A lawsuit filed in Westchester County, New York, on Wednesday revealed that Kansas has attempted to help former Rutgers men’s basketball player Emmanuel Ogbole become eligible for the 2026-27 season, according to court documents reviewed by the Journal-World.
Ogbole, a native of Nigeria, is suing the NCAA for a fifth year of eligibility after playing one season at Monroe College and three for the Scarlet Knights (although as the complaint details, his academic history is somewhat more complicated). According to the lawsuit, KU is one of several teams that has expressed interest in the 6-foot-10, 260-pound center if he becomes eligible, along with Georgia, Oklahoma, Tennessee and UNLV.
UNLV is the school for which, in an exhibit filed as part of the case, an assistant coach wrote in an email, “If Emmanuel Ogbole happens to gain eligibility then UNLV would potentially have a scholarship for him.”
But KU, on July 31 — which was the final day on which NCAA waiver submissions were allowed before the association’s transition to a new five-year eligibility model with virtually no waivers — submitted an appeal of a previously denied hardship waiver, as well as a request for extension of Ogbole’s eligibility.
“I am writing to notify the group that Emmanuel’s waiver has been submitted,” wrote Tayler Vena Harrell, KU assistant athletic director for compliance, in an email on July 31 that is included in the lawsuit as Exhibit J. “Please understand it will likely be a while until we hear anything back. The NCAA is prioritizing these waivers in the order that eligibility is needed, but I still do not anticipate a quick turnaround.”
According to the lawsuit, the NCAA has not assigned a case manager or set a decision date for Ogbole’s waivers.
It is not surprising to see KU connected to a center, let alone one who started 30 games for a power-conference program last year. (He averaged 4.7 points and 6.0 rebounds for Rutgers.) In late July, around the time frame in question, head coach Bill Self spoke of trying to potentially obtain another big man to bolster the Jayhawks’ depth given Christian Reeves’ ongoing recovery from offseason shoulder surgery. At that time KU had been linked with Serbian center Mihailo Mušikić.
In any event, Ogbole’s lawsuit asserts that “Every program has told him it cannot commit a roster spot or scholarship to a player whose eligibility the NCAA disputes.”
The complaint itself is, at its core, a five-year eligibility lawsuit like many others that have unfolded in recent weeks, with Ogbole, having recently exhausted his eligibility, seeking a fifth season — something that the NCAA is giving the rest of its athletes going forward. The lawsuit, authored by lawyers Ivan Parron of Parron Law, Brandon Leopoldus of Leopoldus Law and Oscar Michelen of Michelen Law, features several causes of action, including breach of contract and breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing.
As mentioned, Ogbole has a somewhat intricate educational history. He was apparently supposed to attend Southwest Mississippi Community College before the pandemic prevented him from making it to the United States. He then enrolled at a Nigerian university without athletic programs, first as a part-time student in February 2021 and then as a full-time student for the 2021-22 term, before making the jump to Monroe for 2022-23. (He was teammates there, incidentally, with Melvin Council Jr., a Jayhawk and fellow current New York eligibility lawsuit plaintiff.) The NCAA later granted him a one-year extension for the 2020-21 year.
He did not, however, obtain a waiver for 2023-24. He had torn his ACL at Monroe in March 2023 and claims that Rutgers had initially recruited him as a medical redshirt and he only returned to action “under pressure” from his coaches. He played in 10 games after debuting on Feb. 3. That is the season for which he was not granted a medical waiver; a letter from Big Ten compliance says “this request has been denied because Mr. Ogbole competed beyond the first half of the season for men’s basketball.”
Ogbole entered the transfer portal after the conclusion of his fourth season, without his eligibility assured.
On Thursday, On3 reported, citing an unnamed source, that Ogbole “has received a preliminary (temporary restraining order) giving him another year of eligibility.”
However, while Judge Diane M. Clerkin did sign an order to show cause on Thursday, she crossed out the portion that would have given Ogbole a temporary restraining order for immediate eligibility. She did set a date for the NCAA to argue that Ogbole should not be eligible: next Thursday, Sept. 17, at 11:30 a.m. Eastern.
This story will be updated.
