Robbie Avila Cleared for Fifth Season at Saint Louis — SkimNews
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- Robbie Avila was granted a preliminary injunction on Thursday to play a fifth season of college basketball for Saint Louis, two seasons after following coach Josh Schertz from Indiana State and winning Atlantic 10 Player of the Year as a 6-foot-10 forward.
- Jason Sengheiser also ruled Saint Louis can carry a 16th roster spot for Avila until a trial that could be held several months from now, effectively clearing the 23-year-old to play the entire season.
- Saint Louis went 29-6 and won the Atlantic 10 regular-season title last season, earned a No. 9 NCAA tournament seed, beat Georgia in the first round and lost to eventual champion Michigan, and faces Missouri on Friday night.
- Robbie Avila averaged 17.3 points as a junior and 12.8 last season and has started 132 of 137 career games; he also spent time with the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA's summer league without ever signing a pro contract.
- Mark Mitchell, the Missouri forward who will face Avila on Friday, played for the Denver Nuggets over the summer and was part of a Kentucky lawsuit that won -- for now -- eligibility for 38 football and basketball players.
- NCAA shifted to a five-for-five model granting athletes five seasons over a five-year period beginning when they turn 19 or graduate from high school; the rule was not intended to apply to the 2022 class that had exhausted eligibility, touching off a wave of lawsuits that judges have mostly decided for the plaintiffs.
- Jon Scheyer said these cases will run well into the season, with some players eligible for a certain period and then not, while Gonzaga coach Mark Few said the NCAA "screwed up on this deal" and that 2022-class players should be let in.
Why it matters: Saint Louis gets its 17.3-point junior back for the full season, with a 16th roster spot and a Friday night date with Missouri. The gain is provisional: players and coaches fear NCAA appeals will overturn the injunctions, and Duke's Jon Scheyer said such cases will run well into the season.
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