Top 5 Notable Active NBA Players that never played in NCAA's March Madness

In the month of March, the NBA viewership takes a dip, despite the fact that the league is only a month away from the Playoffs. A large part of that dip is all the attention that goes to the collegiate basketball annual elimination tournament - NCAA's March Madness.

Another reason is also the fact that, in March, the league is over five months old and the regular season starts to get a little bit mundane. Everybody wants things to be fast-forwarded to the postseason but obviously, this season, more than ever, has games in March that are important for teams that are still fighting for Playoff spots in the West ( just Playoff standings in the East).

There are multiple outstanding performances by current NBA players during their college days in the NCAA Tournament but what about current special players in the league that never made it to the tournament.

We got you covered with the Top 5, in no specific order:

Klay Thompson - Washington State [2008-11]

Klay Thompson in College [Image courtesy: SI.com]

The 2-time NBA Champion Klay Thompson played three years for the Washington State Cougars but not one of the years did the team make it to the NCAA's March tourney.

As a program, the Cougars don't exactly have a rich history in terms of the March Madness. They've only made 6 appearances (1941, 1980, 1983, 1994, 2007 and 2008) in the tournament with an overall record of 6-6. Of those six appearances, the furthest they've reached in the competition was the National Championship game in 1941 but in recent times their Sweet Sixteen appearance in 2008 was the best.

They made it two years in a row before Thompson (2007, 08) joined them but they haven't been able to crack the code since. Each of his three years, Thompson's impact and numbers improved, earning him well-deserved honors like - Pac 10 All-Freshman Team (2009) and the All-Pac-10 First Team (2010).

Fortunately, for this sharpshooter, not taking part in March Madness didn't really affect his career trajectory, as he got drafted by the Golden State Warriors in 2011 Draft. He is easily in the debate to make the list of the 5 greatest shooters ever.