Duquesne Basketball Touts Shocking Place in NBA Draft History After First Round

The Dukes—not Duke—are the only team to have back-to-back No. 1 overall picks.

Duquesne holds a shocking spot in NBA draft history. / Brad Penner-Imagn Images

When you think of Division I college basketball and the players it develops into NBA stars, you likely think of the Blue Bloods: Kentucky, Duke, Kansas—to name a few.

However, as they touted on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday night, none other than the Atlantic-10's Duquesne University still holds one of the longest-running records in NBA draft history.

With the selection of Duke's Cooper Flagg by the Dallas Mavericks, Duquesne remains the only school to ever have back-to-back No. 1 overall NBA draft picks. It's a 69-year-and-counting feat since the selections of Dick Ricketts and Sihugo Green in 1955 and '56.

We are STILL the only school with back-to-back No. 1 overall NBA Draft picks.#GoDukes pic.twitter.com/KS5wgu3D5s

— Duquesne Basketball (@DuqMBB) June 26, 2025

Pretty wild, especially considering the oodles of talent that come from the likes of those top teams. For further context, Duquesne hasn't had a player selected in the NBA draft since 1994. The Duke Blue Devils had three players taken in Wednesday's first round alone.

---

More NBA Draft on Sports Illustrated

feed