Cade Tyson’s path to the court took another hit Friday, when a federal appeals court ruled he remains ineligible to play this season.
The decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in Denver leaves the Gophers wing looking for another route to eligibility, with state court emerging as a possible next step. Tyson, Minnesota’s leading scorer last season, is enrolled at the university, practicing with the men’s basketball team and hoping to get on the floor after the season opened this week.
“We are evaluating all options,” a source on Tyson’s legal team text the Pioneer Press on Friday.
Minnesota athletic director Mark Coyle had already hinted that the fight might not be over. Speaking on KFXN-FM on Oct. 24, he said, “There’s always levers to pull,” Coyle said on KFXN-FM on Oct.
- “I don’t know what Cade and his attorneys are thinking from that standpoint (of next steps).
But there are always different levers that you can pull. Obviously, he is a part of a federal case and can become part of a state case.”
Tyson is part of the Class of 2022, and the NCAA did not include that group in its new five-for-five eligibility rule, which would allow players five years to play five seasons.
Court records show a three-judge panel on Friday vacated an injunction that had given the claimants a fifth year of eligibility this season. The judges concluded the antitrust argument did not define the “relative market.”
The legal back-and-forth has been moving fast. In August, Judge Charlotte Sweeney issued a preliminary injunction that initially opened the door for players in the class of 2022 to play a fifth year this season. By late August, the NCAA had won a stay, and those players were ruled ineligible again.
At oral arguments in October, the appeals panel seemed to side with the NCAA, and Friday’s ruling followed that hearing.
Around the country, plenty of players have found a fifth year through different courts, including several in the Big Ten. One of them is Cincinnati guard MJ Collins, who is averaging 13.5 points through two games this season. Minnesota visits Cincinnati in a high-major nonconference game Monday.
Gophers coach Niko Medved has been outspoken about the NCAA’s hard line on these cases. “I think the best decision they could make in a bad circumstance right now is to let these guys play,” Medved said in October.
He also pointed to the uneven patchwork of rulings across the country as a problem for teams trying to build a season.
“Basically, fate (of) your season, or maybe going to the NCAA tournament, depends on having a friendly judge? It’s embarrassing,” Medved said last month.
Tyson averaged 19 points per game for the Gophers last season.
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