On the road to March Madness this season, Kent State University basketball teammates Jalen Avery and Jaylin Walker faced Jalen Jenkins of George Mason University, Wofford College’s Jaylen Allen and, twice, Jaylen Key of Northern Illinois University.

“I always had another Jalen on my team,” said Mr. Walker, a 19-year-old sophomore, “ever since, like, elementary school.”

The...