CINCINNATI (WXIX) – Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Chris Wagner granted a preliminary injunction Thursday for more than a dozen college basketball players suing the NCAA.
The players are suing the NCAA over its age-based eligibility rule change as they seek a fifth year of eligibility. The injunction blocks the NCAA from enforcing the new rules.
As a result, some Division I athletes who graduated high school in 2022 could now be allowed to play a fifth year. The NCAA is calling the decision wrong.
The ruling could let the University of Cincinnati and Xavier University add key players to their rosters.
The NCAA’s new rule granted a fifth year to athletes who graduated high school in 2023 or later, but it excluded most athletes who graduated in 2022. This court order blocks the NCAA from enforcing that exclusion.
The ruling would allow a five-year eligibility window. If an athlete meets the standards and enrolls in college no later than their 19th birthday, they could have up to five years of eligibility.
According to our partners at the Enquirer, Judge Wagner said the NCAA “claims to value competition.” He added, “However, it is unclear how these rules, arbitrarily enforced against these plaintiffs, promote competition.”
FOX19 reached out to both the University of Cincinnati and Xavier after Thursday’s ruling for comment on the decision. The University of Cincinnati declined to comment, saying the ruling is still very fresh and the university is working to determine how it will be affected. Xavier University has not responded.
The NCAA said on social media:
“The court’s decision today is wrong, and we will immediately seek all avenues for reversal, including a stay of the court’s order pending appeal. The court disregarded over a century of precedent and substituted it’s own judgment, on a limited factual record, for the collective expertise of the nation’s leading higher education institutions.”
NCAA statement regarding Borovicanin v. NCAA injunction:
The court’s decision today is wrong, and we will immediately seek all avenues for reversal, including a stay of the court’s order pending appeal. The court disregarded over a century of precedent and substituted its own…
— NCAA News (@NCAA_PR) July 9, 2026
Judge Wagner noted that this preliminary injunction is not a final decision and further court dates are to come.
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