Several times this season, Northeastern forward Alex Murphy and Oregon guard Dylan Ennis have exchanged text messages and chatted via social media. After Ennis posted a highlights video of himself on Twitter last month, Murphy sent him a reply.

“Keep killin’ and leading bro!” Murphy wrote. “Great to see you back out there doing your thing.”

Despite going to colleges more than 3,000 miles apart and having started conversing only last summer, Murphy and Ennis have become friendly because of their shared experiences. Murphy, 24, and Ennis, 25, are both competing for their third colleges, are healthy after dealing with injuries last season and are rare players for whom the N.C.A.A. has granted a sixth year of eligibility.

The N.C.A.A. allows Division I athletes to have five calendar years to play four seasons of competition, giving them a cushion in case they sustain an injury to have a redshirt year. The organization is strict about granting sixth years and does so only when colleges can prove players lost two seasons of participation because of reasons beyond their control, like injury or illness. The N.C.A.A. said it could not provide a tally for the total number of athletes who have received a sixth year.