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College sports future in hands of judges and pom pom-waving decisions | Opinion - An Ohio judge granted a preliminary injunction allowing 24 college basketball players to compete for an additional season.
- The ruling challenges the NCAA's new five-year eligibility model, which was previously agreed upon by member schools.
- This case is part of a larger trend where athletes are using local courts to challenge NCAA eligibility rules.
The last thing any of us should do is carry water for the NCAA, quite possibly the greatest self-serving, dysfunctional body on the planet.
And yet, suddenly a new contender has arrived.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the judicial system.
Or in the parlance of the five-year-old NIL times, judge shopping.
Never and I mean, never has a group of judges enjoyed their 15 minutes of fame so judiciously.
It almost makes you feel bad for the poor, misunderstood NCAA.
The latest absurd use of this judge shopping trend unfolded Thursday afternoon, when an Ohio judge granted a preliminary injunction for 24 mens and womens college basketball players in a direct rebuke of the NCAAs new age-based model.
Long story short: 24 players completed their eligibility, and decided they, too, deserved to get in on the NCAAs new standard of five years to play five seasons of competition.
And the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas went all-in, baby.
Court of what, you ask? Exactly.
But dont blame this dolt of a judge.
And certainly not the clown car driven by the honorable judge Christopher A.
Wagner.
PRESEASON COACHES RANKINGS: Big Ten | SEC | ACC | Big 12 Never heard of him? Let me introduce the local judge who decided, by the grace above, to intervene on behalf of student athletes chasing easy cash one last time before being forced into the mean, cruel world a judge who admitted in his final judgment to no illusions that the parties interest relate at all to academics.
Wags received his undergraduate degree from Xavier, and his juris doctorate from Cincinnati.
And in the shock of all shocks, Xavier and Cincinnati were two of the three schools representing players at the hearing.
You read that right, representing players.
It is here where we briefly return to the dysfunctional NCAA, of which Xavier, Cincinnati and Akron are members.
(A quick aside, Cincy: you may have more problems than allegedly knowing Brendan Sorsby was gambling while playing for the Bearcats).
These three stalwarts of academia agreed to the five-for-five plan like every other NCAA member institution, but only until it didnt fit needs.
Like better players.
So the basketball coaches of these three schools cooked up an idea to show out and testify on behalf of the players.
Against their universities.
I swear Im not making that up.
Wags began his 15 minutes of fame judgment by declaring sport is the most important of least important things.
Just think Judge Smails in Caddyshack.
Same thing.
He then proceeded to explain why sport is about as important as it can be for these 24 players and by proxy, with his ruling, any other collegiate player in any other sport who began their career in 2022.
He decried the NCAA as a highly-profitable professional sports league.
Wags finished by explaining why these 24 players deserved another bite at the financial apple even though their eligibility had expired.
Let me say that again: their eligibility had expired.
This is not unlike Trinidad Chambliss finding a pom pom-waving local county judge in Mississippi, or Diego Pavias judge rewriting junior college eligibility standards, or a group of basketball players finding a friendly judge in West Virginia during the birth of NIL and changing college sports forever with the advent of free player movement.
Rules are made by the 300-plus association of members of the NCAA, and if a few members dont like a rule because it prohibits winning, theyll find a local judge to right all wrongs.
What in the wide, wide world of sports is going on here? Have we all lost our collective minds? You can see where this is headed.
If a judge will go all-in for the class of 2022 getting an extra season of eligibility grandfathered in, surely another local judge will approve the same for 2021.
Why cant those players from the 2021 class the first class that ushered in NIL when the states of California and Florida rightfully strong-armed the NCAA into finally allowing players to earn off their name, image and likeness apply for a fifth year, too? Who cares if theyre a year removed from collegiate competition? The NCAA already has given waivers for eligible NBA G-League players who want to return to college basketball.
Its just a short hop for 2021 eligibility with the help of a local judge and their connection to your local university.
And you people wonder why the SEC has threatened to start its own system and walk away from this madness.
That is, until the next local judge seeking his 15 minutes steps in and shuts down that nonsense, too.
Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network.
Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.
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