With the college basketball season underway, sports fans are currently in the middle of the best time of the year. College basketball, college football, the NFL, NBA, and the NHL are all back in full swing. For college basketball, this is the time early in the season when fans are reminded which players are somehow still playing.
After seeing all the players who are still hanging around, it got us thinking what a starting five with them would look like. Without further ado, here are our starting five players you won’t believe are still playing college basketball, accompanied by their current age.
Starting 5 Players Still Playing College Basketball
Point Guard: Mark Sears, Alabama (22)
Like all other players on this list, Mark Sears is entering his fifth season of college basketball. After spending two seasons at Ohio University, Sears transferred to Alabama where he joined then-freshman phenom Brandon Miller in Tuscaloosa. Yes, the same Brandon Miller who was drafted by the Charlotte Hornets two years ago.
Sears has started over 100 games, as this is the third year he has started for Alabama. Fans of other SEC teams will be happy to finally see home gone next season.
Shooting Guard: RJ Davis, North Carolina (23)
Next on the list is RJ Davis. Rarely do players go to UNC and stick around for four years, much less five. Davis came to Chapel Hill in the same class as current Utah Jazz center Walker Kessler and current center for the Brooklyn Nets, Day’Ron Sharpe.
Part of the reason why it feels like Davis has been around forever is because he started 10 games as a freshman and has averaged over 22 minutes per game in each of his five seasons. Davis has appeared in 146 games, putting him in the top 10 for most games played in North Carolina basketball history. Assuming he stays healthy, it seems likely he will break Armando Bacot’s record for most games as a Tar Heel.
Small Forward: Caleb Love, Arizona (23)
Another player who came into Chapel Hill with RJ Davis was Caleb Love. What makes Love different is how many games he has started, starting 139-of-144 total games. Now, in his second year with the Arizona Wildcats, Love racked up over 2,100 points prior to this season and will have a good chance to add even more points to his impressive total.
Power Forward: Johni Broome, Auburn (22)
For the diehard college basketball fans who keep tabs on even the “small schools,” Johni Broome is a name that will certainly bring back some memories. Broome played two full seasons at Morehead State, including an NCAA Tournament appearance where they fell to West Virginia in the first post-pandemic tournament. Broome started 61-of-64 games with the Eagles and has started all but one game in his three years with the Auburn Tigers. He has already played in three NCAA Tournaments and will be looking to make his fourth appearance this season.
Center: Hunter Dickinson, Kansas (24)
As a Wisconsin Badger fan, can Hunter Dickinson get a job? Imagine being a 7’2″ center and having to spend five years in college because you know you can’t make it at the pro level. Dickinson transferred to Kansas after three years at Michigan and has racked up over 2,300 points already in his career. He is clearly searching for that elusive championship. Dickinson is one of the main reasons Kansas is one of the favorites this season.
Sixth Man: CJ Fredrick Jr., Cincinnati (25)
Could any list really be complete without CJ Fredrick Jr.? Fredrick has had one of the more odd journeys in college basketball, as he is currently in his third school, playing at Cincinnati. He started out at Iowa in the 2019-20 season where he started 25 games for the Hawkeyes. Fredrick played in Iowa for two years before taking a year off, playing at Kentucky for a season, before transferring to Cincinnati for his last two.
While he has only averaged 7.4 points per game over his collegiate career, Fredrick will have played over three different presidential terms by the time it’s all said and done. Not many players can even come close to that.
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