Which School Has the Most No. 1 Picks All-Time in the NBA Draft
As the 2020 NBA Draft approaches, the next wave of young players await patiently to hear their names called Wednesday evening.
Sixty players in two rounds will witness their dreams come true with hopes of reaching new heights in the NBA. With only hours left before the NBA Draft, Sports Illustrated takes a look at all 72 of the previous No. 1 draft picks to see which school has the most?
Here is a disclaimer. The Atlantic Coast Conference and the Southeastern Conference are the two Power Five conferences that have the most players drafted at No. 1 overall in the NBA Draft.
Since the NBA Draft began in 1947, Duke has the highest number of No. 1 picks including Art Heyman, Elton Brand, Kyrie Irving and last year's top pick Zion Williamson. Blue Devils basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski — who will begin his 40th season coaching at Duke when the season starts in a week — has coached three of Duke's No. 1 draft picks.
After Duke, Kentucky comes in second with the most No. 1 picks in John Wall, Anthony Davis and Karl-Anthony Towns. John Calipari, who begins his 10th season as the Wildcats men's basketball coach, has coached all three players.
Duquesne, West Virginia, Kansas State, Indiana, Utah, Michigan, Houston, UCLA, Maryland, Purdue, Kansas, UNLV and LSU each have two players who were drafted No. 1 overall in NBA Draft history.
See the full list of No. 1 draft picks from different schools.
- Duquesne (2) — Dick Ricketts, Sihugo "Si" Green
- Furman (1) — Frank Selvy
- Long Island University (1) — Ray Felix
- West Virginia University (2) — Mark Workman, Rodney Clark "Hot Rod" Hundley
- Bradley University (1) — Gene Melchiorre
- Bowling Green (1) — Chuck Share
- North Texas (1) — Howie Shannon
- Kansas State (2) — Howie Shannon, Robert Louis "Bob" Boozer
- Marshall (1) — Andy Tonkovich
- Texas Wesleyan University (1) — Clifton McNeeley
- The College of Idaho (1) — Elgin Baylor
- Seattle University (1) — Elgin Baylor
- Cincinnati (2) — Oscar Robertson, Kenyon Martin
- Indiana University (2) — Walt Bellamy, Kent Benson
- Utah (2) — Bill McGill, Andrew Bogut
- Duke (4) — Art Heyman, Elton Brand, Kyrie Irving and Zion Williamson
- University of Texas El Paso (Texas Western College) (1) — Jim Barnes
- Davidson College (1) — Fred Hetzel
- Michigan (2) — Cazzie Russell, Chris Webber
- Providence (1) — Jimmy Walker
- Houston (2) — Elvin Hayes, Hakeem Olajuwon
- UCLA (2) — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton
- St. Bonaventure (1) — Bob Lanier
- Notre Dame (1) — Austin Carr
- Loyola (Illinois) (1) — LaRue Martin
- Illinois State (1) — Doug Collins
- North Carolina State (1) — David Thompson
- Maryland (2) — John Lucas, Joe Smith
- Minnesota (1) — Mychal Thompson
- Michigan State (1) — Magic Johnson
- Purdue (2) — Joe Barry Carroll, Glenn Robinson
- DePaul (1) — Mark Aguirre
- North Carolina (Chapel Hill) (2) — James Worthy, Brad Daugherty
- Virginia (1) — Ralph Sampson
- Georgetown (2) — Patrick Ewing, Allen Iverson
- Navy (1) — David Robinson
- Kansas (2) — Danny Manning, Andrew Wiggins
- Louisville (1) — Pervis Ellison
- Syracuse (1) — Derrick Coleman
- UNLV (2) — Larry Johnson, Anthony Bennett
- LSU (2) — Shaquille O’ Neal, Ben Simmons
- Wake Forest (1) — Tim Duncan
- Pacific (1) — Michael Olowokandi
- Glynn Academy HS (1) — Kwame Brown
- Shanghai Sharks (Chinese Basketball Association) (1) — Yao Ming
- St. Vincent-St. Mary HS (1) — LeBron James
- Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy (1) — Dwight Howard
- EuroLeague (1) — Andrea Bargnani
- Ohio State (1) — Greg Oden
- Memphis (1) — Derrick Rose
- Oklahoma (1) — Blake Griffin
- Kentucky (3) — John Wall, Anthony Davis, Karl-Anthony Towns
- Washington (1) — Markelle Fultz
- Arizona (1) — Deandre Ayton
Who will be the next player to be drafted No. 1 overall?
Find out and tune into the 2020 NBA Draft on Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET.
