Nike Put NBA Stars Back In Their College Uniforms, And The Photos Will Have You Feeling Nostalgic

Well, now that the brackets have been released and the field set, we’ve finally, fully given ourselves over to March Madness. We’re not alone, either — thanks to Nike, which sponsors 44 of the 68 teams (a very nice 69 percent) in the NCAA tournament, a handful of NBA stars have donned the uniforms of their alma mater to get into the spirit of things.

Before he was the probable NBA Rookie of the Year, Karl-Anthony Towns was just a cog in the unbelievable Kentucky machine that nearly went undefeated in 2014-15 before falling in the Final Four against Frank Kaminsky’s Wisconsin Badgers. His friends Alex Poythress and Tyler Ulis enter the tourney with lower expectations, but they’re still wearing that Kentucky blue. And for one more day, so was Towns.

Perhaps no current NBA player has more college pride than Draymond Green, who will still come after you for wearing the wrong colors in his presence. It’s got to feel good for Day-Day to put on that green again, even if he’s covering himself in more glory for the Golden State Warriors than he ever did in East Lansing.

Kyrie Irving, DeMar DeRozan, DeMarcus Cousins, Aaron Gordon and Kelly Olynyk all had varying levels of success in college, but thanks to their pro success and ties to Nike, they all got to hop in the time machine, too.

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