LSU coach Will Wade is moving on from his pursuit of RJ Luis, with CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander reporting that the former St. John’s star is not expected to be ruled eligible by the NCAA and Southeastern Conference.
That turns a promising roster swing into a dead end for the Tigers. Luis had been a massive potential add for Wade, but the eligibility battle was always an uphill climb.
Luis arrived at LSU after a winding spring and summer. The 2024-2025 Big East Player of the Year signed NBA contracts with the Boston Celtics and Utah Jazz after declaring for the 2025 NBA draft and going undrafted.
He was later cut after an injury kept him from ever appearing in a regular season NBA game. After that, he committed to play for Wade and won a preliminary injunction to return to college basketball from a Baton Rouge judge in August.
But the legal win did not settle the larger issue. That ruling, along with Lane Kiffin’s recruitment of football players who signed NFL contracts, helped lead to the SEC’s approval of its ban on rostering players who signed pro contracts or declared for the NFL or NBA draft without withdrawing their names. If Luis were ultimately allowed to play, it would still put Wade in jeopardy of a half-season suspension and expose LSU basketball to a fine equal to 50% of its annual operating budget.
Luis remains central to the SEC’s federal lawsuit against LSU. The university asked for the case to be dismissed after Kiffin decided to leave former pros Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris off his official football roster, but the league pushed back, pointing to Wade’s continued effort to land Luis.
Norlander reported that Wade had been privately confident Luis would be cleared, but has now accepted that the guard will not be part of the roster. LSU will instead lean on former UCLA fifth-year senior point guard Donovan Dent, Michigan State transfer guard Divine Ugochukwu and Kansas State transfer guard Abdi Bashir Jr. in the backcourt. Former UCLA guard Skyy Clark is also working with the team, though he has not been placed on the official roster or appeared in either of LSU’s two exhibition games.
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The expansion into mens basketball only adds to the pressure around Will Wades program, especially with the SEC now pressing beyond the original football-related dispute. Wade has already said he plans to follow conference rules that bar athletes who previously signed professional contracts from being rostered, but the conferences broader approach means LSU is now dealing with a legal fight that could reach deeper into how it handles basketball recruiting, too. [Read more 🡒]
LSUs Roster Picture Just Changed With One Big Eligibility Twist
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Dent and Clark, who were teammates at UCLA, now look set to be part of LSUs backcourt mix, an encouraging development for a team trying to build continuity in the right places. Even so, not every update was as clean, and one players status came with a less positive note, leaving at least one part of the roster situation still unsettled. [Read more 🡒]
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Underwood has not entered the transfer portal, but the chatter around his future is already building, and LSU is among the programs being mentioned as a possible landing spot if he chooses to move on. Miami, Texas Tech, Georgia and Kentucky are also in the mix, which means this could become a national recruiting and roster watch for the Tigers if the situation keeps trending in this direction. [Read more 🡒]