The Minnesota Gophers may be looking ahead to a bigger 2027, but one of the biggest questions hanging over the program right now has nothing to do with wins and losses. It’s about Cade Tyson, the team’s top scorer last season, and whether he can get another year of college eligibility.
Tyson is one of 12 collegiate athletes who sued the NCAA on Wednesday night in a federal antitrust case seeking class action status. The suit could have direct implications for Minnesota, because Tyson led the Gophers last season with 19.6 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 32 games.
The legal fight centers on a specific group: athletes in the high school class of 2022. Those players did not receive a fifth year of COVID eligibility the way earlier classes did. Then the NCAA moved to a new five-year eligibility rule, but did not grandfather in the 2022 class, leaving that group as the only recent one shut out of a fifth year of college eligibility.
That timing matters. The lawsuit came right after a judge granted an injunction for 2022 athletes in Ohio on the same issue, which makes the NCAA’s position even harder to defend.
As Sam Ehrlich put it, “One Ohio state court ruling doesn't create binding precedent anywhere else in the country, but the NCAA defending the Class of 2022 athletes getting stuck between the COVID year waiver and the new five year rule was always going to be incredibly awkward to defend. And here's why.”
If Ehrlich is right, Tyson and the other plaintiffs should eventually be granted a fifth year.
That still doesn’t mean Tyson will be back in Dinkytown. Tony Liebert of BMTN said he doesn’t see a path for Tyson to return to Minnesota right now.
The Gophers don’t have an open roster spot, and Tyson entered the transfer portal shortly after the season ended. Liebert pointed to LSU as a possible landing spot if Tyson gets the extra year.
Liebert also noted that Tyson is not currently on a summer league roster, and compared his situation to MJ Collins, who was recently granted a preliminary injunction for a fifth year.
For now, though, the picture is still cloudy. The lawsuit is brand new, and there’s plenty that still has to play out before anyone knows exactly where Tyson ends up - or whether Minnesota is even in the mix.
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