Gonzaga’s point guard picture just got more complicated.
Javon Bennett, the Dayton transfer who committed to Gonzaga on Aug. 5, ran into an eligibility setback Friday when the NCAA was granted a stay motion in the federal NCAA vs. Wisne lawsuit. That ruling puts on hold the protection Bennett and other student-athletes had been using to chase a fifth year of eligibility.
It’s the second hit in five days for Bennett’s chances of being available for Gonzaga, which still does not have a point guard signed for its 2026-27 roster.
The other blow came Monday, when the Ohio Court of Appeals granted the NCAA’s request to stay an injunction in the Borovicanin vs. NCAA case.
Bennett was one of 15 athletes covered in that lawsuit, and the appeals court set oral arguments for Sept. 22.
That timing leaves open the possibility of a decision before Gonzaga opens the season Nov. 2.
For now, both injunctions that had cleared Bennett to pursue a fifth season - the federal order in Colorado and the state injunction in Ohio - are paused while the appeals process plays out.
“The age-based eligibility rules will be implemented as the Division I membership intended,” the NCAA wrote in a statement sent to member schools Friday. “Class members who were allowed to compete because of the Wisne injunction are no longer eligible to compete.
“The Association will separately continue to defend other similar putative class action lawsuits and the state court cases that have been filed by former student-athletes seeking additional eligibility and expeditiously appeal any cases where former student-athletes have, or will, be granted additional eligibility through separate state court rulings. We are encouraged by the Ohio Court of Appeals’ decision to stay the first of those injunctions pending our appeal.”
Not every player caught in these eligibility fights is in the same spot. Gonzaga commit Chauncey Wiggins, a fifth-year wing from Florida State, remains eligible for now after receiving an injunction in Georgia. Wiggins got to Spokane on Friday, according to a photo posted to his Instagram story from McCarthey Athletic Center.
The Bulldogs have also been tied to several point guard options from a similar California case, including Florida’s Xaivian Lee and UCLA’s Donovan Dent. On Tuesday, the 73 athletes in that suit were granted a temporary restraining order against the NCAA, allowing that group to keep pursuing a fifth season.
The NCAA is expected to keep filing stay motions in other state cases, but it hasn’t won every time. A court in Tennessee recently turned down the NCAA’s request to stay an injunction that extended eligibility for 19 player plaintiffs.
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The latest court ruling has added another layer of uncertainty to Gonzagas backcourt plans before the season even gets going. In the Wisne vs. NCAA federal lawsuit, the Tenth Circuit granted the NCAAs stay request, which means student-athletes from the 2022 class are now ineligible while the case works through the appeals process. For Gonzaga, the immediate impact falls on Dayton transfer point guard Javon Bennett, whose status for the upcoming season is now in question.
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