Data study · 2025–26 season
What a college basketball roster looks like: size and position mix by level
A D1 men's roster lists 15 players on average, a D2 roster 16, a D3 roster 17. Guards are 59–65% of every roster, centers 3–5%.
Computed from 1,017 programs · 2025–26 · updated Aug 31, 2026
D1 rosters are bigger than the scholarship count — and that matters.
A D1 program may fund 13 scholarships, but its published roster lists 15 players on average (the middle half: 14–16). The difference is walk-ons and redshirts — roster spots that exist, but are not the same as a scholarship.
D3 rosters are the largest.
17 players on average, with a quarter of programs carrying 19 or more. More spots, and more competition for minutes.
Two-thirds guards, everywhere.
Guards are 59% of D1 rosters, 65% of D2 and 65% of D3; true centers are 5% or less at every level.
Average roster size by division
Players listed
programs = 352 · 279 · 386
Roster size and position mix by division · 2025–26
| Division | Programs | Average size | Middle half | Guards | Forwards | Centers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D1 | 352 | 15 | 14–16 | 59% | 35% | 5% |
| D2 | 279 | 16 | 14–17 | 65% | 33% | 3% |
| D3 | 386 | 17 | 15–19 | 65% | 32% | 3% |
Why the roster count is not the opportunity count
A roster spot and a scholarship are different things, and a listed player and a rotation player are different again. At D1 the published roster includes walk-ons (no athletic aid) and redshirts (on the roster, not playing this season); at D3 there are no athletic scholarships at all, so every spot is a roster spot. The number that matters to a recruit is not how many players a program lists, but how many at your position are leaving — which is roster turnover, a separate study.
What the mix tells you: with two-thirds of every roster at guard, a guard competes with more teammates for minutes than a center does — and a true center is scarce enough at every level that size alone opens doors it does not open for a 6'1" guard.
Methodology
Source · sample · scope1,017 programs · 1,060 programs · 2025–26
Definitions and scope
- Source
- Official 2025–26 rosters published by the athletics sites of NCAA D1, D2 and D3 men's programs, collected by Depth Chart.
- Sample
- 1,017 programs whose published roster lists at least 8 players (a shorter list is a partial roster, not a roster). Divisions with fewer than 30 such programs are not shown.
- Positions
- Roster listings normalised to guard, forward and center; the mix is of players with a listed position.
- Roster size
- Players listed on the athletics site, including walk-ons and redshirts — not scholarships.
- Computed
- August 31, 2026 · methodology 2026-08-28.1
27.0% of a D1 roster is freshmen and about 30.0% is in its final season; the median D1 roster was 64.3% new players year over year, and 42.3% of D1 underclassmen kept their roster spot into the next season. Computed from 16,153 player-seasons on 2025–26 rosters.
Data studyWhat the transfer portal actually did to college basketball recruitingThe share of returning college players who changed school went from 11.6% in 2021–22 to 23.7% in 2025–26. But the portal is mostly lateral: of that season's moves, 75.4% were between programs at the same level, 15.2% went down one and 9.4% went up. Computed from 74,740 player-seasons on 2021–22 to 2025–26 rosters.
Data studyHow much do college basketball players weigh? Average weight by position and divisionD1 guards average 190 lb, forwards 220 lb and centers 242 lb — and the spread inside each group is wider than the gap between divisions. Computed from 11,080 player-seasons on 2025–26 rosters.