It's Time To Hand Out The Most Prestigious Award - Your Annual 'How The Hell Are These Guys Still Playing College Basketball' Blog

It's the most wonderful time of the year folks. We're just over 24 hours away from college basketball being on our TV. So as I've been doing my research and double checking who transferred where, who came back, etc, it's time for the 12th annual How the Hell Are They Still in College Team. Something I started doing as a joke with friends before putting it on Twitter and the blog. Naturally people have freaked out over my list but it's MY list. It's also the toughest year to come up with just 10. We don't do bullshit more than 5 players on a team list here. We're professional. 

But the reason it's the toughest? The free year thanks to COVID. We have 7th year players, we have a bunch of 6th year players across the country. The key as always is who sticks out to me as a guy that just feels like they've been in college forever. The Scott Martin's, Jalen West (original 7th year player), Aaron Craft and as much as I hate when people say his name - Perry Ellis type players. Seriously the Perry Ellis thing is way overplayed. There are better options than him. 

Honestly, I love that college hoops gave guys a free year. Let them experience a year with fans, especially if we're talking about guys that transferred to a bigger school or something. Give them a chance for a real year of basketball and not what we saw last year. 

Let's get into it:

First Team

Jalen Coleman-Lands (Captain/Kansas)

This guy played at Illinois with Kendrick Nunn. That was the 2016-17 season, a long ass time ago. He's also on his fourth team now after transferring from Illinois to DePaul to Iowa State to Kansas. Impressive all the way around and a no-brainer for the captain award this year.

Mitch Lightfoot (Kansas)

He knows it himself.

Brad Davison (Wisconsin) 

This guy has been around forever. He's the prototypical type player for this team. Came on as a freshman and then just had the same role forever. He's going on his 5th year at Wisconsin which feels too short honestly. 

Jordan Bohannon (Iowa) 

Our guy Bohannon another consensus 1st team pick. Technically his 6th year after he played 72% of minutes as a freshman. Remember when there was talk about him potentially playing his last game when he left his shoes on Iowa State's court? That was 2 years ago. 

Charlie Moore (Miami) 

Another guy who bounced around. Charlie Moore is on his fourth team. Started at Cal as a freshman before going to Kansas for a year. Spent two years at DePaul and now replaces Chris Lykes at Miami. Playing for four teams seems impossible, so that helps him get the nod here. 

Second Team

Collin Gillespie (Villanova)

A Barstool athlete! Congrats to Collin for bouncing back from an injury last year and coming back to Nova. He's a popular All-American pick, but he makes 2nd team here. Doesn't help he looks identical to Arch. 

Brady Manek (UNC)

Brady Manek was the floppy hair guy that looked like Larry Bird that played with Trae Young. I'm pretty sure Trae Young is on his fourth contract already in the NBA. Manek grad transferred to UNC. It won't look right, but he's there. I promise. 

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Kellan Grady (Kentucky)

Rare to have a Kentucky player on the list but here we are. Kellan Grady played no less than 10 years at Davidson. So much so he drew comparisons to Steph Curry with how he scored and shot the ball there. Hell he played against Kentucky with a team that had Kevin Knox on the roster. 

Remy Martin (Kansas)

The transfer from Arizona State. I still remember when he was a freshman and hearing his name. People couldn't fire off enough Remy Martin tweets. Here we are and he's still around. This time though he's in Kansas and pissing off Bill Self. 

Jacob Gilyard (Richmond)

Tough pick for the last spot here. I leaned Gilyard just because I have a soft spot for guards, especially ones who talk about defense all the time. Richmond was old last year and they are running it back. He edges out his teammate Grant Golden along with Aaron Thompson and Trent Frazier for the last spot. 

Honorable Mentions

Aaron Thompson (Butler), Grant Golden (Richmond), Trent Frazier (Illinois), Nate Watson (Providence), Jason Carter (Ohio), Paul Scruggs (Xavier), Seventh Woods (Morgan State) and plenty others