Draft Digest Roundtable: College Teams With Best NBA Talent

Which college team has the most NBA talent this season?

The 2023 NBA Draft class is loaded across the board. There's international prospects, college prospects and even players taking unique routes. 

As it relates to the college game, there's quite a few schools that have multiple NBA talents. 

This week, the Draft Digest team gives their thoughts on which college team has the most overall NBA talent.

Derek Parker

There’s several viable answers here, as it’s set to be one of the more exciting and wide open college seasons we’ve seen in awhile, but I’m most excited to see Kentucky in action this season.

The Wildcats have an established star who could make a run at the draft in Oscar Tshiebwe, and a slew of new freshman who could insert themselves anywhere in the 2023 NBA Draft.

Cason Wallace is set to be one of the more prolific one-and-done guard defenders in recent memory. And do-it-all forward Chris Livingston might just be my favorite prospect in the cycle.As always with Kentucky, there’s a chance some other names could sneak into draft contention.

Nick Crain

While Duke definitely has deepest NBA talent pool with four potential first-round picks coming in as freshman, I'm going with Houston here. The Cougars are a team that is experienced but also brought in two freshman forwards that should be difference makers.

Jarace Walker and Terrance Arceneaux both have the defensive upside to take this team to the next level. While it might take time for them to get into a groove at the college level, they should be huge contributors by March.

Marcus Sasser, although a bit older than some of the other players in the draft, should be a quality pick for an NBA team that needs a scoring guard.

Jam Hines

Without a doubt, it's Duke. The Blue Devils bring in another immensely talented top-ranked class that features two potential top-five talents in the 2023 draft, Dariq Whitehead and Derek Lively II, along with potential lottery picks in Kyle Filipowski and Tyrese Proctor.

After breaking out during the second half of last season, Jeremy Roach should be firmly entrenched on draft radars this year as a second round candidate.

It’s not only the 2023 draft prospects that’s exciting for Duke right now, but the likely 2024 draft prospects as well with versatile forward Mark Mitchell and the sharpshooting Jaden Schutt. Ever-developing center, Christian Reeves, is with mentioning as a long-term prospect that should be monitored now.

Bryce Simon

I'm going with Duke and Arkansas. 

Arkansas has an influx of talent this season with the likes of Ricky Council, Trevon Brazile and Jordan Walsh. The dynamic that is most intriguing is how Nick Smith Jr. and Anthony Black end up playing off of each other. Black is an incredible passer who can play well off the ball but has question marks around his shooting. Nick Smith Jr. is a 3-level bucket getter that can also be a creator but would serve his long term growth to spend some time off the ball as well. 

Do those two figure things out and both end up lottery picks? And, what does that mean for the rest of the talent around them?

Duke is another team that could end up with two lottery picks if things break right in Dariq Whitehead and Dereck Lively II. There are some questions entering the season about Whiteheads health and, as with Arkansas, you have some other really talented players around them including fellow freshmen Tyrese Proctor, Mark Mitchell, and Kyle Filipowski. 

Some think Filipowski might even end up being the teams leading scorer, though that should be a designation held by Whitehead. Junior guard Jeremy Roach will have his hands full try trying to keep everyone involved as the teams point guard.

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