RJ Godfrey remains the Big 12’s lone man on the outside | Greg Hansen

That's the new math for would-be Arizona power forward RJ Godfrey, who is 23, one of the few remaining stranded players from the high school class of 2022.

In one of the most head-shaking statistics I have come across, the Big 12 has 21 players from the Class of '22 approved via court cases to play this season. Godfrey, who awaits a third court hearing Tuesday in Tucson, is alone: 21 in, one out. He needs to be No. 22 this week.

To make Godfrey's situation more loathsome, a total of 28 players in the SEC, Big Ten and ACC from the Class of '22 have been given the legal OK to play this season.

What has Godfrey done to be in this stressful situation? He played four seasons and 137 games for Clemson and Georgia, starting in November 2022. He hasn't been in any disciplinary trouble, was never suspended and has met academic standards. Yet the Big 12 has 21 Class of '22 players, including TCU's newest acquisition, Robby Avila of St. Louis and Indiana State, who didn't transfer until last week.

By then, Godfrey had been through legal issues for months, all of them rejecting his appeal.

To get a better idea of how insane this is, I'm listing the 21 Big 12 players who have been approved for a fifth season by various judges across the country.

1. Avila, TCU. The 6-10 center is the reigning Atlantic 10 player of the year.

2. Caden Powell, Baylor. He previously played at Wyoming and Rice.

3. Jaxon Kohler, BYU. He played four years at Michigan State before being approved to play for the Cougars.

4. MJ Collins, Cincinnati. He's been all over the map, playing at Utah State, Vanderbilt and Virginia Tech.

5. Amani Lyles, Cincinnati. He jumped from Akron to the Bearcats.

6. Javontae Campbell, Cincinnati. He spent two years in junior college and two at Bowling Green.

7. Iaroslav Niagu, Colorado. His previous schools were USC and Charlotte.

8. Chendall Weaver, Houston. His route to Houston went through UT-Arlington and Texas.

9. Tamin Lipsey, Iowa State. He has played all four years for the Cyclones.

10. Melvin Council, Kansas. After two years of JC ball, he played at Wagner, St. Bonaventure and Kansas.

11. Tre White, Kansas. His has been a long journey, from USC to Louisville to Illinois to KU.

12. Trey Kaufman-Renn, Kansas. He played at Purdue before jumping to Kansas.

13. Parsa Fallah, Oklahoma State. His background: Southern Utah, Oregon State and OSU.

14. Kashie Natt, Oklahoma State. Four years of NAIA basketball, followed by a season at Sam Houston State.

15. Donovan Atwell, Texas Tech. From UNC-Greensboro to 'Tech.

16. Darrion Williams, Texas Tech. He played at Nevada and North Carolina State prior to Texas Tech.

17. Jamichael Stillwell, Texas Tech. After four years at Rutgers, he moved on to Lubbock.

18. Riley Kugel, UCF. From Florida to Mississippi State to UCF.

19. Trey Campbell, Utah. He left Northern Iowa for Utah.

20. Javan Buchanan, West Virginia. After two years of JC ball, he has played at Boise State and West Virginia.

21. Brenen Lorient, West Virginia. He went from Florida Atlantic to North Texas State to the Mountaineers.

In all, those 21 transfers played at 58 schools, many of them chronic transfers.

Godfrey isn't alone. Three SEC players, one from the Big Ten and five from the ACC, have been rebuffed in court cases. In dozens of sink-or-swim court decisions in Power 4 schools, Godfrey is one of 11 who have been pushed back.

When Godfrey was a freshman at Clemson in the fall of 2022, Arizona deployed a freshman from Phoenix, Dylan Anderson, who was Arizona's two-time Gatorade Player of the Year. After a long and winding journey to Boise State, Murray State and now NAU, Anderson returned to Tucson last week to play against the Wildcats.

Godfrey was in street clothes, sitting at the end of Arizona's bench.

Can this be fair? Not even close.