As of the NBA's opening day, there are 115 NCAA schools with a former player on an NBA roster. The one with the most representatives shouldn’t be much of a surprise: Kentucky.
There are currently 30 former Wildcats spread throughout the NBA, including 2018 first round picks Kevin Knox (New York Knicks) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (LA Clippers). Those 30 players are spread among ;18 teams, but the most Kentucky-saturated roster in the league belongs to the Sacramento Kings, who have Willie Cauley-Stein, Skal Labissiere, De’Aaron Fox, and Wenyen Gabriel among their ranks. In total, more than 5 percent of all NBA players went to Kentucky.
Duke is the only other school with more than 20 players in the NBA, at 25. Four of those are in their first year, as Marvin Bagley III (Sacramento Kings), Wendell Carter Jr. (Chicago Bulls), Grayson Allen (Utah Jazz) and Gary Trent Jr. (Portland Trail Blazers) were all drafted in 2018.
Just six other schools have double-digit players on NBA rosters, and all eight of the schools come from power conferences (ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Big East Pac-12, SEC). Those conferences account for 80 percent of all college players currently on NBA rosters.
| Conference | NBA players |
|---|---|
| ACC | 82 |
| Pac-12 | 69 |
| SEC | 63 |
| Big 12 | 41 |
| Big Ten | 39 |
| Big East | 31 |
| AAC | 24 |
| Mountain West | 10 |
| A-10 | 10 |
| West Coast | 5 |
| Ohio Valley | 5 |
| Big West | 4 |
| Patriot | 4 |
| MVC | 4 |
| C-USA | 4 |
| WAC | 2 |
| CAA | 2 |
| Horizon | 2 |
| Ivy | 1 |
| DII | 1 |
| MEAC | 1 |
| Big South | 1 |
| Big Sky | 1 |
In total, 83.2 percent of NBA players got to the league via NCAA schools.
Here’s the full ranking of every NCAA school with players on NBA opening day rosters:
| School | Conference | NBA Players |
|---|---|---|
| University of Kentucky | SEC | 30 |
| Duke University | ACC | 25 |
| University of California Los Angeles | Pac-12 | 17 |
| University of Arizona | Pac-12 | 12 |
| University of Kansas | Big 12 | 12 |
| University of North Carolina | ACC | 12 |
| University of Texas at Austin | Big 12 | 10 |
| Indiana University | Big Ten | 8 |
| University of Michigan | Big Ten | 8 |
| University of Washington | Pac-12 | 8 |
| Villanova University | Big East | 8 |
| Michigan State University | Big Ten | 7 |
| Syracuse University | ACC | 7 |
| University of Southern California | Pac-12 | 7 |
| University of California | Pac-12 | 6 |
| University of Connecticut | AAC | 6 |
| University of Florida | SEC | 6 |
| University of Louisville | ACC | 6 |
| Wake Forest University | ACC | 6 |
| Creighton University | Big East | 5 |
| Iowa State University | Big 12 | 5 |
| Marquette University | Big East | 5 |
| Ohio State University | Big Ten | 5 |
| Texas A&M University | SEC | 5 |
| University of Colorado | Pac-12 | 5 |
| Baylor University | Big 12 | 4 |
| Georgia Institute of Technology | ACC | 4 |
| Louisiana State University | SEC | 4 |
| North Carolina State University | ACC | 4 |
| Southern Methodist University | AAC | 4 |
| University of Cincinnati | AAC | 4 |
| University of Memphis | AAC | 4 |
| University of Oregon | Pac-12 | 4 |
| University of Virginia | ACC | 4 |
| University of Wisconsin | Big Ten | 4 |
| Boston College | ACC | 3 |
| Florida State University | ACC | 3 |
| Georgetown University | Big East | 3 |
| Gonzaga University | West Coast | 3 |
| Kansas State University | Big 12 | 3 |
| Purdue University | Big Ten | 3 |
| Stanford University | Pac-12 | 3 |
| University of Arkansas | SEC | 3 |
| University of Maryland | Big Ten | 3 |
| University of Miami | ACC | 3 |
| University of Missouri | SEC | 3 |
| University of Nevada Las Vegas | Mountain West | 3 |
| University of Notre Dame | ACC | 3 |
| University of Oklahoma | Big 12 | 3 |
| University of Tennessee | SEC | 3 |
| University of Utah | Pac-12 | 3 |
| Vanderbilt University | SEC | 3 |
| Wichita State University | AAC | 3 |
| Xavier University | Big East | 3 |
| Butler University | Big East | 2 |
| Fresno State | Mountain West | 2 |
| George Washington University | A-10 | 2 |
| Murray State University | Ohio Valley | 2 |
| New Mexico State University | WAC | 2 |
| Providence College | Big East | 2 |
| Saint Joseph's University | A-10 | 2 |
| Saint Mary's College of California | West Coast | 2 |
| Texas Tech University | Big 12 | 2 |
| University of Alabama | SEC | 2 |
| University of California Santa Barbara | Big West | 2 |
| University of Georgia | SEC | 2 |
| University of Houston | AAC | 2 |
| University of Pittsburgh | ACC | 2 |
| University of South Carolina | SEC | 2 |
| Virginia Commonwealth University | A-10 | 2 |
| Washington State University | Pac-12 | 2 |
| Arizona State University | Pac-12 | 1 |
| Belmont University | Ohio Valley | 1 |
| Boise State University | Mountain West | 1 |
| Boston University | Patriot | 1 |
| Bradley University | MVC | 1 |
| Bucknell University | Patriot | 1 |
| Cal Poly | Big West | 1 |
| Long Beach State | Big West | 1 |
| College of Charleston | CAA | 1 |
| Colorado State University | Mountain West | 1 |
| Davidson College | A-10 | 1 |
| DePaul University | Big East | 1 |
| Harvard University | Ivy | 1 |
| Illinois State University | MVC | 1 |
| Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis | Horizon | 1 |
| Lehigh University | Patriot | 1 |
| Louisiana Tech University | C-USA | 1 |
| Marshall University | C-USA | 1 |
| Missouri State | MVC | 1 |
| Molloy | DII | 1 |
| Morehead State University | Ohio Valley | 1 |
| Norfolk State University | MEAC | 1 |
| Northeastern University | CAA | 1 |
| Oklahoma State University | Big 12 | 1 |
| Old Dominion University | C-USA | 1 |
| Oregon State University | Pac-12 | 1 |
| Seton Hall University | Big East | 1 |
| St. Bonaventure University | A-10 | 1 |
| St. John's University | Big East | 1 |
| Tennessee State University | Ohio Valley | 1 |
| Tulane University | AAC | 1 |
| University of Dayton | A-10 | 1 |
| University of Illinois | Big Ten | 1 |
| University of Louisiana at Lafayette | Patriot | 1 |
| University of Nevada Reno | Mountain West | 1 |
| University of New Mexico | Mountain West | 1 |
| University of Rhode Island | A-10 | 1 |
| University of South Carolina Upstate | Big South | 1 |
| University of Wisconsin-Green Bay | Horizon | 1 |
| University of Wyoming | Mountain West | 1 |
| Valparaiso University | MVC | 1 |
| Weber State University | Big Sky | 1 |
| West Virginia University | Big 12 | 1 |
| Western Kentucky University | C-USA | 1 |
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