PORTLAND, Ore. — In a game with so many tall people, you might expect a little more leg.

But basketball players increasingly cover their lower bodies, mostly out of fashion, partly out of protection, sometimes out of prudish modesty. In a trend on full display at the N.C.A.A. men’s tournament, skin is concealed behind the triple protection of shorts hemmed below the kneecap, socks raised to the calf and a base layer of tights underneath.

An entire team might not combine to reveal as much leg as the short-short-wearing John Stockton, and certainly not Wilt Chamberlain, the 7-footer nicknamed the Stilt. Depending on how high he pulled his socks, Chamberlain might have shown three feet of leg.

Today’s top players might show three inches, if any at all. California-Irvine’s 7-6 center, Mamadou Ndiaye, played Friday with white tights and a tiny gap of skin above his ankle.

Explanations offered by today’s players were both broad and suspect: leg warmth, sweat control, superstition and vanity among them.