Both college and professional basketball fans alike love March Madness. Every year, the selection committee seeds 68 teams for the NCAA Tournament, and that leads to the ensuing madness. Stars are born and legendary moments are created in the Big Dance, as the top teams from across the nation battle it out to become national champions. Every year during March Madness, NBA Draft locks show off their talent while other unheralded players boost their draft stock with big performances.
Either way, the top players in the tournament tend to find their way onto NBA rosters. Which college programs have the most and the highest-quality players in the NBA, though? Check out the gallery to see how ClutchPoints ranks the 2025 NCAA Tournament teams based on the current NBA stars who call those respective teams their alma maters.
1. Kentucky (31 active NBA players)
The 2024 season under Mark Pope saw a change in philosophy for Kentucky. This year, the team emphasized deploying older players, and their recruiting class wasn’t as strong as normal. Under John Calipari – the team’s head coach from 2009 to 2024 – though, the team was more of a prep school for the NBA rather than your normal college program.
The Wildcats were known for producing NBA talent at an unbelievable rate, usually in one-and-done fashion. Because of that, a good chunk of the NBA is filled with Kentucky players. In fact, 31 former Wildcats are active NBAers. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the MVP front-runner, and Bam Adebayo, Devin Booker, Anthony Davis, Tyrese Maxey, Julius Randle, De’Aaron Fox, and Karl-Anthony Towns are perennial All-Stars.
Tyler Herro made the 2025 All-Star Game as well, and Jamal Murray might just be the best player in NBA history without that accolade on his resume. That already takes up 10 roster spots for Kentucky, and others such as Shaedon Sharpe, Cason Wallace, Nick Richards, Immanuel Quickley, P.J. Washington, Malik Monk, and Keldon Johnson are starting-caliber professionals as well. Even Reed Sheppard and Rob Dillingham were high 2024 NBA Draft picks who have tons of potential.
While one could go into depth about each of these players and all of the other legitimate NBA hoopers from Kentucky, that would take too long. Regardless, it should be pretty clear that Kentucky produces NBA talent better than anybody else. They have by far the most active players in the NBA, and a good chunk of them make up the most elite talent in the league.
2. Duke (23 players)
The 2024-25 Duke roster has by far the most future NBA talent in all of college basketball. Cooper Flagg is the surefire number-one overall pick for the 2025 NBA Draft, and Khaman Maluach and Kon Knueppel will be picked not long after he is. Even Isaiah Evans, Sion James, and Tyrese Proctor have a chance to be drafted. All of these players will make an impact in the 2025 NCAA Tournament, and they are the main reasons why 25.1 percent of bracket-makers on ESPN are choosing Duke to win the championship.
Flagg and Knueppel were supposed to fit the bill of what so many Duke players have looked like: hated yet talented white players on winning teams. Duke has certainly done a lot of winning, but those two actually haven’t become as hateable as ex-Blue Devils such as JJ Redick, Christian Laettner, or Grayson Allen. The latter of those three is still in the NBA and still trying to shed the dirty label. He has become a marksman from deep in the process, with Allen finishing the 2023-24 season as the league’s 3-point percentage leader.
Duke doesn’t just produce villains, though. They’ve developed plenty of elite NBA players in recent years. Jayson Tatum is the best player on the defending champion Boston Celtics, and Paolo Banchero, Kyrie Irving, and Zion Williamson were all picked first overall in recent drafts.
RJ Barrett, Wendell Carter Jr., Brandon Ingram, and Jalen Johnson are talented players of note, too. Mason Plumlee, Marvin Bagley, Seth Curry, Tre and Tyus Jones, Derek Lively, Mark Williams, and Luke Kennard are also role players worth mentioning. Even Jared McCain was running away with the Rookie of the Year title before he suffered a season-ending injury.
3. UCLA (14 players)
There is a big drop-off from Kentucky and Duke to UCLA, but the Bruins still have plenty of NBA talent. However, a lot of their best players have been in the NBA for a while and are now nearing retirement age. Russell Westbrook is one of the best point guards ever, but his best days are definitely in the rearview mirror, even if he is having a resurgence with the Denver Nuggets this season.
Kevin Love is a five-time All-Star, but he has been glued to the bench for years. Even Jrue Holiday is already 34 years old, although he is still one of the best defensive guards in basketball. Experience isn’t necessarily a bad thing, either. Recent Bruins who are still developing at the professional level include Peyton Watson, Jaylen Clark, and Jaime Jaquez.
Norman Powell has had a breakout season with the Los Angeles Clippers this year, and he just might win the Most Improved Player award because of it. Zach LaVine has combined athletic dunking and knockdown shooting like few others during his NBA career, and Kevon Looney has three championships to his name with the Golden State Warriors. All of those players spent their collegiate days at UCLA, as did Lonzo Ball. The former number two overall pick was once one of the most popular players in the NBA, but injuries have derailed his career.
4. Gonzaga (11 players)
It is quite impressive that Gonzaga has produced so many talented NBA players because they don’t play in a Power-Four – Five? – conference. That is sort of changing next year, as the Bulldogs are heading to the rebuilt PAC-12. Even so, they’ve made their name in the West Coast Conference. Despite that, they seem to be March Madness threats every single season, and their players always tend to improve their draft stock during the NCAA Tournament.
The two biggest stars currently in the NBA who played at Gonzaga are Chet Holmgren and Domantas Sabonis. Holmgren is the center on the top team in the Western Conference, the Oklahoma City Thunder. Sabonis only trails three-time MVP Nikola Jokic in double-doubles this season. Both players are versatile big men who can shoot, and that seems to be Gonzaga’s specialty. Zach Collins and Kelly Olynyk fit the bill in that regard, too.
The Bulldogs also emphasize defense and 3-point shooting. Jalen Suggs and Brandon Clarke make their money because of their abilities to lock up opponents, while Corey Kispert and Julian Strawther are shooting specialists. Rui Hachimura and Andrew Nembhard played for Gonzaga, as well. Nembhard’s younger brother, Ryan Nembhard, is on the current Gonzaga roster. He has broken tons of assist records and is one of the best players in this year’s NCAA Tournament field.
5. Arizona (13 players)
Arizona has been sneaky good at producing NBA players despite not getting past the Sweet Sixteen since 2015. Lauri Markkanen is the team’s best alumni in the NBA. While not a megastar like some of the best players from these other universities, Markkanen is still a former All-Star and the best player on the Utah Jazz.
The Wildcats have also had a first overall pick. While Deandre Ayton hasn’t exactly panned out the way he was expected to, he was selected first overall in 2018 because of how impressive he was at Arizona. A pair of Indiana Pacers’ role players played in Tucson – T.J. McConnell and Benedict Mathurin – as did one of the best dunkers of this generation, Aaron Gordon. Josh Green and Brandon Williams are other notable former Wildcats, the latter of whom has been making waves in recent weeks for his play with the Dallas Mavericks.
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