In one of the riskiest and most compelling decisions in the recent history of college athletes, the University of Memphis on Friday night decided to ignore the advice of the NCAA and play star forward James Wiseman against Illinois-Chicago.
After Wiseman was ruled ineligible by the NCAA, he sought and received an injunction by a local judge to put the NCAA’s eligibility decision on hold. He showed up at the arena less than an hour before tipoff after the injunction was granted and scored 17 points in Memphis’ 92-46 victory. While court injunctions for NCAA eligibility aren’t unprecedented, there’s been no case in the history of college athletics with the stakes, spotlight and player of his magnitude.