The NCAA has taken its fight over eligibility to federal court, filing suit Friday against Ohio and Governor Mike DeWine after DeWine issued an executive order opening eligibility for all university athletes in the Class of 2022.
That move turns up the heat in the MJ Collins case, which had seemed to settle after an Ohio Court of Appeals rejected his bid for eligibility in the upcoming 2026-27 men’s basketball season. Instead, the NCAA is now challenging the governor’s order itself, and that puts Collins’ chance to suit up for Cincinnati this season back in doubt.
The association has already been dealing with a wave of similar lawsuits and injunctions, all of them testing whether it can actually enforce its 5-for-5 eligibility rule. That policy bars players from the 2022 class from pursuing a fifth year under the new setup.
“This morning … the NCAA took the extraordinary step of suing the Governor of Ohio” 👀 pic.twitter.com/9DkUDOQx3r
- The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) October 16, 2026
Collins is one of several players with NBA aspirations who are now pushing for an extra season of college ball. He arrived at Cincinnati this offseason after four years split between Virginia Tech, Vanderbilt and Utah State. Last season with the Aggies, the 6-foot-4, 195-pound senior guard averaged 17.5 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game.
The appeals court’s ruling earlier this month was blunt. In its decision, the court wrote:
“Based on the foregoing, we hold that the trial court abused its discretion in granting the plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary injunction. Our decision is based on the record that was presented to the trial court at this stage of the proceedings. The parties remain free to introduce additional evidence and supplement the record at a hearing on the merits.
We sustain the assignment of error, reverse the trial court judgment, and remand this cause for further proceedings.
Judgment reversed and cause remanded.”
With the NCAA now taking Ohio to court, the legal fight is clearly headed to another level. If Collins had a path to playing college basketball this year, that path looks a lot less certain now as the case continues.
For Cincinnati, the timing matters. Jerrod Calhoun is taking over for his first season after going 55-15 over two years at Utah State, and the Bearcats brought in a heavy transfer haul that includes Collins. Fifth-year graduate guard Grant Darbyshire is the only player back from last season’s Wes Miller team.
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