Last week the NCAA announced all athletes who participate in winter sports in 2020-21 will be granted an extra year of eligibility. The move was widely praised as the right thing to do, and many observers also noted that this fifth year will require coaches to adopt creative strategies in terms of roster management.
One additional, if subsidiary, consequence is that longer playing careers will have the potential to rewrite the NCAA record book. Career marks in individual statistics like points, made 3-pointers, assists and steals could all be in jeopardy in the 2020s. Other records, however, appear relatively safe even with players potentially logging over 190 career games.
Let's start with the mother of all individual career records in college basketball -- points.
Points
Pete Maravich, LSU, 1967-70: 3,667
Maravich averaged 44.2 points in an era that, to be clear, did not have a 3-point line. Freshmen weren't eligible to play varsity basketball in Maravich's time, so he set his career scoring record in only three seasons. This feat is all the more remarkable when you consider the next nine names on the all-time career scoring list all played four seasons (Freeman Williams, Chris Clemons, Lionel Simmons, Alphonso Ford, Doug McDermott, Mike Daum, Harry Kelly, Keydren Clark and Hersey Hawkins).
Nevertheless, giving players five seasons of basketball could, at last, imperil Maravich's career record. In particular, Jhivvan Jackson of UTSA appears to have a fair shot at eclipsing Maravich. Jackson completed his junior season with 2,053 points for his career. If he were to score 856 points (as he did in 2019-20) in each of the next two seasons as part of a five-year career, Jackson would wrap up with 3,765 points, roughly 100 more than Maravich.
Other players to watch here include Terry Taylor at Austin Peay, Antoine Davis at Detroit Mercy and Howard transfer R.J. Cole at Connecticut. Taylor will be a senior this season and Davis and Cole will be juniors. Note that additionally, with a fifth season, Taylor could become the first player in NCAA history to record 3,000 points and 1,500 rebounds in a career.
Of course, these are just the veterans we've already spotted on our collective radar. Perhaps one of this season's freshmen will put together a five-season body of work that will surpass any previous career scoring mark.
Made 3-pointers
Fletcher Magee, Wofford, 2015-19: 509
The aforementioned Davis at Detroit Mercy will have a solid shot at breaking this record if he plays five seasons. Davis currently stands at 233 made 3-pointers after two seasons, and extending that same average across five years would give him a whopping 582 makes by the close of his career. UTSA's Jackson, with 302 career makes and an opportunity to play two more seasons, could make noise here, too. Today's players are also shooting from beyond a tougher line than the arcs that existed prior to 2019-20.
Made free throws
Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina, 2005-09: 982
This is a fairly remarkable record for Hansbrough to have set in four (admittedly lengthy) seasons. Colbey Ross might have a chance at breaking it if he sticks around Pepperdine for two more seasons, but it will be a stretch. In general, the type of player who can generate free throws right from the start of his freshman season is a prime candidate to jump to the next level sooner rather than later. Last season's leaders in made free throws among freshmen, for example, were Isaiah Stewart at Washington and Zeke Nnaji at Arizona.
Assists
Bob Hurley, Duke, 1989-93: 1,076
Yet another reason to pay attention to Pepperdine this season: Ross could reach Hurley's record if he plays another two years and posts about 230 assists per campaign the same way he did in 2019-20. Another player to watch will be Kameron Langley of North Carolina A&T.
If for some strange reason Ja Morant had stayed at Murray State, he was on pace to threaten Hurley's record within the traditional four-season span.
Steals
John Linehan, Providence, 1997-2002: 385
Linehan played in six games in November 1999 (and recorded 17 steals) before suffering an injury and sitting out the rest of the season. As a result, he played across parts of five seasons, but his 122 career games are similar to what has been logged by four-year career record holders.
This record appears likely to fall in our strange new five-year world. At Richmond, Jacob Gilyard already has 275 steals after three seasons. If Gilyard doesn't get the job done, Isaiah Miller might. The UNC Greensboro senior-to-be is not far behind Gilyard.
Rebounds
Tom Gola, La Salle, 1951-55: 2,201
Incredibly, this record looks safe. In other words, no player is likely to get as many rebounds in five years as Gola pulled down in four. (Like all athletes who graduated high school in 1951, Gola was granted freshman eligibility due to the introduction of a military draft for the Korean War.) Teams played a fast pace, yet shot poorly in the early 1950s, and several rebound records date from that era.
Cognizant of this wrinkle, the NCAA also keeps a separate rebound category for careers starting in 1973 and after. The champion here is Kenneth Faried of Morehead State (1,673 rebounds between 2007 and 2011), but his record could fall. One player who's well positioned to take a run at it over the course of five seasons is Austin Peay's Taylor.
Blocks
Jarvis Varnado, Mississippi State, 2006-10: 564
We don't know what astonishing feats will be recorded by incoming freshmen in 2020-21, but for now, Varnado's record appears difficult to reach. Even with an extra season, senior-to-be Hayden Koval at UNC Greensboro, for example, would be expected to finish with something in the neighborhood of 450 career blocks at his current pace (compiled over three previous years at Central Arkansas).
In addition to the NCAA-wide records, there are a number of venerable conference scoring records that could be endangered by granting today's players an additional year of eligibility.
Big 12 career points
Danny Manning, Kansas, 1984-88: 2,455
Maybe Jared Butler can get this job done? The Baylor junior-to-be has scored 828 points in two seasons. If he's going to make Manning sweat, Butler will have to demand the ball and, not least, stick around for three more years.
Of course, Manning is, technically, the all-time leading scorer in the Big 8. Under the Big 12 banner, Butler has a better chance to catch former Oklahoma great Buddy Hield (2,291 points).
Big Ten career points
Calbert Cheaney, Indiana, 1989-93: 2,613
If Luka Garza elects to play two more seasons at Iowa, he might catch Cheaney. Garza has amassed 1,559 points in three seasons. A five-year version of the Hawkeyes' star would also make a run at becoming the Big Ten's first three-time player of the year.
Pac-12 career points
Don MacLean, UCLA, 1988-1992: 2,608
The extra year could enable Remy Martin to set a career scoring record for the league at Arizona State. Assuming Martin plays two more seasons and scores about 600 points in each (as he did in 2019-20), he will be right at 2,500.
Conversely, career scoring marks set by Hansbrough (2,872), Markus Howard of Marquette (2,761) and by Allan Houston of Tennessee (2,801) in the ACC, Big East and SEC, respectively, appear to be relatively safe. For now.
ESPN Stats & Information contributed to this report.