List of NCAA Division I men's basketball players with 147 games played

In the National Collegiate Athletic Association (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 or by starting the contest. All that is required is that he is one of the five players for a team on the court for a minimal time of one second according to the game clock.

In sports, it is typically the team's better players who get playing time in the most total games. To achieve this feat, generally several factors must all come together for it to even be possible:

1. The player must be very talented. Otherwise, it is unlikely he will have entered so many games throughout his career.
2. The team must be successful. To enter 147 or more games in a four-year period (with regular season and conference tournament games averaging about 30–32 games per season, leaving the need for an additional four to five games per season), the team must be good enough to qualify for a postseason tournament each of the player's four seasons at the school.
3. The team must advance through several rounds, at minimum, in each of the postseason tournaments for all four years. For example, a team making it to the NCAA Tournament's Final Four will have played in four or five additional games in order to reach that point, and will be guaranteed at least one more game in the Final Four itself.

David Lighty of Ohio State holds the record for the most all-time appearances with 157.^[1] His lead over the next highest player is partly due to a medical redshirt season in which he played 7 games. The player in second place, Jakob Gollon of Mercer, effectively had two medical redshirt seasons. Gollon suffered season-ending injuries in both his freshman season of 2008–09 and his redshirt freshman season of 2009–10, respectively playing two and nine games in those seasons. He was granted a rare sixth season of eligibility by the NCAA in 2013–14.

Currently, 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 missed the large majority of a season due to injury or illness. Specifically, the 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. Several players on this list have benefited from this rule.

Only two players on this list competed for more than one school: Casey Benson, who played three seasons at Oregon before playing his final season of NCAA eligibility as a graduate transfer at Grand Canyon;^[2] and Kyle Wiltjer, who played two seasons at Kentucky before finishing his college career at Gonzaga.

Key

Games played leaders

Przemek Karnowski played in 152 games between 2012 and 2017.

Darius Miller is tied for fourth all-time with 152 appearances.

Aaron Craft of Ohio State played in 148 games.

Footnotes

References

General

• "2017–18 NCAA Men's Basketball Records" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. 2017. Retrieved February 28, 2018.

Specific