Basketball at the Top Colleges
For both men and women, basketball is by far the most popular sport played in the NCAA at the highly selective colleges. Except for the 2 women’s only colleges, the rest of the remaining 59 of the 61 colleges play men’s basketball and all 61 colleges play women’s basketball with a total of 1,772 players across both genders.
Of the 59 colleges with men’s basketball, 29 of them belong in Division 1 with 497 players and 30 of them belong in Division 3 with 464 players, totaling 961 players altogether in the 2021/2022 season.
Of the 61 colleges with women’s basketball, 31 of them belong in Division 1 with total of 427 players, and the remaining 30 colleges belong in Division 3 with a total of 384 players, together making a total of 811 women players.
Men’s Basketball NCAA Rules and Calendar for Athlete Recruitment
Women’s Basketball NCAA Rules and Calendar for Athlete Recruitment
How do top colleges in Division 1 select their athlete recruits?
Athlete Recruitment to a Top NCAA Division 3 College
List of Highly Selective Colleges with Basketball Teams
Below is a list of the colleges that play basketball and the NCAA they belong in.
All data is compiled directly from the colleges’ athletic websites
| Basketball at Highly Selective Colleges | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Men's | Women's | ||
| Division | Basketball | Basketball | |
| Amherst College | III | Yes | Yes |
| Babson College | III | Yes | Yes |
| Barnard College (comb w/ Columbia University) | I | No | Yes |
| Bates | III | Yes | Yes |
| Boston College | I | Yes | Yes |
| Boston University | I | Yes | Yes |
| Bowdoin College | III | Yes | Yes |
| Brown University | I | Yes | Yes |
| California Institute of Technology | III | Yes | Yes |
| Carleton College | III | Yes | Yes |
| Carnegie Mellon University | III | Yes | Yes |
| Claremont McKenna College (incl Harvey Mudd) | III | Yes | Yes |
| Colby College | III | Yes | Yes |
| Colgate University | I | Yes | Yes |
| Colorado College | III | Yes | Yes |
| Columbia University (incl Barnard College) | I | Yes | Yes |
| Cornell University | I | Yes | Yes |
| Dartmouth College | I | Yes | Yes |
| Davidson College | I | Yes | Yes |
| Duke University | I | Yes | Yes |
| Emory University | III | Yes | Yes |
| Georgetown University | I | Yes | Yes |
| Georgia Institute of Technology | I | Yes | Yes |
| Grinnell College | III | Yes | Yes |
| Hamilton College | III | Yes | Yes |
| Harvard University | I | Yes | Yes |
| Harvey Mudd College (comb w/ Claremont McKenna) | III | Yes | Yes |
| Haverford College | III | Yes | Yes |
| John Hopkins University | III | Yes | Yes |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology | III | Yes | Yes |
| Middleburry College | III | Yes | Yes |
| Northeastern University | I | Yes | Yes |
| Northwestern University | I | Yes | Yes |
| New York University | III | Yes | Yes |
| Pitzer College | III | Yes | Yes |
| Pomona College (incl Pitzer College) | III | Yes | Yes |
| Princeton University | I | Yes | Yes |
| Rice University | I | Yes | Yes |
| Stanford University | I | Yes | Yes |
| Swarthmore College | III | Yes | Yes |
| Tufts University | III | Yes | Yes |
| Tulane University | I | Yes | Yes |
| University of California Berkeley | I | Yes | Yes |
| University of California Los Angeles | I | Yes | Yes |
| University of Michigan | I | Yes | Yes |
| University of Chicago | III | Yes | Yes |
| University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill | I | Yes | Yes |
| University of Notre Dame | I | Yes | Yes |
| University of Pennsylvania | I | Yes | Yes |
| University of Southern California | I | Yes | Yes |
| University of Virginia | I | Yes | Yes |
| Vanderbilt University | I | Yes | Yes |
| Vassar College | III | Yes | Yes |
| Villanova University | I | Yes | Yes |
| Wake Forest University | I | Yes | Yes |
| Washington and Lee University | III | Yes | Yes |
| Washington University in St. Louis | III | Yes | Yes |
| Wellesley College | III | No | Yes |
| Wesleyan University | III | Yes | Yes |
| Williams College | III | Yes | Yes |
| Yale University | I | Yes | Yes |
| Total Players | 961 | 811 |