As part of some other work I am doing, I have had to compile a birth date database. Naturally, I need to look at the extremes, out of both curiosity and entertainment. Near as I can tell, the elder statesman of college hoops is Tennesee Tech’s Francis Kabore, who checks in at 28, at least 18 months older than anybody else.
Kabore’s age appears to be legit, but there are some others out there who seem to be fudging things. For instance, the youngest player is allegedly William Bullard from Texas A&M Corpus Christi. According to the info on the Islanders’ web site, Bullard turned 17 just a couple weeks before practice started. That’s unusual enough – except that Bullard happens to be a junior. Actually, Bullard’s name was recently removed from the Islanders’ roster. Perhaps he quit the team to focus on finishing up his degree in three years. The “real” youngest player might be Charles Jenkins, a freshman guard at Hofstra who’s listed as not turning 18 until the last day of February.
Oddities also abound from UNLV, where the school lists two players as being 26, but I’ll need to see some ID. One is listed as having graduated high school as a 22 year old when you do the math.