Before the 2018-19 college basketball season, there had only been two games in the history of the sport in which at least four players who were top-10 picks in the upcoming NBA Draft shared the floor together. Both matchups were during the 2006-07 season when Ohio State’s Greg Oden and Mike Conley squared off against Florida’s Al Horford, Corey Brewer and Joakim Noah in December and then again in the National Championship Game.

Those five players were all selected in the first nine picks of the 2007 NBA Draft.

Thanks to Duke’s freshman trio of Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish, who could potentially be drafted No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 in some order in next summer’s draft, games featuring four top-10 picks will likely happen with semi-regularity this season. The Blue Devils have already played two opponents in their first six games that have a potential — if not likely — top-10 pick in Kentucky (Keldon Johnson) and Gonzaga (Rui Hachimura).

They have another one of those matchups on tap Tuesday night in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge when they host Indiana and Hoosiers freshman shooting guard Romeo Langford.

Here’s a closer look at the top freshmen that will be squaring off in Durham.

Player	School	Points/Game	Rebounds/Game	Assists/Game	Steals/Game	Blocks/Game	FG%	3P%
RJ Barrett	Duke	22.8	5.7	4.0	0.7	0.2	40.8	31.6
Zion Williamson	Duke	20.7	9.5	2.2	1.5	2.7	65.3	25.0
Cam Reddish	Duke	15.7	3.5	1.7	1.8	0.0	42.0	43.2
Romeo Langford	Indiana	18.5	5.8	2.3	1.0	0.8	52.0	26.1

 

In ACC play, Duke has two games against both North Carolina (Nassir Little) and Virginia (De’Andre Hunter). The former is a projected top-five pick and the latter could be on a trajectory to be a lottery pick who climbs into the top 10.

It’s not difficult to find games that have featured three top-10 draft picks. Here are some examples from recent college basketball history:

• 2017-18: Duke’s Marvin Bagley III, Wendell Carter Jr. vs. Michigan State’s Jaren Jackson Jr./Texas’ Mo Bamba
• 2014-15: Kentucky’s Karl-Anthony Towns, Willie Cauley-Stein vs. Wisconsin’s Frank Kaminsky
• 2013-14: Kansas’ Andrew Wiggins, Joel Embiid vs. Duke’s Jabari Parker
• 2012-13: Indiana’s Victor Oladipo, Cody Zeller vs. Georgetown’s Otto Porter/Georgia’s Kentavious Caldwell-Pope/Michigan’s          Trey Burke
• 2011-12: Kentucky’s Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist vs. Kansas’ Thomas Robinson
• 2007-08: UCLA’s Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love vs. Memphis’ Derrick Rose/USC’s OJ Mayo/Stanford’s Brook Lopez

 

But four is different. That requires two teams to have two future top-10 draft picks each, or for one school to have three and its opponent to have one as well.

There have been years where two schools each had a pair of top-10 picks, but they played in different conferences and never met during non-conference play or in the NCAA Tournament.

For example:

• 2014-15: Kentucky’s Karl-Anthony Towns, Willie Cauley-Stein; Duke’s Jahlil Okafor, Justise Winslow
• 1997-98: Kansas’ Raef LaFrentz, Paul Pierce; North Carolina’s Antawn Jamison, Vince Carter
• 1983-84: North Carolina’s Michael Jordan, Sam Perkins; Kentucky’s Sam Bowie, Melvin Turpin
• 1980-81: Utah’s Danny Vranes, Tom Chambers; Maryland’s Buck Williams, Albert King
• 1978-79: Michigan State’s Magic Johnson, Greg Kelser; UCLA’s David Greenwood, Roy Hamilton

 

The 2007 games between Florida and Ohio State remain the gold standard for top NBA prospects with half of the players selected in the top 10 of that year’s NBA Draft sharing the floor on a national stage, including once in the National Championship Game.

Here’s a look at each player’s performance in the title game.

Player	School	NBA Draft Pick	Points	Rebounds	Assists	Steals	Blocks
Greg Oden	Ohio State	No. 1	25	8	1	1	4
Al Horford	Florida	No. 3	18	12	3	0	2
Mike Conley	Ohio State	No. 4	20	3	6	4	0
Corey Brewer	Florida	No. 7	13	8	1	3	1
Joakim Noah	Florida	No. 9	8	3	0	1	0

 

Depending on what types of NBA careers Duke’s Williamson, Barrett and Reddish have, as well as Duke opponents Romeo Langford, Nassir Little, Keldon Johnson and Rui Hachimura, Tuesday night’s Duke-Indiana matchup could be one of several games this season that we’ll look back upon fondly years from now and ask, “How lucky were we to see all those NBA stars play in the same college basketball game?”