NBA draft winners and losers: The Big 12 cleans up, Michigan and Arizona thrive, Gonzaga’s shutout and low flow from the SEC

The Big 12 owned the 2026 NBA draft like few conferences in recent years. It produced the top two picks (BYU’s AJ Dybantsa and Kansas’ Darryn Peterson), nine first-round selections and 13 draftees in all — more than any conference.

The draft domination forms an impressive bookend. Eight months ago, the Big 12 placed six teams in the Associated Press preseason Top 25, with three slotted into the top 10 — also more than any conference.

In between? Well, that’s the hook. The expectations and talent would suggest the Big 12 dominated the sport on the court. It did not, especially during the three weeks that matter most.

The conference’s performance in the NCAA Tournament didn’t square with the personnel.

Injuries to three elite players (BYU’s Richie Saunders, Iowa State’s Joshua Jefferson and Texas Tech’s JT Toppin) were undeniable factors. But those absences don’t fully explain why the Big 12, with so many loaded rosters and eight teams in the NCAAs, had just three standing in the Sweet 16 and one (Arizona) alive in the Elite Eight.

The Red Raiders pulled a no-show in the opening round against Alabama. BYU was no match for a much lower seed (Texas), and Houston lost by double digits to Illinois in Houston.

All in all, the Big 12’s big win in the NBA draft helps frame the NCAAs as a missed opportunity for the conference — one that might not materialize at a comparable level in coming years.

SEC rosters look loaded in 2026-27. Big Ten teams will continue to devote huge dollars to men’s basketball. The ACC got stronger at the top with a coaching change at the bluest of blue bloods with Michael Malone taking charge at North Carolina.

Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark has made basketball a clear priority for his schools — not at the expense of football necessarily but certainly within close range of football.

Considering the unprecedented talent in place in 2025-26, it was the perfect narrative for the conference. And it would have played out as scripted from October through June, if not for a few unfortunate weeks in March.

To the winners and losers from the 2026 NBA draft:

Winner: The NCAA. For the first time since 1994, when Purdue’s Glenn ‘Big Dog’ Robinson was the No. 1 overall pick, the first 20 selections all played college basketball, according to the NBA. (The explanation is rooted in a slew of factors, including revenue sharing and NIL, plus some good fortune.) What’s more, nine of the top 10 picks were freshmen.

Loser: The 2026 NBA draft. Now that he has (theoretically) solved tampering, commissioner Adam Silver should turn his focus to the draft. It simply doesn’t work as a two-day event that tries to turn the second round into something that stands on its own. The NBA isn’t the NFL. The league should go back to a single night. (Admittedly, that’s highly unlikely.)

Winner: Michigan. The national champions produced three selections in the lottery portion of the draft with forward Morez Johnson Jr. (Mavericks), forward Yaxel Lendeborg (Warriors) and center Aday Mara (Thunder) taken Nos. 9, 11 and 12. Our eyes did not deceive us. The Wolverines’ frontcourt was, in fact, one of the greatest to grace college basketball in eons.

Loser: SEC. The conference had just five first-round picks, far fewer than the Big 12 (nine), and only 11 players were selected in total. That tells us the conference will be stocked next season. It also tells us the SEC might be a football conference, after all.

Winner: Arizona. Add Brayden Burries and Koa Peat to the long list of Wildcat draft picks (83 in all, if you’re scoring at home). Additionally, Burries and Peat combined to mark the third time this decade, and the second time under coach Tommy Lloyd, that two Arizona players have been selected in the first round.

Loser: Gonzaga. Once a regular supplier of top talent, the Zags were shut out of the first round for the third consecutive year and had no players drafted for the second year in a row. Meanwhile, one of their former West Coast Conference peers is doing just fine, thank you …

Winner: Santa Clara. Forward Allen Graves went No. 19 (Toronto), joining Jalen Williams (2022) and Brandin Podziemski (2023) to elevate the little old Broncos to elite status: They are the only mid-major in the country with three first-round picks in the past five years. Heck, only a handful of high-major schools can make that claim. Herb Sendek is a magician.

Loser: Henri Veesaar. Sound advice is more important than ever for draft prospects who have the option to stay in school and earn millions. Unfortunately, Veesaar, the former Arizona and North Carolina big man, received terrible counsel and turned down massive NIL dollars next season to become … a second-round pick.

Winner: Washington. Over an 11-year span that ended in 2020, the Huskies produced 10 first-round selections — the stuff of blue bloods, essentially. On Tuesday evening, forward Hannes Steinbach became the first UW player picked in the first round in the past six drafts. The drought is over on Montlake. Meanwhile …

Loser: Oregon. Coach Dana Altman’s struggling program has gone two consecutive drafts without a selection. The mini-slump in Eugene coincides with the aforementioned downturn in Spokane to create an unfortunate stretch for college basketball in the Pacific Northwest.

Winner: BYU. The NIL era is working well for the Cougars, who went 13 years without a first-round selection but have generated lottery picks in the past two drafts with Egor Demin last year and Dybantsa this week. Worth noting: Dybantsa became the first No. 1 overall pick in school history.

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