Cal Basketball: NCAA Grants Eligibility to Impact Transfer Jaylon Tyson

The NCAA initially denied Tyson as a two-time transfer but reversed its decision after Cal's appeal.

Jaylon Tyson, expected to be one of Cal’s best players, could be in the starting lineup Friday night against Pacific after the NCAA approved his appeal for eligibility.

Jeff Goodman of The Stadium first reported the news, not unexpected because Tyson seemed to have a compelling case for reinstatement.

BREAKING: Cal’s Jaylon Tyson had his transfer waiver appeal approved, source told @TheMessenger.

Tyson started career at Texas, played last season at Texas Tech and is expected be in the lineup on Friday for Mark Madsen.

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) November 9, 2023

Cal confirmed the news, with coach Mark Madsen saying in a statement: “We are very thankful that the NCAA has approved Jaylon Tyson’s waiver for immediate eligibility. We are excited that he will be back on the court Friday night playing the game he loves.”

Tyson, a 6-foot-7, 215-pound junior forward, came to Cal from Texas Tech, where he averaged 10.7 points and 6.1 rebounds and shot nearly 40 percent from the 3-point arc last season.

The NCAA denied his eligibility last month on the basis that he is a two-time transfer, having begun his career at Texas.

Tyson’s argument for eligibility centered on his treatment by former Texas Tech coach Mark Adams, who Tyson alleged made racially insensitive comments to him.

“Last year, I was racially discriminated against on multiple occasions. I was called a slave, and that Mark Adams was my master,” Tyson, who is Black, told Sports Illustrated. “When he said that I kind of froze and went down a dark path in my life that I had never [experienced] before. It was very embarrassing for me and my family to have to go through this process.”

Those remarks, along with a report by Goodman that Adams had spit in the face of another player and defended his right to do so, made it shocking that the NCAA didn’t immediately accept Tyson’s bid for eligibility as a transfer.

Adams was dismissed as Tech’s coach after the season, although inexplicably he landed an assistant coaching position at another school.

Madsen, talking about the issue after the NCAA first denied Tyson, said he was confident the decision would be reversed.

“I’ve looked at the waiver material — I’ve been looking at it for months — and I believe he has a very . . . I believe it’s extremely important for Jaylon Tyson to be granted this second waiver,” he said.

“Not only for himself, but for every other student-athlete who finds himself in a situation like this in the future.”

Without Tyson, Cal opened its season Monday with a 71-66 victory over St. Thomas of Minnesota. The Bears face Pacific (0-1) on Friday with an 8 p.m. tipoff at Haas Pavilion.

Cover photo of Jaylon Tyson by Ben Queen, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo