Greatest College Basketball Centers of All Time

These college basketball players who played center were some of the most fun to watch.

Tons of the best moments in basketball history are made at the collegiate level. Not only are college basketball players some of the most talented in the world, but this is also a moment in time when they’re the most passionate. Ya know, before they let the NBA’s big paychecks ruin their love of the game.

And the college players who play center are some of the most fun to watch. Typically the team’s tallest player, they’re the ones close to the basket, either rebounding on defense or dunking the ball on offense.

So, which players played center the best during their college years? These are the top five that stand out from the rest.

5. Elvin Hayes

AP Photo

School: Houston

Years: 1965-68

Team record: 81-12 (.871)

Stats: 93 G, 2,884 total points (31.0 PPG), 1,602 total rebounds (17.2 RPG), 92 total assists* (1.4 APG)

NCAA tournament stats: 13 G, 358 total points (27.5 PPG), 222 total rebounds (17.1 RPG), 8 total assists* (0.6 APG), 9 team wins, 4 team losses

Bottom line: Elvin Hayes shined his brightest when he helped take down the UCLA Bruins in the first-ever nationally televised regular-season college basketball game — one that would become known as the “Game of the Century.”

This January 1968 game ended the Bruins’ 47-game winning streak, allowing Hayes to steal the spotlight from the Bruins’ Lew Alcindor (more on him in a few), earning Hayes The Sporting News College Basketball Player of the Year.

*Assists weren’t kept as an official statistic until 1965-66 and were kept sporadically until the mid-1970s.

4. Bill Russell

William Straeter / AP Photo

Position: Center

School: San Francisco

Years: 1953-56

Team record: 71-8 (.899)

Stats: 79 G, 1,636 total points (20.7 PPG), 1,606 total rebounds (20.3 RPG)

NCAA tournament stats: 9 G, 209 total points (23.2 PPG), 165 total rebounds (18.3 RPG), 9 team wins, 0 team losses

Bottom line: San Francisco assistant coach Hal DeJulio called Bill Russell’s fundamentals “atrocious” when the young basketball player joined the team.

But Russell clearly rebounded (pun intended) to become one of the greatest winners in basketball history. In fact, the NCAA had to rewrite the rules as a result of Russell’s dominant play and began prohibiting basket interference after he graduated.

3. Ralph Sampson

Smith / AP Photo

School: Virginia

Years: 1979-83

Team record: 112-23 (.830)

Stats: 132 G, 2,225 total points (16.9 PPG), 1,511 total rebounds (11.4 RPG), 462 total blocks (3.5 BPG)

NCAA tournament stats: 10 G, 164 total points (16.4 PPG), 113 total rebounds (11.3 RPG), 27 total blocks (2.7 APG), 7 team wins, 3 team losses

Bottom line: At 7-foot-4, Ralph Sampson defined the center position as one of the tallest college basketball players to ever play the sport.

In less than four years, he landed on the cover of Sports Illustrated six times and earned three Naismith Awards as the National Player of the Year

2. Bill Walton

AP Photo

School: UCLA

Years: 1971-74

Team record: 86-4 (.956)

Stats: 87 G, 1,767 total points (20.3 PPG), 1,370 total rebounds (15.7 RPG), 148 total assists* (5.5 APG)

NCAA tournament stats: 12 G, 254 total points (21.2 PPG), 176 total rebounds (14.7), 37 total assists (3.1 APG), 11 team wins, 1 team loss

Bottom line: Everyone thought John Wooden’s winning streak as UCLA’s head coach would end after Lew Alcindor went to the NBA in 1969, but then Bill Walton came along.

Walton led the team to back-to-back undefeated seasons, only adding to the school’s notoriety as a top basketball program. He received the Naismith College Player of the Year as the top college basketball player in three of his four years at college: 1972, 1973 and 1974.

1. Lew Alcindor

EW / AP Photo

School: UCLA

Years: 1966-69

Team record: 88-2 (.978)

Stats: 88 G, 2,325 total points (26.4 PPG), 1,367 total rebounds (15.5 RPG)

NCAA tournament stats: 12 G, 304 total points (25.3 PPG), 201 total rebounds (16.8 RPG), 12 team wins, 0 team losses

Bottom line: Before Lew Alcindor became Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (as we know him today), he was legendary at the collegiate level.

The man (who would become an all-time leading scorer in the NBA) started out by leading the Bruins to three national championships and only losing two(!) games in his college career. Let’s just say he’s the reason the slam dunk was banned in college basketball from 1967 to 1976.

For more college basketball greats, check out “Greatest College Basketball Players.”