Basketball rivalries that start in college and then carry over into the professional ranks are surprisingly rare in the history of the sport. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird are an obvious example after they met in the 1979 NCAA National Championship Game and then three more times in the NBA Finals.
Another is Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing, as the two centers faced each other in the 1984 National Title Game before meeting in the NBA Finals exactly a decade later.
