Pivot moves

This column appears in the December 28 issue of ESPN The Magazine.

Remember when it seemed like only teams with elite centers made deep Tourney runs? Well, give or take a Greg Oden or two, the days of a Ewing or Olajuwon ruling the Final Four are long gone. "The trend over the past 10 years has been for big men to shift outside," says one NBA Western Conference scout. "The seven-foot post presence is becoming more and more rare in today's college systems." As big-time coaches lean toward wide-open offenses like dribble-drive motion, back-to-the-hoop centers are scrambling for scholarships. And crafty mid-majors are gobbling them up -- and spitting them out to the NBA.

To learn more about the shift of big men playing at mid-majors before going to the NBA, you must be an ESPN Insider.

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