He played for the UCLA Bruins from 1966 to 1969 under coach John Wooden, contributing to the team's three-year record of 88 wins and only two losses, one to Houston (see below) and the other to crosstown rival USC who played a "stall game" (i.e., there was no shot clock, so a team could exploit the rules by, basically, holding the ball as long as it wanted before attempting to score). During his college career he was twice named Player of the Year (1967, 1969), was a three-time First Team All-American (1967-69), played on three NCAA Basketball champion teams (1967, 1968, 1969), was honored as the Most Outstanding Player in the NCAA Tournament (1967, 1968, 1969), and became the first-ever Naismith College Player of the Year in 1969. In 1967, 1968 he also won USBWA College Player of the Year which later became the Oscar Robertson Trophy. Alcindor became the only player to win the Helms Foundation Player of the Year award 3 times. Note: Freshmen were not eligible to play, so Alcindor only had 3 years to play, not four. The 1965-1966 UCLA Bruin team was the preseason #1. But on November 27, 1965, the freshmen team led by Alcindor defeated the varsity team 75-60 in the first game in the new Pauley Pavilion. This defeat had no effect on the varsity's national ranking. It was still number one the following week. Alcindor scored 51 points in that game.

UCLA became the first school to have a top winner in both basketball and football in the same year with Gary Beban winning the Heisman Trophy and Abdul-Jabbar winning the U.S. Basketball Writers Association player of the year award in 1968.

The dunk was banned in college basketball after the 1967 season, primarily because of Alcindor's dominant use of the shot. It was not allowed again until 1976.

While playing for UCLA, he suffered a scratched left cornea on January 12, 1968 at the Cal game when he was struck by Tom Henderson of Cal in a rebound battle. He would miss the next two games against Stanford and Portland. This happened right before the momentous game against Houston. His cornea later would be scratched again during his pro career, causing him to subsequently wear goggles for protection.

He played college basketball for John Wooden at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) from 1971 to 1974, winning the national title in 1972 over Florida State and again in 1973 with an 87-66 win over Memphis State in which Walton made an impressive 21 of 22 field goal attempts and scored 44 points. Some regard this as the greatest offensive performance in American college basketball history. The Walton-led 1971-72 UCLA basketball team had a record of 30-0, in the process winning its games by an average margin of more than 30 points. He was the backbone of two consecutive 30-0 seasons and was also part of UCLA's NCAA record 88 game winning streak. The UCLA streak contributed to a personal winning streak that lasted almost five years, in which Walton's high school, UCLA freshman (freshmen were ineligible for the varsity at that time), and UCLA varsity teams did not lose a game from the middle of his junior year of high school to the middle of his senior year in college.

Russell led USF to NCAA championships in 1955 and 1956, including a string of 55 consecutive victories. He became known for his strong defense and shot-blocking skills, once denying 13 shots in a game. UCLA coach John Wooden called Russell "the greatest defensive man I've ever seen". During his college career, Russell averaged 20.7 points per game and 20.3 rebounds per game. Besides basketball, Russell represented USF in track and field events. He competed in the 440 yard (402 m) race, which he could complete in 49.6 seconds. He also participated in the high jump; Track & Field News ranked him as the seventh-best high jumper in the world in 1956. That year, Russell won high jump titles at the Central California AAU meet, the Pacific AAU meet, and the West Coast Relays. One of his highest jumps occurred at the West Coast Relays, where he achieved a mark of 6 feet 9¼ inches (2.06 m).

Robertson continued to dominate his opponents while at Cincinnati, recording an incredible scoring average of 33.8 points per game, the third highest in college history. In each of his three years, he won the national scoring title, was named an All-American, and was chosen College Player of the Year, while setting 14 NCAA and 19 school records. Robertson's stellar play led the Bearcats to a 79–9 overall record during his three varsity seasons, including two Final Four appearances. However, a championship eluded Robertson, a phenomenon which would become a repeated occurrence in his later career. When Robertson left college he was the all-time leading NCAA scorer until fellow Hall of Fame player Pete Maravich topped him in 1970.

Despite his success on the courts, Robertson's college career was soured by racism. He was Cincinnati's fifth black player, preceded by Chester Smith (1932), London Gant (1936), Willard Stargel (1942), and Tom Overton (1951). Road trips to segregated cities were especially difficult, with Robertson often sleeping in college dorms instead of hotels. "I'll never forgive them," he told the Indianapolis Star years later. Decades after his college days, Robertson's stellar NCAA career was rewarded by the United States Basketball Writers Association when, in 1998, they renamed the trophy awarded to the NCAA Division I Player of the Year the Oscar Robertson Trophy. This honor brought the award full circle for Robertson since he had won the first two awards ever presented.

While Maravich would tell friends later in life he always desired to play basketball for West Virginia University and was all set to be a Mountaineer, his father was the varsity coach at LSU and his father offered the "Pistol" a spot at LSU. In his first game on the LSU freshman team Maravich put up 50 points, 14 rebounds, and 11 assists against Southeastern Louisiana College.

In only three years playing for his father at LSU, Maravich scored 3,667 points — 1,138 points in 1968, 1,148 points in 1969 and 1,381 points in 1970 while averaging 43.8, 44.2 and 44.5 points per game. In his collegiate career, the 6' 5" (1.96 m) guard averaged an incredible 44.2 points per game in 83 contests and led the NCAA in scoring in each of his three seasons.

Maravich's longstanding collegiate scoring record is particularly impressive when two other factors are taken into account. First, Maravich's played before the advent of three-point line. His long-distance shooting skill thus produced far fewer points than would have been the case in a later era. Years later former LSU head basketball coach Dale Brown charted every college game Maravich played, taking into consideration all shots he took. Brown calculated that at the NCAA rule of a three-point line at 19-foot, 9-inches from the rim, Maravich would have averaged thirteen 3-point scores per game, lifting the player's career average to 57 points per game. Second, NCAA rules at the time of Maravich's collegiate career prohibited freshmen from taking place in varsity competition, preventing Maravich from adding to his career record for a full quarter of his time at LSU. During this first year, Maravich scored 741 points in freshmen competition.

Bird received a basketball scholarship to Indiana University in 1974. However, he was overwhelmed by the size of the campus and number of students and was not mentally ready for this stage of life; according to Bird, "it didn't take long to realize that I was out of my cocoon." Bird was also treated poorly by an established IU star, Kent Benson; as Bird recalled, the other upperclassmen of the team treated him well. He dropped out of Indiana after 24 days, disappointing his mother. Bird returned home to French Lick where he enrolled in the nearby Northwood Institute before dropping out and getting a job with the Street Department for a year. He played AAU basketball for Hancock Construction and, after that year, decided to enroll at Indiana State University in Terre Haute, where he was coached by Bob King.

King suffered a stroke prior to the 1978–79 season and assistant Bill Hodges, who had persuaded Bird to return to college basketball, was promoted to head coach. Before Bird the Sycamores had never been to the NCAA tournament; he led the team to the NCAA championship game in 1979, his senior season, only to lose to the Michigan State University Spartans, who were led by his future NBA rival, Earvin "Magic" Johnson. The Sycamores finished the season 33–1. That year, Bird won the USBWA College Player of the Year, Naismith and Wooden Awards, given to the year's top male college basketball player. After his three seasons at Indiana State, he left as the fifth-highest scorer in NCAA history. Bird finished his collegiate career with an average of 30.3 points per game. He is on the Missouri Valley Conference All-Century Team.

Laettner's #32 jersey was retired in 1992, making him the sixth of thirteen players so honored by Duke. He averaged 16.6 points and 7.7 rebounds per game at Duke and is the all-time three-point shooting percentage leader at Duke with 48.5%.

Laettner is one of only four players (including teammates Greg Koubek and Brian Davis) to play in four consecutive Final Fours, and the only one to ever start in all four Final Fours. He owns the record for most tournament games played, with 23, out of a maximum possible of 24 in 4 years (excluding the play-in game for the lowest seeds in one bracket).

NCAA Tournament Records Held:

Most points scored: 407
Most free throws made: 142
Most free throw attempts: 167
Most games played: 23
1992 East regional final game
Laettner is especially known for his game-winning last-second jump shot on March 28 in Duke's dramatic 104-103 victory over Kentucky in the East regional final of the 1992 NCAA Tournament, acclaimed by many as the "greatest college basketball game ever played." Footage of Laettner's buzzer beater shot is frequently included in televised montages depicting college basketball and the NCAA tournament, and in 2003 it was used in a nationally televised commercial by Allstate. In 2009, Laettner appeared in a commercial for Vitamin Water, again replaying "the shot" with a Vitamin Water bottle; the ad also features then Kentucky coach Rick Pitino. It is often now referred to simply as "the shot." In the game as a whole, Laettner made ten of ten shots from the field and ten of ten from the free throw line. His performance in the game as a whole earned him a 1993 ESPY Award for "Outstanding Performance Under Pressure," and the shot in particular received the 1993 ESPY for "College Basketball Play of the Year." Laettner also received the 1993 ESPY for "Outstanding College Basketball Performer of the Year." The shot was also named the most memorable basketball shot of all-time (including the NBA, college, and high school) by The Best Damn Sports Show Period in 2007 and the fifth most unforgettable sports moment of all-time across all sports in 2006.

Although Johnson was recruited by several top-ranked colleges such as Indiana and UCLA, he decided to play close to home. He initially wanted to attend the University of Michigan, but decided on Michigan State University in East Lansing, after the school's basketball coach, Jud Heathcote, promised that Johnson could play the point guard position.

Johnson did not initially aspire to play professionally, focusing instead on his communication studies major and on his desire to become a television commentator. Playing with future NBA draftees Greg Kelser, Jay Vincent and Mike Brkovich, Johnson averaged 17.0 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 7.4 assists per game as a freshman, and led the Spartans to a 25–5 record, the Big Ten Conference title, and a berth in the 1978 NCAA Tournament. The Spartans reached the Elite Eight, but lost narrowly to eventual national champion Kentucky.

During the 1978–79 season, Michigan State again qualified for the NCAA Tournament, where they advanced to the championship game and faced Indiana State University, which was led by senior Larry Bird. In what was the most-watched college basketball game ever, Michigan State defeated Indiana State 75–64, and Johnson was voted Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four. After two years in college, during which he averaged 17.1 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 7.9 assists per game, Johnson declared himself eligible for the 1979 NBA Draft.

In 1981, Jordan earned a basketball scholarship to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he majored in cultural geography. As a freshman in coach Dean Smith's team-oriented system, he was named ACC Freshman of the Year after he averaged 13.4 points per game (ppg) on 53.4% shooting (field goal percentage). He made the game-winning jump shot in the 1982 NCAA Championship game against Georgetown, which was led by future NBA rival Patrick Ewing. Jordan later described this shot as the major turning point in his basketball career. During his three seasons at North Carolina, he averaged 17.7 ppg on 54.0% shooting, and added 5.0 rebounds per game (rpg). He was selected by consensus to the NCAA All-American First Team in both his sophomore (1983) and junior (1984) seasons. After winning the Naismith and the Wooden College Player of the Year awards in 1984, Jordan left North Carolina one year before his scheduled graduation to enter the 1984 NBA Draft. The Chicago Bulls selected Jordan with the third overall pick, after Hakeem Olajuwon (Houston Rockets) and Sam Bowie (Portland Trail Blazers). Jordan returned to North Carolina to complete his degree in 1986.

Ewing, one of the most highly touted freshmen ever, signed a letter of intent to accept a scholarship to play for Coach John Thompson at Georgetown University. As a freshman during the 1981-1982 season, Ewing became one of the first college players to start and star on the varsity team as a freshman. In the 1982 NCAA final against the University of North Carolina, Ewing was called for goaltending several times in the first half, setting the tone for the Hoyas and making his presence felt. The Hoyas had a shot at winning the game until Fred Brown threw an infamous bad pass to James Worthy at the tail end of the game. In the 1983-84 season, Ewing and Georgetown took the NCAA title with an 84-75 win over the University of Houston. In Ewing's senior year of 1985, Georgetown was ranked number one in the nation and was heavily favored to beat unranked Villanova in the title game, but the Wildcats shot a record 78.6 percent from the floor (22 for 28) to upset the Hoyas 66-64. Ewing was one of the best college basketball players of his era, as Georgetown reached the championship game of the NCAA tournament three out of four years. He was a first-team All-American.

Considered one of the greatest players in University of Kansas and college basketball history, the Lawrence, Kansas, high school graduate left KU as its men's basketball program's all-time leading scorer and rebounder after leading the Jayhawks to the 1986 Final Four and the 1988 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament Championship. The 6-foot-10 forward was the all-time leading scorer in the Big Eight Conference with 2,951 career points. He won the Wooden, Naismith, and Eastman Awards as the college player of the year in 1988. In Kansas's 83-79 victory over the University of Oklahoma in the 1988 NCAA Final, Manning recorded 31 points, 18 rebounds, 5 steals and 2 blocked shots. For his seemingly single-handed performance in propelling the underdog Jayhawks to the title, as well as the Jayhawks' less-than-impressive record going into the NCAA tournament (21-11, most losses of any NCAA champion), the 1988 Kansas team was nicknamed "Danny and the Miracles" and Manning was honored as Most Outstanding Player in the tournament. A two-time All-American while at KU, Manning was later named the Big Eight Player of the Decade.

After leading North Carolina State University to an undefeated season (27-0) in 1973, he led them to an NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship in 1974, including vanquishing the reigning national champions, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). His nickname was "Skywalker" because of his incredible purported 48-inch vertical leap. The alley-oop pass, now a staple of today's high-flying, above-the-rim game was "invented" by Thompson and his NC State teammate Monte Towe, and first used as an integral part of the offense by NC State coach Norm Sloan to take advantage of Thompson's leaping ability.

NC State's game against the nationally 4th-ranked University of Maryland in the 1974 ACC Tournament finale, in an era in which only conference champions were invited to the NCAA Tournament, is considered one of the best, if not the greatest, college basketball games of all time. Thompson and teammate Tommy Burleson led the #1-ranked Wolfpack to a 103-100 win in overtime. Thompson and the Wolfpack would go on to win the National Championship that year while Maryland sat at home. Maryland's exclusion from the NCAA Tournament due to the loss despite their high national ranking would lead to the expansion of the NCAA Tournament the very next season to include teams other than the league champions.

Thompson is considered one of the greatest players in the history of the Atlantic Coast Conference, among such talents as Michael Jordan, Ralph Sampson, Tim Duncan, Christian Laettner, Tyler Hansbrough and Len Bias.

Sampson was arguably the most heavily recruited college and professional basketball prospect of his generation appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated an unprecedented six times in a span of less than four years (December 17, 1979; December 1, 1980; March 30, 1981; November 29, 1982; December 20, 1982; and October 31, 1983).

Playing center for the University of Virginia, he led the Cavaliers to an NIT title in 1980, an NCAA Final Four appearance in 1981 and an NCAA elite 8 appearance in 1983. He earned three Naismith Awards as the National Player of the Year, only the second athlete to do so, and an unprecedented pair of Wooden Awards. In spite of his personal success, however, Sampson was criticized for a loss to Chaminade University and for not leading Virginia to a college championship while the team was ranked first in the nation.

Hayes and Don Chaney were the University of Houston's first African American Basketball players in 1966.

In 1966, He led the Houston Cougars into the Western Regional semi-finals of the 1966 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament before losing to the PAC-8 champion Oregon State Beavers.

In 1967, he led the Cougars to the Final Four of the 1967 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. He would attempt 31 field goals, and score 25 points and 24 rebounds in a semi-final loss to the eventual champion UCLA Bruins featuring Lew Alcindor (now known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar). His rebounding total is second to Bill Russell's Final Four record of 27.

On January 20, 1968, the Big E and the Houston Cougars faced Lew and the UCLA Bruins in the first-ever nationally televised regular season college basketball game. In front of a record 52,693 fans at the Houston Astrodome, Hayes scored 39 points and had 15 rebounds while limiting Alcindor to just 15 points as Houston beat UCLA 71–69 to snap the Bruins 47-game winning streak in what has been called the "Game of the Century". That game helped Hayes earn The Sporting News College Basketball Player Of The Year.

One month later, he grabbed a career-high 37 rebounds in a game against Centenary on February 10.

In the rematch to the "Game of the Century", Hayes would end his college career in the 1968 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. He was held to 10 points, losing to Alcindor and the Bruins 69–101 in the semi final game.

Hayes led Houston in scoring (1966 27.2 points per game, 1967 28.4, and 1968 36.8). For his college career, Hayes averaged 31.0 points per game and 17.2 rebounds per game.

With his departure from college Hayes was selected in the first round of the 1968 NBA Draft by the San Diego Rockets and by the Houston Mavericks in the 1968 ABA Draft.

Considered the top high school player in the country, Bradley initially chose to attend Duke University in the fall of 1961. However, after breaking his foot in the summer of 1961 during a baseball game and thinking about his college decision outside of basketball, he decided to enroll at Princeton University instead. He had been awarded a scholarship at Duke, but not at Princeton (the Ivy League does not allow its members to award athletic scholarships). In his freshman year at Princeton, Bradley averaged more than 30 points per game for the freshman team, and at one point during his freshman season, he made 57 consecutive free throws. The following year, as a sophomore, he was a varsity starter, in Butch van Breda Kolff's first year as the Princeton coach.

Bradley was named to The Sporting News All-American first team in early 1963, in his sophomore year, and the coach of the St. Louis Hawks believed he was ready to play professional basketball at that point. The AP and United Press International polls both put Bradley on the second team, establishing him as the top sophomore player in the country. The following year, as a junior, The Sporting News again named him to its All-American team (the only junior) and additionally named him player of the year.

Olympic medal record
Men's Basketball
Gold 1964 Tokyo United States

At the Olympic basketball trials in April 1964, Bradley played guard instead of his usual forward position, and was still a top performer at the trials. He was chosen unanimously for the Olympic team and was also elected captain of the Princeton basketball team for the following season. The Olympic team went on to win its sixth consecutive gold medal.

In total, Bradley scored 2,503 points at Princeton, averaging 30.2 points per game. He was awarded the 1965 James E. Sullivan Award, presented annually to the United States' top amateur athlete, the first basketball player to win the honor, and the second Princeton student to win the award, after runner Bill Bonthron in 1934.

Bradley holds a number of Ivy League career records, including total and average points (1,253/29.83, respectively), and free throws made and attempted (409/468, 87.4%). Ivy League season records he holds similarly include total and average points (464/33.14, 1964) and most free throws made (153 in 170 attempts, 90.0%, 1962-1963). He also holds the career point record at Princeton and many other school records, including the top ten slots in the category of total points scored in a game.

Hansbrough was a unanimous selection for the 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 Atlantic Coast Conference All Conference Team, 2006 ACC Freshman of the Year, and 2008 ACC Player of the Year. His jersey was retired on February 10, 2010 during a Duke-North Carolina rivalry game.