Salary research organization PayScale surveyed alumni of the top 64 universities with men’s basketball teams participating in March Madness this year. A few notes about the data: Only graduates with 5 to 15 years of work experience were selected to give a portrait of mid-career salaries; unemployed and self-employed alumni were excluded. Median figures were used instead of averages (a wise decision, since many of the top sports heroes go on to make millions in the pros, which would skew the numbers).

Perhaps not surprisingly, Duke takes home the championship by a wide margin:

So how does your bracket stack up? See the full PayScale report here.

(via Economix)

Walker was well-known as a gambler on the court. A prolific outside shooter, he was often criticized for attempting 3-point shots at the expense of higher percentage inside shots. (An average NBA three pointer goes in only 36.7% of the time compared to 48.5% for a 2 point shot.) This criticism was largely misplaced: Walker averaged 0.98 points per 3 pointer attempted versus 0.89 points per 2 pointer attempted.

His gambling off the court, on the other hand, was far less publicized at the time — and far more personally damaging. When you’re playing “$15,000 hands with Michael Jordan during an all-night gambling session where estimates of money lost and won totaled several hundred thousand dollars,” you might have a problem. A salary of $49 million — a conservative estimate of what he took home after taxes and agent fees — is a lot, but that’s not Jordan money.

And as we’ve talked about before, the hidden costs of being a celebrity and “taking care” of friends and family adds up quickly:

Off the court, there were the cars, the jewelry, the houses, the suits, the gambling. He liked to move in an outsized entourage; his mother estimates that, during his playing days, he was supporting 70 friends and family members in one way or another. And speaking of his mother, he built her a mansion in the Chicago suburbs, complete with an indoor pool, 10 bathrooms, and a full-size basketball court.

[…]

Living at the Bishops Forest condominium complex in Waltham during the Celtics season, Walker turned the pavement surrounding his home into a virtual luxury car lot – two Bentleys, two Mercedes, a Range Rover, a Cadillac Escalade, a bright red Hummer. Often, the vehicles were tricked out with custom paint jobs, rims, and sound systems at considerable added expense. He also collected top-line watches – Rolexes and diamond-encrusted Cartiers.

The lessons here are simple and apply to everyone, not just athletes making $9 million a year: Make sure you’re saving a good chunk of your salary, limit your risky investments/gambles, and create and track a budget so you can stay on top of your cash flow.