I’m thrilled to be wrong. Lamar Patterson got drafted a bit earlier in the second round than even the few mock drafts that still had him listed.

University of Pittsburgh senior forward Lamar Patterson (Lancaster, Pa./St. Benedict’s Prep, N.J.) was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks with the No. 48 pick in Thursday evening’s 2014 NBA Draft. Seconds later, ESPN announced that Milwaukee traded Patterson to the Atlanta Hawks.

Patterson is the second Pitt player drafted in the last two seasons as Steven Adams was taken by the Oklahoma City Thunder with the No. 12 overall pick last June. Patterson becomes the sixth Pitt player selected in the NBA Draft in the last 10 years: Chris Taft (2005), Aaron Gray (2007), Sam Young (2009), DeJuan Blair (2009), Steven Adams (2013) and Lamar Patterson (2014).

The 6-foot-5, 225-pound Patterson helped guide Pitt to three NCAA Tournament appearances, a 122-49 combined record, five consecutive 20-win seasons and a 78-17 record at the Petersen Events Center. An all-around player, Patterson became just the third player in school history to surpass 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 400 assists in a career (the other two players were Carl Krauser, 2002-06 and Brad Wanamaker, 2007-11). He set a school-record for most career games played (148), started 106 games, scored 1,410 points, grabbed 588 rebounds, dished out 427 assists and hit 171 3-pointers over his five-year career.

In Pitt’s basketball history, Patterson is just the 29th player drafted to the NBA or ABA.

Nothing is guaranteed him as a 2d rounder. He still has to make the team — which means performing well in the NBA summer league. I’m still not sure how much playing time he will see. There’s a good chance he spends a lot of time being shuttled to the D-League.

Still, he has a chance. He heard his name called on draft night.

I feel the need to also note that Khem Birch went undrafted. The one-time McDonald’s All-American who left Pitt barely a semester into his career for UNLV came out this year.

Birch had words about Pitt after he left. Complaining about the system, his role and playing time. He wanted more uptempo and envisioned himself as a power forward. The problem was, while he was athletic as all get-out, he had no shooting touch. Extremely raw, and even his rebounding was not very good. He could block shots, though.

So, to UNLV he went. A more uptempo team. One where he could showcase his athleticism. The problem was, that was all he did. He improved as a rebounder in his final season, but his scoring was still a weak spot — no range beyond 3-feet. He wasn’t a great ball handler. The footwork didn’t improve.

This isn’t the fault of the UNLV coaches. Nor is it even Birch’s “advisors” who pushed him to transfer and to come out a year early. No, this was on Birch not taking willing to really learn. Just wanting to run and use his athleticism. It’s why he was a McDonald’s All-American and became not much else.

If he doesn’t figure that out at this point, even a Euroleague career will be very brief.