the D-League generated 60 NBA call-ups among 43 players, both records.

Some NBA teams have single-affiliation relationships with D-League teams, meaning they can assign and recall players as often as they want.

On Nov. 14, the Celtics assigned the former Syracuse stars Melo and Joseph to the Maine Red Claws, and Joseph recently told ESPNBoston.com he has benefitted from the experience.

“It’s cool, real cool,” he said. “It’s real good, going there, giving me an opportunity to play and work on some game-time things, not just practicing, playing in a real game under the whistle, so it’s been a great experience so far for these past two games.

“I’ve been through the process of being patient and waiting your turn, and right now I’m just really learning. I watch every game the Celtics play when I’m away, and when I’m here, I’m either at a game or here at practice or just trying to learn and keep getting better.”

Joseph averaged 25.5 points and 7.5 rebounds in his first two games, both wins, but told ESPNBoston he underestimated the talent in the D-League.

“You know, those guys down there are really good,” Joseph said. “Because even if you think about the guys on my team, I have Shelvin Mack who played with the Wizards and Chris Wright who got called to Golden State, Xavier Silas with the Sixers, so there’s a lot of talent in that league, and a lot of people, myself included — I didn’t know how good of a league it was before actually being a part of it. So, it’s been great. Being here and playing against these guys every day and going there definitely gave me a slight advantage, because I’m playing against some of the best in the world.”

Former Iona star Scott Machado, who went undrafted, was recently called up by the Houston Rockets after getting sent down and said he, too, benefitted.

In two games with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, Machado averaged 16.0 points, 8.0 assists and 5.0 rebounds.

“It was great,” Machado told the Houston Chronicle of his experience in the NBA D-League. “Something new. Something I had to get accustomed to. I made the best of it. I feel like going down there, since you haven’t played in games, you have to get the rust out. You try to get in game shape and try to develop so you can come back up here ready to play.”

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Three former Northeast college stars are headed to the NBA D-League.

The Houston Rockets on Wednesday assigned former Iona point guard Scott Machado to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers., their D-League affiliate.

Undrafted out of Iona in 2012, Machado appeared in six preseason games with the Rockets, averaging 3.5 points, 5.3 assists, 1.7 rebounds and 13.5 minutes.

Houston previously sent Royce White to the D-League and he skipped Monday’s game and Tuesday’s practice for reasons that went unexplained.

White has also taken to Twitter and issued a statement through the AP criticizing the Rockets for the way they’ve handled his anxiety disorder.

“At this point, the Rockets are aware of my position and the reason for my absence, any other response is inaccurate,” the statement read. “This is important to me, it is a health issue. I must advocate for my rights, it is a player-commodity league — the failure to meet my requests for support will end with me being unhealthy and that is not a consequence that I am willing to accept to play any sport.”

Meantime, the Boston Celtics assigned former Syracuse stars Kris Joseph and Fab Melo to the Maine Red Claws, the Celtics’ NBA Development League affiliate.

Melo was also selected in the first round, 22^nd overall, by Boston in the 2012 NBA Draft and appeared in eight preseason games with the Celtics, scoring two points and grabbing ten rebounds in 47 minutes.

Joseph was selected in the second round, 51^st overall and appeared in one preseason game for Boston.  

Photo: ESPN.com

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The 6-foot-6, 220-pound Henry has appeared in 24 games for the Hornets this season, averaging 5.0 points, 1.9 rebounds and 14.3 minutes.  In his 62-game NBA career, he has averaged 4.6 points, 1.3 rebounds and 14.0 minutes.

Originally selected by the Memphis Grizzlies with the 12th overall pick of  the 2010 NBA Draft, Henry joined the Hornets as part of a three-team trade on Jan. 4.

In one season at Kansas, Henry averaged 13.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.5 steals.

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“I just knew I had to work that much harder to basically show I can play at this level,” the Brooklyn-born Thomas told SNY.tv Friday night at Madison Square Garden before the New Orleans Hornets snapped the Knicks’ seven-game winning streak, 89-85.

“So I did everything in my power. I got stronger, I improved a lot on my offensive game. I even improved more on the defensive end. I just found a way.”

And now it’s paid off.

On Super Bowl Sunday, the Hornets called up the 6-foot-8 Thomas, a former Duke and St. Benedict’s Prep standout.

He had been averaging 15.2 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 32.6 minutes with the Austin Toros.

Thomas, 23, logged eight minutes against the Knicks, scoring 2 points and grabbing 1 rebound. Since the call-up, he’s averaging 2.0 points and 2.3 boards.

While playing for Dan Hurley at St. Benedict’s, Thomas famously chose Duke over Rutgers at the last minute before announcing his decision at a press conference.

(Another former Hurley product, J.R. Smith, was signed by the Knicks Friday.)

He then evolved into a solid glue guy at Duke, helping them win the NCAA championship in 2010, when he averaged 4.8 points and 4.9 rebounds.

Thomas went undrafted and spent the 2010-11 season with the Toros, averaging 12.6 points and 5.5 rebounds in 29.9 minutes.

He is now working on his second 10-day contract and said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski and assistant Steve Wojciechowski have congratulated him “plenty of times.”

“They’re very happy for me,” he said.

Asked if there was pressure to perform on a 10-day contract, Thomas said, “There is, but this is what I prepared for. This is where I want to be, this is what I worked hard for. So instead of it being a pressure 10 days, I’m just going to go and just be confident playing.”

Thomas had about a dozen family and friends at Friday’s game, but admitted it was hard to get tickets because of all the Linsanity.

“It was hard to get tickets with Jeremy Lin playing the way he’s playing,” Thomas said. “

Thomas played against Lin in the D-League and knows all about Linsanity.

“Man, he’s a good player,” Thomas said. “He’s a really good player. I’m happy for him.”

Photo: NBA.com

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GREENBURGH, N.Y. – Before about a week ago, the Erie (Pa.) BayHawks’ most famous alumnus was Ivan Johnson, a rookie forward now averaging 5.5 points a game with the Atlanta Hawks.

“We had Ivan Johnson last year,” Erie coach Jay Larranaga told SNY.tv Monday during a phone interview. “He’s been a pretty big story for the Hawks who we’re very proud of as well.”

As grand as Johnson’s stint in Erie was — he averaged 22.6 points in 49 games with the NBA D-League outfit — he has already been supplanted in BayHawks’ lore.

You see, a young man named Jeremy Lin played one game for Erie on Jan. 23 against the Maine Red Claws in Portland, Me. All he did was put up a triple-double of 28 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds in a 122-113 win.

What’s that guy up to now, anyway?

“He’s the most famous basketball player in the world,” Larranaga said with a laugh.

Yes, it was a different time when Lin played in Erie. Nicknames like Linsanity and the Lin Dynasty had yet to be coined.

Lin and Knicks teammate Jerome Jordan were sent down by interim general manager Glen Grunwald Jan. 17 in an effort to get them some playing time because they weren’t getting much with the Knicks.

“They’ll be back pretty soon,” Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni said Jan. 18 before the Knicks lost the fourth game of a six-game losing streak to Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns. “There’s not enough practices. They were just sitting there. We do want them to play and be in game condition in case you need them. This is the perfect time to do it now.”

Up until that point, Lin had appeared in five games for the Knicks and scored just five points while dishing two assists. There was no indication — none — he was anything more than a backup, stop-gap type of point guard in case Toney Douglas or Iman Shumpert got hurt.

Larranaga said that some guys have trouble adapting to being sent down to the D-League, but that Lin and Jordan were exceptions.

“It’s a difficult time for certain guys to get assigned to the D-League,” he said. “You know, they look at it as a demotion and neither Jeremy nor Jerome looked at it that way.

“They looked at it as an opportunity for Jeremy to play in game conditions.”

Lin himself called his time in Erie valuable. He was not unfamiliar with the D-League, having spent several stints there last season with the Reno Bighorns, the Golden State Warriors’ affiliate.

“It definitely helped me because they run the same system in Erie and I think that’s proper development, I guess,” Lin said Monday at Knicks’ practice. “It helped me a lot and Jerome a lot, too, actually, just learning to work together, work the pick and roll, understand the chemistry, the flow, the pace.”

Larranaga said Lin was the perfect teammate during his brief stint in Erie.

“From the first practice, it was noticeable that Jeremy first of all had a personality and a spirit about him that other players gravitate to,” Larranaga said. “He had an energy about him the way he approached practice, the way he approached the travel.

“This is a team he joined and two days later, he’s organizing everyone going to the movies together and organizing what are we getting to eat and then picking up the tab, on a team he had known for two days. He just knows the right thing to do and the right situation and I think that’s why people love playing with him. He’s a great teammate.”

Before and after the game in Maine, Larranaga emailed with Grunwald and Erie GM Allan Houston “just giving them feedback.”

After the triple-double performance, Lin sat out Erie’s next game with a sprained ankle and was then recalled by the Knicks, along with Jordan, on Jan. 23.

Part of the motivation in recalling Lin and Jordan was that rookie Josh Harrellson had fractured his wrist and Baron Davis’ ever-vague timetable remained vague.

“That’s why we brought the two kids back from the D-League and we’ll be able to go three-on-three , four-on-four, maybe even five-on-five, but we’ll have enough to where we can practice,” D’Antoni said then.

Still, Grunwald, D’Antoni and Larranaga could have never imagined what would come next.

Since stepping in to play major minutes against the Nets Feb. 4, Lin has led the Knicks to a 5-0 record, 4-0 as a starter. He was named the NBA Eastern Conference Player of the Week, becoming the first player to win the award in the NBA and the D-League, where he earned it with Reno.

The 109 points he scored in his first four NBA starts is more than Allen Iverson, Shaquille O’Neal and Michael Jordan.

“I don’t think anyone could expect a young point guard to come in and break the scoring record of the first four starts of Michael Jordan,” Larranaga said. “I don’t think anyone would expect that.”

No, but now that he’s done it, it’s safe to say Jeremy Lin has eclipsed Ivan Johnson as the most famous Erie BayHawk of them all.

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The 6-foot-2 Selby appeared in 18 games for the Grizzlies this season, averaging 2.9 points and 1.4 assists on 39 percent shooting in 10.3 minutes

After one season at Kansas, Selby was originally selected 49th overall in the 2011 NBA Draft. He averaged 7.9 points, 2.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 26 games at Kansas.

Selby was expected to join the Bighorns Monday and be available Tuesday when the team hosts the Austin Toros.

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