Will RaeQuan Battle or Noah Farrakhan Play in 14-Day Window?

A tough decision has to be made.

It was a big win in court on Wednesday for West Virginia guard RaeQuan Battle and all two-time transfers in college athletics as the District Judge John P. Bailey granted a 14-day temporary restraining order against the NCAA, preventing them from enforcing their transfer rules. The judge also ordered the restitution rule so that the NCAA could not go back and penalize the schools and its athletes for participating during that 14-day window.

However, the NCAA has stated that if a student-athlete plays during this window and the ruling is reversed on December 27th, that student-athlete will have lost a year of eligibility. This is wrong in so many ways and in all honesty, is probably not going to make the judge lean in their favor later this month by coming out and stating that.

Fortunately for WVU, they don't play until Saturday evening against UMass, so they have some time to get all or most of their questions answered before making a decision to play RaeQuan Battle and possibly Noah Farrakhan. Other schools didn't have that time in between games and already played their two-time transfers the day the ruling came out. 

So what will interim head coach Josh Eilert do? Will he play Battle and Farrakhan and risk losing a year of eligibility? Here's what he had to say during his press conference on Thursday.

"We just need some more clarity more than anything. Selfishly we could sit here and say both of them could really help us, but we got to think about the student-athlete and how that effects their overall eligibility. RaeQuan's got one year of eligibility left, Noah's got two and so those conversations will have to be had with those student-athletes and their families and our department has to figure out what's best for them.

"In the fourteen days we play three games. If the decision is overturned and they played during the course of the season and lose that year of eligibility, that doesn't seem like we made the right decision by the student-athlete. I want all the facts to be laid out for everybody involved before we make those decisions. I think that's the right way to handle things and approach things."

It's difficult to gauge where Eilert, Battle, and Farrakhan sit on the matter but it's a major roll of the dice by playing in these next three games with the possibility of losing a full year's worth of eligibility. It wouldn't shock me to see them wait it out for the permanent ruling, however, they could put their faith in the court to make the right decision and go ahead and play. It's an extremely difficult position the NCAA has put these coaches and players in.

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