One of my favorite blogs to write before each college basketball season is that of assembling the “How Is That Guy Still in College” Team.  These are the guys who you could swear have been in college for at least a decade but somehow they’re still contributing to College teams.  Maybe they have tenure or something?

If you’re interested, here are some of the previous years’ teams.

Here is the 2017-2018 Squad.

Here is the 2018-2019 Squad.

Here is the 2019-2020 Squad.

Here is the 2021-2022 Squad.

I got to get back to this blog last year after one year off and had a fun time putting the team together. The additional year of eligibility that was granted as an option for players who were on college basketball team’s during the pandemic is still in effect for some players, so after this year, it might get a little harder to put a team of veterans together again.

Before even including any games from this upcoming season, the below players have played an average of 110 games (111, 96, 122, 120, & 97 games respectively) in their college basketball careers already, averaging 63 (52, 39, 96, 57, 68) games started amongst them. Without further ado, let’s take a look at these old/young guys.

Players with a * indicates that they are in their 5th year of eligibility.

Makai Ashton-Langford*, Boston College

Real quick, here is the college career path for Makai Ashton-Langford.

1) Committed to UConn

2) De-Committed from UConn

3) Committed to Providence

4) Played 2 years at Providence

5) Transferred to Boston College

6) Sat out 1 season per Transfer rules

7) Played 2 Years at BC

8) Announced he’s coming back for his COVID year

His brother DeMarr Langford Jr. is now a Junior at BC after being a Top-100 recruit in the 2020 class. MAL was a Top-100 recruit…in the 2017 class.

Jack Nunge*, Xavier

Just like MAL, Nunge started out his college career during the 2017-2018 season. After playing three years at Iowa (he did not play in 2018-2019) he transferred to Xavier. I seriously thought that last year was his additional year of eligibility for his graduate season and am SHOCKED that he’s still playing in the Big East.

Leaky Black*, North Carolina

Black has played all 4 years of ball at UNC averaging between 27.6 to 29.7 minutes per game in each of the last three seasons. He has started 96 games in his career, a crazy amount, especially considering he has been on an upper-echelon team like North Carolina who routinely has top recruiting classes coming in each year. And who can forget a name like Leaky Black.

Caleb Daniels*, Villanova

Daniels played two years at Tulane before transferring to Villanova and sitting out a season before playing for Coach Wright. With some other long tenured Nova players setting off into the sunset, Justin Moore returning from an achilles, and stud Freshman Cam Whitmore out for the beginning of the year with an injury, Daniels is about to get some headlining time and become more of a household name pretty quickly.

Drew Timme, Gonzaga

Timme is the only player on this list that is a true Senior and not exercising his 5th year of eligibility. However, he is also the only guy to have started every single game over the last two seasons (64 of 64). I guess when you’re a returning All-American on one of College Basketball’s marquee teams, you kind of get a lot of recognition nationally. I mean, the handlebar mustache definitely isn’t making him look any younger.

Honorable Mentions: Kendric Davis* (Memphis), Malik Martin* (Rhode Island), Noah Locke* (Providence), Armando Bacot (North Carolina) Pete Nance* (North Carolina), Akok Akok (Georgetown), Tyrese Samuel (Seton Hall), Montez Mathis* (St. John’s), Joel Soriano (St. John’s), Zach Freemantle (Xavier), Oscar Tshiebwe (Kentucky), Marcus Sasser (Houston), Antoine Davis* (Detroit) Caleb McConnell* (Rutgers), Terrence Shannon, Jr. (Illinois), Kevin McCullar Jr. (Kansas), Kyle Lofton* (Florida), Colin Castleton* (Florida)