Data study · 2020–21 to 2025–26
Are college basketball players getting taller? Six seasons of rosters, measured
Mostly yes: from 2020–21 to 2025–26, D1 went from 6'5" (77.1") to 6'5" (77.5") — about 0.4" taller; D2 went from 6'4" (75.8") to 6'4" (76.1") — about 0.3" taller; D3 went from 6'3" (74.8") to 6'3" (74.9") — essentially unchanged.
Computed from 83,239 player-seasons · 2020–21 to 2025–26 · updated Sep 1, 2026
The change is real but small.
D1: about 0.4" taller over 6 seasons (77.1" → 77.5"). D2: about 0.3" taller over 6 seasons (75.8" → 76.1"). D3: essentially unchanged over 6 seasons (74.8" → 74.9").
Tiny year-to-year moves are mostly noise at this level of measurement.
Schools list heights rounded to the inch and famously generously; a tenth-of-an-inch move between seasons could be real change, roster composition or listing drift, and nothing here can tell those apart. This page calls anything under 0.2" across the whole window flat.
The division gap moved.
D1 led D3 by 2.3" in 2020–21 and 2.5" in 2025–26.
Six seasons of average height, by division
Scale spans the data so the (small) slopes are visible; exact values are in the table below.
Average listed height by season and division · 2020–21 to 2025–26
| Season | D1 | D2 | D3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020–21 | 6'5" (77.1) | 6'4" (75.8) | 6'3" (74.8) |
| 2021–22 | 6'5" (77.1) | 6'4" (76.0) | 6'3" (74.8) |
| 2022–23 | 6'5" (77.2) | 6'4" (76.0) | 6'3" (74.9) |
| 2023–24 | 6'5" (77.2) | 6'4" (76.1) | 6'3" (75.0) |
| 2024–25 | 6'5" (77.3) | 6'4" (76.1) | 6'3" (75.0) |
| 2025–26 | 6'5" (77.5) | 6'4" (76.1) | 6'3" (74.9) |
The recruiting takeaway
The bar has moved, but by less than a shoe sole. The differences that decide recruiting remain the ones between positions and divisions, not between seasons.
Where you personally stand against today's rosters — by position, level and conference — is the comparison that matters, and it's what the free Market Preview computes.
See how your size compares at every level
Your profile, scored against every program in this data. The free Market Preview takes six minutes and needs no card.
Methodology
Source · sample · scope83,239 player-seasons · 1,060 programs · 2020–21 to 2025–26
Definitions and scope
- Source
- Official rosters published by the athletics sites of 1,060 NCAA D1, D2 and D3 men's programs, 2020–21 through 2025–26, collected by Depth Chart.
- Coverage
- Our collection grew over these seasons; comparing MEANS rather than counts keeps the answer insensitive to how many rosters we hold in a given year, provided each cell clears the minimum size (it does, by orders of magnitude).
- Heights
- As listed by schools, rounded to the inch and generous by roughly an inch across the sport in every season — which cancels out of a season-to-season comparison. Changes under 0.2" are reported as flat.
- Sample
- 83,239 player-seasons with a listed height across 6 seasons.
- Computed
- Sep 1, 2026 · methodology 2026-08-28.1
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