These Two New York Knicks’ Players Won NBA and NCAA Titles

Last night in New Orleans, players and staff on the Kansas Jayhawks' men's basketball team cut down the nets, and lifted the trophy, as they were crowned National Champions of NCAA Division I basketball.

Winning a championship, at any level, is an extremely difficult thing to do. There's a great deal of skill involved, but there's just as much luck involved in order to bring a team to the promised land.

To win twice, meanwhile, is darn near impossible. Only a select few have been able to win at the collegiate and professional levels, and these New York Knicks are part of that list.

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Henry Bibby

Born in North Carolina in 1949, Bibby was a centerpiece in the most dominant dynasty in college basketball history: the 1960s and '70s UCLA Bruins. Bibby was one of four players, at the time, to have started in three NCAA championship games, and ended up winning three titles in a row from 1970 through 1972.

Bibby would parlay his college success into a professional career, being drafted by the New York Knicks in the 4th round in 1972 draft. Bibby's success would follow him to the Empire State, as he and the Knicks would go on to win an NBA title in the 1972-73 season.

Though that would be his only title as a player before he left the NBA in 1981, his championship resume is beyond reproach.

Jerry Lucas

Also on this list, Jerry Lucas has won titles at the collegiate and pro levels, as well. Lucas was born in Ohio in 1940, and attended Ohio State to play college basketball after winning two state championships with Middletown High School.

Lucas would play in win two Final Four Most Outstanding Player Awards, and ultimately win a National Championship in 1960 with the Buckeyes. Lucas joined the Cincinnati Royals in the NBA in 1963, and after a stop in San Francisco, arrive in New York in 1971.

Lucas was also part of the 1972-73 Knicks team that won an NBA title. He scored 9.9 points per game as the "sixth man" on the Knicks, and averaged over seven rebounds per game, as well.

He would even go on to appear on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson for a memorable interview.

He would end his playing career after the following season, but not before he put his name on one of the most exclusive lists in basketball.

That list? Winning a national title, and winning an NBA title, all in one career.