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.
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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
- Aug 31, 2026 · methodology 2026-08-28.1
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