COVID-19 led to extra college eligibility. Those 5th-year players are set for their last runs

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- RJ Davis accomplished capable successful 4 years astatine North Carolina for his jersey to yet gain a spot among nan honored numbers successful nan Smith Center’s rafters for nan blueblood program.

Yet he’s still here.

“With 5 years, I cognize immoderate group whitethorn say, ‘Oh, you request to spell get a occupation now,’” Davis said pinch a chuckle.

It’s nan past thrust for Davis — nan lone returning Associated Press first-team men’s All-American from past play — and astir players who gained an other twelvemonth of eligibility amid nan COVID-19 pandemic, which mostly cycles retired of men’s and women’s hoops this season. It has been nan astir different of caller landscape-shifting changes successful assemblage sports, 1 that temporarily replaced a bedrock tenet of athletes having a four-season tally pinch a salve for competing amid quiet arenas, campus bubbles and endless nose-swab testing during nan 2020-21 season.

Its effect has been massive. Rules arriving concurrently allowed players to move freely betwixt schools done nan transportation portal and rate successful connected fame done name, image and likeness (NIL) activities, a blended enticement to instrumentality astir assemblage alternatively than leaving to pursuit imaginable master careers. That successful move made rosters older, pinch coaches preferring seasoned additions to freshmen aft caller examples of really acquisition wins successful March.

Fifth-year players commencement this twelvemonth successful nan spotlight, headlined by Davis pinch nan ninth-ranked Tar Heels and fellow preseason AP All-Americans Hunter Dickinson of top-ranked Kansas, No. 2 Alabama’s Mark Sears, No. 10 Arizona’s Caleb Love — who started his profession alongside Davis astatine UNC — and No. 11 Auburn’s Johni Broome.

Davis is nan only 1 of that group to enactment astatine 1 school.

“I deliberation we’re successful a clip now wherever having knowledgeable players and players coming backmost for different twelvemonth has brought assemblage hoops — successful my eyes astatine slightest — backmost to life,” Davis said successful an AP interview. “It gives much of for illustration a communicative down it.

“You person guys that person been one-and-dones, but not a batch of group talk astir nan guys that stayed for much than 2 years. I consciousness for illustration their stories are thing that request to beryllium told arsenic well. And I emotion that.”

According to NCAA data, nan mean acquisition level for Division I men’s players stood astatine 2.41 years for 2018-19, nan past afloat play untouched by nan pandemic, but has risen to 2.62 years for 2024-25. Yet that information is based connected a four-year scale, meaning it doesn't show nan afloat communicative connected really players successful 5th years aliases beyond would thrust that fig moreover higher.

Consider Louisville, Xavier and Middle Tennessee. The Cardinals, Musketeers and Blue Raiders were among nan oldest rosters pinch a mixed mean acquisition level of 3.37 years. But each features astir a half-dozen fifth-year players (or older, successful immoderate cases), and updating nan information to much precisely seizure that pushes their mixed mean to 3.78 years.

“This is nan measurement I’ve looked astatine it recently: you’re really giving personification — it’s not conscionable adding a year,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said earlier this year. “You’re adding a twelvemonth to nan champion years they have. … It’s a large advantage.”

A look astatine nan caller Final Four lineups backs Scheyer. In 2022, North Carolina and Villanova each had astatine slightest 1 fifth-year starter. San Diego State, Miami and Florida Atlantic did it a twelvemonth later.

By past April, each 4 teams had astatine slightest one, from Cam Spencer arsenic nan No. 2 scorer (14.3) successful UConn’s tally to a repetition NCAA title to N.C. State having 3 ( DJ Horne, D.J. Burns Jr., and Casey Morsell) successful its astonishment tally to that program’s first Final Four since 1983.

Conversely, there’s been only 1 first-year freshman starter successful nan past 2 Final Fours: UConn one-and-done defender Stephon Castle past year.

The worth of acquisition weighed connected Sears’ mind successful returning aft nan Crimson Tide’s first Final Four run.

“I saw nan squad that we had and I wanted to beryllium a portion of it and bring location Alabama’s first nationalist title successful basketball,” said Sears, who started his profession astatine Ohio.

Still, while Scheyer felt pandemic-impacted players deserved nan other year, he’s fresh for it to end. So excessively is Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner Jim Phillips.

“It’s clip to move forward, because what this has caused besides is simply a pushback connected freshmen and younger players and opportunities because immoderate of nan student-athletes pinch further years person been kept successful nan system,” Phillips told nan AP. “And I deliberation nan wellness of assemblage sports remains this opportunity to travel successful and play 4 years and past move out, either postgraduate aliases move retired to nan pros.”

Michigan State Hall of Fame coach Tom Izzo went further, calling nan other eligibility twelvemonth a “good intention” that mightiness person been a “mistake” successful hindsight.

“It sounded adjacent and good, but erstwhile you added that pinch nan NIL and nan transportation portal, it’s been absolute chaos,” Izzo said.

“I was talking to a feline coming whose son, he was processing fine,” Izzo added. “And each of a abrupt location was immoderate unit connected nan coach. … And they bring successful a mates of guys, truthful now he doesn’t get a chance to develop. You wonder, you ever perceive it’s good, that players should beryllium capable to spell and do what they want to do. But they impact different players’ lives. To beryllium honorable pinch you, I still deliberation it’s a mess.”

There’s nary uncertainty that managing rosters and scholarships has gotten trickier. But there's besides worth successful sanction nickname for fans seeing apical talents instrumentality astir longer compared to nan past attraction connected nan one-and-done NBA talents.

At minimum, it easy lends itself to quips astir assemblage players' age, specified arsenic LSU coach Matt McMahon facing Auburn’s Broome again aft their erstwhile Ohio Valley Conference meetings astatine Murray State and Morehead State, respectively.

“It seems for illustration it’s been a decade aliases truthful coaching against him,” McMahon said.

Davis has seen plenty, too.

The 6-footer arrived successful Chapel Hill successful autumn 2020 for Hall of Famer Roy Williams' last play and took portion successful nan bubbled 2021 NCAA Tournament successful Indiana. Then, aft Hubert Davis took complete for nan retiring Williams, nan Tar Heels made a wild thrust to nan 2022 title game only to travel that by becoming nan first preseason AP No. 1-ranked squad to miss nan NCAA tourney successful 2023.

But Davis took a immense leap to go nan ACC’s scoring leader (21.2), group nan 38-year-old Smith Center’s single-game scoring grounds (42 points against Miami) and won nan Jerry West Award arsenic nan nation's apical shooting defender arsenic nan Tar Heels won nan ACC regular-season title and earned a No. 1 NCAA seed.

“One point astir maine that I’ve learned passim my clip here," he said, “is to judge and accommodate to changes.”

And location could beryllium 1 much large 1 ahead.

Davis closed his first 4 seasons classed 5th connected UNC's profession scoring database (2,088 points). If he matches past year’s scoring total, he’ll necktie programme awesome Tyler Hansbrough (2,872) for nan schoolhouse and ACC profession scoring record.

He shrugs disconnected discounting that imaginable infinitesimal because he’ll person had an other twelvemonth of accumulation to get there, pointing to nan aforesaid mantra — “It’s proving myself correct alternatively than listening to different people’s opinions,” he said — that has brought him to this point.

And he's eager to savor this last year, immoderate it holds.

“I deliberation it’s embracing nan clip here, immoderate schoolhouse you’re at,” Davis said. “It’s great. Sometimes 4 whitethorn not beryllium enough.”

___

AP Sports Writers Larry Lage successful Michigan and John Zenor successful Alabama contributed to this report.”

___

Get canvass alerts and updates connected nan AP Top 25 passim nan season. Sign up here. AP assemblage basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball