Langston Reynolds will finish his college basketball career where it began — at the University of Northern Colorado.
Reynolds, from Denver, announced his return to the Bears for his fifth and final season of college eligibility on Wednesday morning.
“I mean, it feels like I’m back at home, you know,” Reynolds said Wednesday evening following a workout with UNC. “I was here for three years, so, yeah, just kind of feels like I’m really back home.”
Reynolds, a 6-foot-4 guard, forward and even a center, was a versatile and dynamic player for the Bears from 2022-25. He left UNC following the 2024-25 season through the NCAA transfer portal to join the University of Minnesota, a Power 4 program in the Big Ten Conference.
Reynolds is coming back to Greeley to play through his inclusion in a state lawsuit filed in California allowing certain athletes a fifth season of college eligibility. Changes in NCAA rules, the governing body of college sports in the U.S., excluded college enrollees in 2022 from a fifth season in revamping eligibility earlier this summer.
Lawsuits, chaos in college sports
The NCAA changes have led to a slew of lawsuits challenging the decision, including one at the federal level where the lead plaintiff is former UNC men’s basketball player Brock Wisne, who played three seasons with Reynolds. Wisne is now in Spain where he’s preparing to start his first professional season.
In the Wisne case, titled Wisne et al v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Denver last week granted the NCAA’s request to hold on allowing athletes who started college in the 2022-23 season to return for a fifth year.
That fifth year was taken from those 2022 enrollees when the NCAA announced the eligibility changes in June. Wisne is one of 12 former Division I athletes questioning the NCAA’s age-based eligibility model allowing athletes five years to play five seasons.
Diana Florence, Wisne’s attorney, said in a text message the 10th Circuit also allowed the plaintiffs’ request for an accelerated briefing, giving them a chance to argue for a lift of the injunction and restore eligibility for the athletes. Florence said filings on the case will be completed by Sept. 11. There is a chance the case could be argued the week of Sept. 14 and a decision could be reached by the end of September, Florence added.
A judge in the California case including Reynolds ruled the plaintiff athletes may play this season – for now. Also in the California case is Montana State guard Jed Miller. Miller announced his intention last week to return to the Bobcats for a fifth season. Montana State and UNC are both members of the Big Sky Conference. Miller was Montana State’s leading scorer last season, and like Reynolds he’s been an impactful player in the Big Sky.
UNC men’s head coach Steve Smiley said Reynolds is eligible for now, though there is no way to predict what might happen in courts of law leading up to the start of the season in November.
“There is no crystal ball,” Smiley said.
Familiarity with the Bears
Smiley said Reynolds’ return to UNC happened through a conversation between the men about Reynolds’ future in basketball. Reynolds declared for the NBA Draft in the spring following his only season at Minnesota. He was not drafted by an NBA team, and Smiley said Reynolds did not have a chance to play summer league basketball where he could’ve shown his skills to scouts and organizations.
Reynolds put his name into the NCAA transfer portal in April, knowing that Minnesota likely wouldn’t have a spot for him come summer as everything took shape around his pursuit of professional basketball. The Golden Gophers then hit their roster-size limit of 15 players in June.
Minnesota’s coach is Niko Medved, who went to the program in March 2025 from Colorado State University.
University of Northern Colorado’s Langston Reynolds leaps for the basket during a Big Sky Conference game against Idaho in February 2025 at Bank of Colorado Arena in Greeley. (Greeley Tribune file photo).
NCAA Division I Board of Directors adopted a cap of 15 players for men’s and women’s basketball teams starting in July 2025 as part of the House v. NCAA antitrust settlement. UNC opted into the terms of the settlement, leaving Bears basketball teams to follow the 15-player roster limits.
Smiley opted to carry only 14 players for this year, creating the space for Reynolds to rejoin the team. He comes back on a scholarship, he said.
“The door opens,” Reynolds added. “I started my career here. I know the staff, the whole staff is still here. A lot of the players that actually came in on visits here, now I’m going to be playing with them. So, I already had a relationship with the entire team.”
Smiley said Reynolds was considering his options to play in Europe and their conversation turned to UNC being the best place for Reynolds. He’ll have a chance to complete his bachelor’s degree and add to his already strong basketball legacy at UNC. Reynolds is studying communications. He said he’ll finish the degree this winter.
“This wasn’t a three-month thing,” Smiley said of the timing and planning. “He was navigating the waters for other places. The more we talked about it, the other options weren’t right and how about here?”
Reynolds played high school basketball at Denver East and Colorado Prep. At Colorado Prep, he was a teammate of Wisne and former UNC guard Zach Bloch.
Reynolds turned into a fan favorite at UNC’s Bank of Colorado Arena during his three seasons. He averaged 16 points and 5.6 rebounds and was a first-team All-Big Sky Conference selection in his final season in 2024-25. Reynolds ranked 20th nationally that year in field goal percentage and first in the Big Sky Conference, shooting 59.3% from the floor.
University of Northern Colorado’s Langston Reynolds, middle, smiles during Big Sky Conference game against Idaho State in January 2025 at Bank of Colorado Arena in Greeley. (Greeley Tribune file photo).
UNC shared the Big Sky regular-season title, played in the conference tournament championship game and then earned the program’s first-ever bid to the National Invitation Tournament.
At Minnesota, Reynolds averaged 11.6 points, appeared in all 33 games with 26 starts. Reynolds led the Gophers with 150 assists, which tied for 10th most in a single season in program history. He scored at least 20 points five times with 22 games in double figures and three games in double digits in assists.
“Adding him from a basketball perspective is a big piece of news,” Smiley said. “With our current roster, there are so many questions on positions and who plays here and who plays there. Langston is a Swiss Army Knife, he can play any position and he knows the system. And you’re adding a really good player.”