How the Diego Pavia Ruling Could Impact Louisville Men's Basketball

With the Vanderbilt QB earning a preliminary injunction in his case against the NCAA, that opens the door for two Cardinals to potentially return next season.

Nov 28, 2024; Paradise Island, Bahamas, BHS; Louisville Cardinals forward Kasean Pryor (7) reacts after scoring during the second half against the West Virginia Mountaineers at Imperial Arena at the Atlantis resort. / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - In the past, we became used to the notion that collegiate athletes - no matter what sport they play - typically come and go in the standard four years. Sometimes this was five years if they took a redshirt, but eligibility rules used to be pretty cut-and-dried not too terribly long ago.

At this point, that seems like a bygone era. Between the extra year provided in the wake of COVID, numerous injury redshirts awarded, and various other ways to get extra years as a collegiate athlete, eligibility, like time, is almost like a social construct.

Recently, there was another wrinkle added to eligibility rules.

Last week, a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction to Diego Pavia in his lawsuit against the NCAA. The Vanderbilt quarterback sued the NCAA, claiming that seasons spent at the JUCO level, which count towards eligibility in NCAA-sanctioned sports, was a violation of antitrust law due to the lack of comparable NIL opportunities.

“Defendant NCAA, its servants, agents, and employees, and all person acting in active concert or participation with the NCAA are hereby restrained and enjoined from enforcing NCAA Bylaw 12.02.6 to preclude Pavia from playing NCAA Division I football in 2025,” U.S. District Judge William L. Campbell wrote.

Pavia started his collegiate career in the JUCO ranks at the New Mexico Military Institute, spending the 2020 and 2021 seasons there. He then played the 2022 and 2023 seasons at New Mexico State before transferring to Vanderbilt for the 2024 season.

Campbell's ruling is not yet final until Pavia's case against NCAA is officially resolved by the U.S. District Court of Middle Tennessee, whenever that may be. But for the time being, because of the precedent that is being set by the preliminary injunction, JUCO years for any athlete - even with Pavia's case not being a class-action lawsuit - now don't count against their eligibility at NCAA member schools.

"If you think about it, any other athlete in Pavia's situation can now go to a court, file the same exact type of lawsuit and say here's an order from another court specifically saying this likely violates antitrust law and you enjoined it. ... If the NCAA tries to enforce this rule against other athletes, there's gonna be a tsunami of lawsuits in my opinion," sports law attorney Mit Winter told CBS Sports.

In fact, we're already starting to see more Pavia-esque lawsuits pop up. On Monday, Southern Miss basketball player John Wade III also filed a lawsuit challenging the NCAA's JUCO bylaw.

If the final ruling also leans in favor of Pavia, it has the potential to have cascading effects across all of collegiate athletics. Any NCAA program that has a player with a prior stop at the JUCO level would be impacted.

This includes the Louisville men's basketball program.

Guard J'Vonne Hadley and forward Kasean Pryor were two of Louisville's many pickups in the transfer portal this past offseason by first-year head coach Pat Kelsey. Both Hadley and Pryor are on their fifth year playing college ball, which previously would have been their final.

As Lee Corso would say, "not so fast!"

Hadley and Prior started their collegiate careers during the 2020-21 season, which was a free year of eligibility granted by the NCAA in the wake of COVID-19, allowing them to be able to play this season at Louisville in the first place.

However, both players also have a year at the JUCO level. Hadley spent the 2021-22 season at Indian Hills Community College, and Pryor played his 2022-23 season at Northwest Florida State.

Of course, both players could easily decide after this season that they want to hang up their shoes and be done with college ball. But in theory, they could also fight for a sixth year in college and return to suit up for the Cardinals for the 2025-26 season.

Getting either player back would be a massive development for Louisville. 12 games into the season, Hadley is the Cardinals' leading rebounder at 7.8 boards per game, while also scoring 9.8 points per game on a 47.2 shooting percentage.

As for Pryor, he wouldn't have to apply for an injury redshirt after suffering a season-ending ACL tear in his left knee back on Nov. 29 vs. Oklahoma. Pryor entered the game vs. the Sooners averaging 13.0 points and 6.8 rebounds per game.

In theory, if Pryor did apply for a medical redshirt (and was successful) while also pursuing the extra season that came with the Pavia ruling, he could come back for two more seasons. Though Pryor has yet to publicly announce his intention to file a waiver for a medical redshirt, and he cannot do so anyways until the end of the season.

It's not a guarantee that Hadley or Pryor return for next season. Campbell could have a change of heart and rule in favor of the NCAA in Pavia's case, or either player could simply just decide that they're done in college and not want to fight for a sixth season.

But, there at least remains the possibility that two of the Cardinals' better players this season could come back for year two under Pat Kelsey. Time will tell what happens.

(Photo of Kasean Pryor: Kevin Jairaj - Imagn Images)

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