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A request for a preliminary injunction from Tennessee guard Zakai Zeigler’s representation seeking a fifth season of college basketball eligibility was denied Thursday in Knoxville, Tennessee, by U.S. District Judge Katherine A. Crytzer. The denial came nearly a week after hearing arguments in the case as Zeigler’s attorneys petitioned the court on the grounds of being unfairly financially restricted by the NCAA’s so-called “four-seasons” rule, which states athletes must compete in four seasons within a five-year window.
Zeigler completed four seasons in four years and is part of the first class post-pandemic that was not granted an additional year of eligibility.
What the court said
His representation filed a lawsuit against the NCAA in May in the case requesting the preliminary injunction citing federal and state antitrust laws were violated. However, Crytzer wrote in her assessment that the argument in which the NCAA unduly restricted him under a violation of the Sherman Act did not hold up.
“This Court is a court of law, not policy,” Crytzer wrote via the Associated Press. “What the NCAA should do as a policy matter to benefit student athletes is beyond the reach of the Sherman Act and TTPA and by extension, this Court.”
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A granting of a preliminary injunction may have been a ground-breaking development in the ever-changing college athletics eligibility…
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