St. John’s tandem sues NCAA, seeks fifth year

• Myron Medcalf, ESPN Staff WriterApr 30, 2024, 04:43 PM ET

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  • Covers college basketball
  • Signed up with ESPN.com in 2011
  • Graduate of Minnesota State University, Mankato

St. John’s guys’s basketball standouts Jordan Dingle and Chris Ledlum have taken legal action against the NCAA in Queens Supreme Court and are looking for “injunctive relief” after their ask for a 5th year of eligibility were denied.Both Dingle(

Penn) and Ledlum (Harvard) formerly played in the Ivy League, which canceled its 2020-21 basketball season due to the fact that of the COVID-19 pandemic, preventing both from taking the court. Other Division I professional athletes whose conferences did play in 2020-21, however, were given an automated fifth year to use.Under coach Rick Pitino, Dingle and Ledlum were important players last season at St. John’s, which simply missed out on selection for the NCAA tournament and then did decline an NIT invitation.Editor’s Picks 2 Associated Their legal representatives argue that because the NCAA’s transfer website closes Wednesday

, it could

either cost the players a possibility to contend in other places or strengthen another season under Pitino.”There is a finite quantity of lineup areas at schools such as St. John’s, that frequently play on tv and contend in the country’s greatest basketball arenas, “the claim states. “These schools are quickly filling their basketball group rosters and each day that passes where Mr. Ledlum and Mr. Dingle are not able to either enter the transfer portal or devote to St. John’s for the 2024-2025 Department I Guys’s basketball season results in losses to both NIL and professional basketball potential customers.”Lawyers for Ledlum and Dingle argue that failure to give the players another season might have “alarming repercussions”on their athletic, scholastic and NIL experiences.”These 2 student-athletes were not able, through no fault of their own, to play basketball throughout their sophomore season given that the Ivy League canceled all winter season sports during the 2020-21 scholastic year,”their lawyers said in a declaration.”They were forced to sit and enjoy while other D-I conferences continued with all or part of their winter, regardless of COVID. To add fuel to the fire, the student-athletes who had a chance to take part in athletics throughout the COVID year received an extra year of eligibility, while student-athletes from conferences that close down their seasons were not managed similar treatment. This decision by the NCAA is unreasonable and highly unfair to student-athletes from the Ivy League, and other likewise positioned conferences that elected not to play throughout COVID. “The NCAA has combated, lost and settled cases associated to move rules, NIL rights and antitrust laws over the past year as the company that once authoritatively governed college sports continues to develop in a brand-new climate.On Monday, ESPN’s Pete Thamel and Dan Murphy reported that collegiate leaders are in”deep discussions”to reach a legal settlement that might create new ways for schools to share revenue with professional athletes

in the future.