The latest on eligibility for two transfers looking to play for Wichita State basketball
A mid-season boost in the form of two newly-eligible players could be coming soon to the Wichita State men’s basketball team, but for now it’s a waiting game.
A federal judge in West Virginia set off chaos in the college basketball world on Wednesday when he issued a 14-day temporary restraining order on the NCAA’s transfer waiver process, essentially allowing multi-time transfers to play during the two-week window and preventing the NCAA from penalizing schools.
The NCAA came back on Thursday with clarification to member schools that now-eligible transfers will lose a year of eligibility by playing during the 14-day TRO if the court order is reversed at the next hearing on Dec. 27.
But just one day later, another twist came on Friday afternoon when Dave Yost, the Attorney General of Ohio, posted on social media that the NCAA has agreed to terms where multi-year transfers will not lose eligibility by playing and they will be eligible for the rest of this season. As soon as the judge grants the motion, it will become official.
That opens the possibility of a two-time transfer such as Wichita State junior Ronnie DeGray III, who was sitting out this season waiting on word from the NCAA on his waiver request, to make his season debut for the Shockers in Saturday’s 6 p.m. game against Southern Illinois at Koch Arena.
The pressing question now is if DeGray, who has two years of eligibility remaining, wants to use one of them on this season, of which has missed the first 10 games on the season schedule for the Shockers. WSU has three non-conference games remaining, a full conference slate of 18 contests, plus however many postseason games the team plays.
It’s clear the 6-foot-6 forward, with his veteran presence, could help a WSU team playing just a seven-player rotation this season, but is a shortened season worth it for DeGray’s career? That’s the question he will wrestle with.
“I can tell you Ronnie and his family as they deliberate through this process, they’re not short-sighted about it,” WSU head coach Paul Mills said on Friday afternoon before the latest turn in the court case was announced. “I’m fairly confident Ronnie and his family haven’t made a final decision.”
Another transfer who has a possibility of returning is point guard Bijan Cortes, who has missed the first 10 games of the season after his academic-related waiver was denied by the NCAA.
Now the fall semester is in the books, Mills said WSU has submitted another waiver on Cortes’ behalf.
“Now it’s just waiting,” Mills said. “We’re hoping to hear something on Bijan positively or negatively. We just don’t want to leave Bijan and his family dangling. So everything has been submitted, and now we’re just waiting for the NCAA.”
This story was originally published December 15, 2023 at 4:37 PM.
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