A request for a preliminary injunction from Tennessee guard Zakai Zeigler’s illustration in search of a fifth season of school basketball eligibility was denied Thursday in Knoxville, Tennessee, by U.S. District Decide Katherine A. Crytzer. The denial got here almost per week after listening to arguments within the case as Zeigler’s attorneys petitioned the court docket on the grounds of being unfairly financially restricted by the NCAA’s so-called “four-seasons” rule, which states athletes should compete in 4 seasons inside a five-year window.
Zeigler accomplished 4 seasons in 4 years and is a part of the primary class post-pandemic that was not granted an extra yr of eligibility.
What the court docket stated
His illustration filed a lawsuit in opposition to the NCAA in Could within the case requesting the preliminary injunction citing federal and state antitrust legal guidelines had been violated. Nevertheless, Crytzer wrote in her evaluation that the argument during which the NCAA unduly restricted him beneath a violation of the Sherman Act didn’t maintain up.
“This Courtroom is a court docket of regulation, not coverage,” Crytzer wrote by way of the Related Press. “What the NCAA ought to do as a coverage matter to profit scholar athletes is past the attain of the Sherman Act and TTPA and by extension, this Courtroom.”
The explanation why faculty basketball gamers with no remaining eligibility are getting into the NCAA switch portal
Kyle Boone
Response from Zeigler’s authorized staff
A granting of a preliminary injunction could have been a ground-breaking improvement within the ever-changing faculty athletics eligibility panorama. Zeigler is the primary non-junior faculty participant to file go well with in opposition to the NCAA, although Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia — a former junior faculty product — sued and gained in an identical case in search of an extra yr of eligibility after arguing the NCAA’s rule counting junior faculty participation towards general eligibility violated antitrust legal guidelines.
“We’re dissatisfied the Courtroom declined to grant a preliminary injunction on the idea that the NCAA doesn’t straight management NIL compensation, simply days after the Home settlement confirmed they might do precisely that,” Litson PLLC and the Garza Legislation Agency, each of which characterize Zeigler, stated Thursday in an announcement. “This ruling is simply the primary chapter of what we imagine will finally be a profitable problem. We intend to press ahead and are evaluating the very best path forward for Zakai.”
Zeigler, a two-time SEC Defensive Participant of the Yr winner and three-time All-SEC performer, performed 138 video games throughout 4 seasons with the Vols. He’s unlikely to be chosen on this month’s NBA Draft however would have stood to earn hundreds of thousands of {dollars} the subsequent season, his counsel argued, if he had been given an extra yr of eligibility.