I read a Basketball Network report in Arkansas college basketball coach John Calipari complaining about the new Name, Image, and Likenesses (“NIL”) rules in college sports leading to a trend in older college basketball players. Mr. Calipari had great success in the late 2000s and early 2010s at Memphis and Kentucky with one-and-done stars, so older players has not been his thing. The article noted an interesting fact:

Last season’s Auburn Tigers’ average starting lineup age (23.2) was older than that of five NBA teams! Even the BYU Cougars are older than the Utah Jazz…

Auburn ended the 2024-25 season ranked fourth in the country after reaching the school’s first Final Four, so they did well with their NBA-aged roster. Of course, the last four-year college player to go number one in the NBA Draft was Tim Duncan in 1997, so the best NBA prospects tended (and still tend to) leave school early.