In the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

(NCAA), the statistic for total games played in Division I men's basketball helps opposing coaches to monitor the extent that a particular player is used on a team. By definition, a player has "played in a game" when he enters the contest via

substitution Substitution may refer to: Arts and media *Chord substitution, in music, swapping one chord for a related one within a chord progression * Substitution (poetry), a variation in poetic scansion * "Substitution" (song), a 2009 song by Silversun Pi ...

or by starting the contest. All that is required is that he is one of the five players for a team on the

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance ...

for a minimal time of one

second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...

according to the game clock. As of the end of the 2021–22 season, the all-time leader in games played is Jordan Bohannon, who played six seasons at

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

and appeared in 179 games. Bohannon benefited from two special provisions of NCAA rules that allowed him to play in more than the standard four seasons. Normally, the only way for a player to play in more than four NCAA seasons is to qualify for a "medical redshirt", officially known by the NCAA as a "hardship waiver". To be eligible, a player must have participated in fewer than one third of his team's scheduled games in that season, and cannot have participated in any games in the second half of the season. Bohannon received a medical redshirt in 2019–20, a season in which he played 10 games. Several other players on the career leaders list benefited from this rule. Bohannon also benefited from a special NCAA eligibility waiver for the 2020–21 season, which was so heavily disrupted by

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

that the NCAA announced it would not count that season against any player's period of eligibility. He chose to play a final season in 2021–22. Five other members of the career leaders list have played in six seasons: * Jalen Coleman-Lands of

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

, who started play at

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

in 2015–16 and transferred to DePaul, sitting out the 2017–18 season due to then-current NCAA transfer rules. He suffered a season-ending injury in 2018–19 after playing nine games and received a medical redshirt, playing a full 2019–20 season at DePaul. Coleman-Lands then received a rare sixth season of eligibility for 2020–21, playing at

Iowa State Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

, and took advantage of the COVID-19 waiver and transferred to Kansas. * Aaron Cook Jr., who began his career at

Southern Illinois Southern Illinois, also known as Little Egypt, is the southern third of Illinois, principally along and south of Interstate 64. Although part of a Midwestern United States, Midwestern state, this region is aligned in culture more with that of th ...

in 2016–17 and suffered a season-ending injury in 2019–20 after playing six games. After graduating in 2020, he transferred to Gonzaga for the 2020–21 season, and then took advantage of the COVID-19 waiver and transferred to Georgia. *

John Fulkerson John Michael Fulkerson (born April 29, 1997) is an American professional basketball player for Leuven Bears of the BNXT League. High school career In his first two years of high school, Fulkerson played basketball for Dobyns-Bennett High School ...

, who played his entire career at

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. He started his college career in 2016–17 and suffered a season-ending injury in his 10th game of that season, receiving a medical redshirt. Fulkerson chose to play for a sixth season in 2021–22 following the COVID-19 waiver. *

Justin Kier Justin Kier (born May 30, 1998) is an American professional basketball player for the Austin Spurs of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the Arizona Wildcats of the Pac-12 Conference. He also played for the George Mason Patriots ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, who began his career at George Mason in 2016–17 and played four seasons, suffered a season-ending injury in his senior season in 2019–20 after playing in nine games. After graduating from George Mason he transferred to Georgia for what would have been his final season of eligibility, but then took advantage of the COVID-19 waiver to transfer again to Arizona for 2021–22. * Grant Golden of

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

, who suffered a season-ending injury in his freshman season of 2016–17, played in only nine games that year, then took advantage of the COVID-19 waiver which allowed him to play a rare sixth eligible season in 2021–22.

Key

Top 25 games played leaders

Includes ties for 25th. Accurate as of games played through the 2021–22 season.

Leaders without COVID-19 waiver

The overall top 25 is completely occupied by players who were active in the 2020–21 season and benefited from the COVID-19 waiver. The last players eligible to take advantage of this waiver will not complete their college eligibility until 2024–25, not counting any potential medical redshirt season in 2021–22 or later. For this reason, a separate list consisting solely of players who did not benefit from the waiver is being maintained.

Footnotes

References

;General * * ;Specific {{DEFAULTSORT:Games played NCAA Division I men's basketball statistical leaders