At the end of my senior year in college – despite having not played organized basketball since high school and maintaining a 1.8 blood alcohol level for four years straight, my friends dared me to declare for the NBA draft. I wrote an official letter the NBA commissioner David Stern and presented my accolades: Six-foot-two. 3.8 G.P.A. Fraternity scoring leader on the eight-foot hoop in the parking lot.

I wasn’t selected.

Looking back now, I have to argue that I might have been a better pick than 75% of the players in the 1997 NBA draft. Sure, the draft produced perennial all-stars Tim Duncan (#1), Chauncey Billups (#3) and Tracy McGrady (#9), but for every one of those guys, there are three Ed Elismas (#40), Bubba Wellses (#34) and Ben Peppers (#55). Who’s to say that if I was chosen in the late second round I wouldn’t have made a better impact than a guy like 44th pick Cedric Henderson?

I was too short to be a forward, my high school position. My handle wasn’t strong enough to compete for a point guard slot, so basically, my only shot was to be drafted as a shooting guard – and my guess is I would have been picked somewhere around 46 – where Orlando took Alabama marksman Eric Washington. (For the record, Washington’s best year came with the Idaho Stampede in the NBA D-League in 2010).

Due to some late garbage time minutes, I estimate I would have averaged roughly 1.2 points a game… which is more than draft picks C.J. Bruton (#52), Roberto Duenas (#57) and Nate Erdmann (#55) ever averaged in their careers.

The 11th pick of the draft was a guy named Tariq Abdul-Wahad. Nobody past the top 10 picks truly ever made a big statement in the NBA. Sure, Stephen Jackson (#42) was a key piece to the 2003 Spurs, Bobby Jackson (#23) was a sixth man spark plug and Mark Blount (#54) was a dependable center for a few teams – but overall, 1997 was pretty mediocre. Even though I once bought into the ESPN theory that Jacque Vaughn (#27) would be the next Allen Iverson.

My own personal draft journey began after a two-game playoff run in the annual 1997 fraternity basketball challenge.

It was in a game against Pi Kappa Alpha. Their starting point guard tried to take me off the dribble to the left. I stuck my arm just above his bounce and poked the ball free into the open court. I ran after it, scooped it up, and laid it in for the victory. My fraternity, Alpha Epsilon Pi, had won our first playoff game in 10 years. In our next contest, we gave the brothers of Sigma Alpha Epsilon a good run, and I poured in 21 points. Ultimately, we lost on a late technical foul call when I got kicked out for calling the referee a “dickbag.”

It was after that game, while consuming a lot of Natural Light beer, that I decided to declare for the draft.

Selwyn, in the middle after winning a 3-on-3 championship last year

On draft day 1997, I sat on my mother’s couch with bated breath as the others had their moments. I ordered some pizza for my family. My mother thought I had lost my mind.

As the evening progressed, I had seen enough of the long, tailored mustard and pinstriped suits making their way to the podium to shake David Stern’s hand. I watched as guys like Tony Battie (#5), Danny Fortson (#10), and Antonio Daniels (#4) put on those crisp new NBA caps. I accepted the inevitable as the first round telecast came to an end.

The second round was only on the radio, so I sat in my Civic, listening in.

“And with the 48^th pick in the 1997 NBA Draft, the Washington Bullets select Predrag Drobnjak from KK Partizan, Serbia.”

Really? A guy named Predrag was taken? Nobody could even pronounce his name. So what if he was a six-foot-eleven, three-time Euroleague National Champion? I played on the frat tournament second runner-up team!

Most of the players from the ’97 draft ended up overseas, injured or, in Ron Mercer’s (#6) case, involved in a strip club assault or two. I was no different — except for the fact that I never played one minute in the NBA.

Then again, neither did Serge Zwikker (#29), Mark Sanford (#30) or Gordon Malone (#44).

I still think I would have had a shot.

(Editor’s note: Zach Selwyn currently averages 15.2 points per game in his over-40 YMCA league.)

Images: NBA.com, Zachselwyn.com