All-Time McDonald’s All-Americans By College

HOOP SCOOP’S EXCLUSIVE LIST OF COLLEGE PROGRAMS THAT SIGNED THE MOST McDONALD’S ALL-AMERICANS FROM 1977 THROUGH 2026

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In 2027, the McDonald’s All-American Game will celebrate its 50th anniversary as the most well-known national high school all-star game on the grassroots landscape. No, it’s wasn’t the first national high school all-star game, but it’s the longest-running game in a true national scope and the game the general public knows the best.

Founded by the late Bob Geoghan (who began the Capital Classic in 1974 with all-time great Moses Malone of Petersburg (H.S.) VA as the headliner) the game was sponsored by local McDonald’s franchises in the Washington, D.C., area and pitted a DMV team vs. a U.S. National All-Star team. Geoghan envisioned a true national East-West Game, but didn’t get McDonald’s backing until 1978, when the first national East-West game took place at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. An institution was born and today being recognized as a McDonald’s All-American is one of the most well-known honors in all of basketball.

The prior year in 1977, McDonald’s asked Geoghan to select their first McDonald’s All-American Team. There were 15 players selected and Geoghan created a committee to spearhead the selections, as he didn’t want it to be chosen in the manner in which the Capital Classic players were chosen. In essence, Geoghan was a one-man committee for the Capital Classic and his intentions were to make it a democratic selection process national in scope.

Over the next year, we’ll have some features as the McDonald’s All-American Game celebrates 50 years. Keep in mind, 2027 won’t be the 50th game, as there was no game in 1977 nor in 2020 and 2021 because of the effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Twelve of those 15 players made up the U.S. team in the 1977 Capital Classic and the other three joined the local DMV team. It was a terrific class spearheaded by Mr. Basketball USA Albert King from Brooklyn (Ft. Hamilton) NY, Gene Banks from Philadelphia (West Philadelphia) PA, the high school national champions that season as selected by Basketball Weekly and the National Sports News Service, and a 6-foot-8 point guard by the name of Magic Johnson from Lansing (Everett) MI. Even though those three and the 12 others didn’t actually play in the McDonald’s All-American Game, they are remembered as McDonald’s All-Americans.

The recruiting battle for King, a prodigy from the playgrounds of Brooklyn, was intense and after some pro overtures, he chose to play for Lefty Driesell at Maryland. Johnson came down to Michigan and Michigan State and as most basketball fans know, he chose the hometown Spartans. As for Banks, he was a big-time recruit for Duke coach Bill Foster.

Banks was the first McDonald’s All-American who chose Duke and that is noteworthy because we went back and made record of where every McDonald’s All-American signed for college at the time because recruiting is the lifeblood of college basketball. You can check out the HOOP SCOOP’S Exclusive List of College Programs That Signed The Most McDonald’s All-Americans From 1977 Through 2026 and see that Duke leads all-time among 100 colleges that have signed at least one McDonald’s All-American. Duke has signed a whopping 96 since Banks and Deron Rippey Jr. from Blairstown (Blair Academy) NJ and Cameron Williams from Phoenix (St. Mary’s) AZ in 2026. By this time next year, Duke could have 100 recruits that were McDonald’s choices.

It shouldn’t be a big surprise North Carolina is No. 2 on that list with 84 players. Around 2020, Duke and North Carolina were neck-and-beck in terms of overall number, but since 2019-20, Duke has signed 18 while the Tar Heels have signed eight. To put that in perspective, Connecticut, which has won four NCAA titles since 1999 when it upset Duke in the NCAA title game, is tied for No. 23 on the HOOP SCOOP’S Exclusive List of College Programs That Signed The Most McDonald’s All-Americans From 1977 Through 2026 with 16 players. That’s 16 total for the Huskies dating back to Cornelius Thompson from Middletown (H.S.) CT in 1978.

Tobacco Road and Kentucky (with 78 players) is the heart of college basketball and that notion is influenced plenty by television and broadcast distribution. Exposure to the masses is key regardless of how college basketball has changed over the last six decades. A few years after the McDonald’s All-American concept was born, Johnson and Indiana State’s Larry Bird from French Lick (Spring Valley) IN, who was not a high school All-American of any sorts, met in the memorable 1979 NCAA title game that is still the most watched college basketball game of all-time. College basketball on cable television took off in the 1980s and Tobacco Road was at the center of it.

Keep in mind when you look over the HOOP SCOOP’S Exclusive List of College Programs That Signed The Most McDonald’s All-Americans From 1977 Through 2026 that the list was created based on where the player signed out of high school, not where he eventually played college basketball at. We want the all-time list to reflect who got it done on the recruiting trial and got the player’s signature on a letter of intent (LOI).

That’s why, for example, you’ll see Darrin Hancock from Griffin (H.S.) GA (for 1990), Ed O’Bannon from Lakewood (Artesia) CA (for 1990) and Lamar Odom from New Britain (St. Thomas Aquinas) CT (for 1997) listed with UNLV. Hancock did not qualify, O’Bannon only signed the grant-in-aid and not the full LOI because of pending NCAA sanctions against Jerry Tarkanian‘s Runnin’ Rebels and there was many questions surrounding Odom’s academic eligibility. Hancock went the JUCO route before attending Kansas, O’Bannon ended up at UCLA where he led the Bruins to the 1995 NCAA title and Odom sat out one season before playing at Rhode Island for Jim Harrick, the same coach that led UCLA to that title with O’Bannon.

There is a handful of players that never signed LOI and they are not on our extensive listings. They are Kenny Williams from Elizabeth City (Northeastern) NC in 1988, Kevin Garnett from Chicago (Farragut Academy) IL in 1995, the late Kobe Bryant from Ardmore (Lower Merion) PA and Jermaine O’Neal from Columbia (Eau Claire) SC in 1996, Tracy McGrady from Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC in 1997, Al Harrington from Elizabeth (St. Patrick) NJ, Rashard Lewis from Houston (Alief Elsik) TX and Korleone Young from Chatham (Hargrave Military Academy) VA in 1998, Tyson Chandler from Compton (Dominguez) CA, Ousmane Cisse from Montgomery (St. Jude Catholic) and Sagana Diop from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill Academy) VA in 2001, DeAngelo Collins from Inglewood (H.S.) CA and Amar’e Stoudemire from Orlando (Cypress Creek) in 2002, James Lang from Birmingham (Central Park Christian) AL and LeBron James from Akron (St. Vincent-St. Mary) OH in 2003, and Dwight Howard from Atlanta (Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy) GA in 2004. All those played listed chose to enter the NBA Draft. Others between 1995 and 2005 declared for the NBA Draft, but signed a LOI first before declaring.

In 2009, Brandon Jennings from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill Academy) VA signed a national LOI with Arizona, but chose to play professionally overseas.