The NCAA's transition to a five-year eligibility system is drawing challenges from athletes who say the change left the 2022 high school class behind. Former Kansas forward Tre White, a 6-foot-7 Dallas native who played for USC, Louisville, Illinois and Kansas over four seasons, has joined an 89-plaintiff lawsuit in Monroe County, Indiana, seeking an injunction that would give him a fifth season of college basketball eligibility.
White's inclusion in the case was confirmed by another source close to the situation as well as Seros Partners, according to The Kansas City Star. He joins fellow plaintiffs Tamin Lipsey, the former Iowa State point guard, and Riley Kugel, all members of the high school graduating class of 2022 — the group the lawsuit argues was unfairly left out when the NCAA updated its eligibility guidelines to grant players five years of competition. The suit was originally filed by Indiana football players Stephn Daly and Kellen Wyatt in Monroe County, home to Indiana University, and has since ballooned as more athletes from that same graduating class sought to join.
A Fifth-Season Eligibility Request
White's case seeks an injunction that would give him a fifth season of college eligibility. Per KU Sports, the filing asks the court to grant that relief.
The case's roots trace back to Judge Kara Krothe, who granted an initial temporary restraining order on September 4 declaring Indiana University athletes Stephen Daley, Kellan Wyatt, Zalan Sarkany and Owen McDonald eligible, according to Swimming World. Krothe presided over a hearing lasting more than five hours and later gave the NCAA and plaintiffs until Thursday to submit additional documentation, with six other Indiana athletes part of the original case. The restraining order expired Monday and could be delayed further if both sides agree to an extension, with a decision possible Thursday.
A Career Detour Through the NBA Summer League
White's path to the lawsuit runs through a detour in professional basketball. After going undrafted in the 2026 NBA Draft, he signed an Exhibit 10 deal with the Miami Heat in June and played summer league basketball for the team, a stretch during which he has been considered a candidate for one of Miami's two-way contracts. During California Classic showcase play, White averaged 17 points, 3.0 assists and 6.0 rebounds per game, following a final Kansas season in which he averaged 13.5 points and 6.7 rebounds per game.
That summer league stint does not disqualify him from returning to college ball. Big 12 guidelines allow athletes to participate in NBA Summer League as long as they have not signed a binding professional contract, according to 247Sports. Lipsey, White's co-plaintiff, took a similar route — he also went undrafted, agreed to an unexecuted Exhibit 10 contract with the Indiana Pacers, and played in the NBA Summer League before sustaining a knee injury, per the same 247Sports report.
A National Wave Forces a Shift to State Courts
The litigation has spread well beyond Indiana. Roughly 450 college athletes across 79 separate lawsuits are seeking a fifth year of competition, with about 235 of those players competing in men's basketball, 247Sports reports. The NCAA Division I Cabinet's new framework has become a particular point of contention for the high school class of 2022, which Swimming World reports was excluded while traditional redshirt waivers were eliminated.
The shift toward filings like White's in Monroe County followed a setback in federal court. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit granted the NCAA a stay on August 21 that froze a federal court ruling in Colorado which had briefly granted nationwide fifth-year eligibility to the 2022 high school class, as detailed by EssentiallySports. That stay stripped athletes of blanket federal protection, sending them scrambling into individual state court lawsuits like the one White has now joined.
What the eligibility framework changes
According to NCAA.org, the new five-year eligibility period begins with the earlier of initial full-time college enrollment or the applicable age-based trigger and runs continuously. That structure eliminates athletic redshirts under the new model and helps explain why athletes who graduated high school in 2022 argue they were left outside the updated eligibility rules. The cases are now being litigated in multiple state courts after federal appeals narrowed broader relief. In a separate Ohio case, Bloomberg Law reported that the First District Court of Appeals stayed a fifth-year eligibility injunction on Aug. 17, 2026, while the NCAA's appeal proceeded.
A Former Teammate's Parallel Fight in New York
White is not the only former Jayhawk pursuing this kind of relief. Former Kansas teammate Melvin Council Jr. previously filed his own eligibility lawsuit in Kansas in July, voluntarily dismissed it after conference rule changes, and refiled in Monroe County, New York. According to the Lawrence Journal-World, Judge Daniel J. Doyle set a hearing for 1 p.m. Central time on September 23 without granting an immediate restraining order, and a decision could come that day or later.
Council is seeking a temporary restraining order that could grant him a sixth season of college eligibility, with arguments over his injunction request set to be heard in Monroe County Supreme Court, New York. Kansas has been active on multiple legal fronts this fall, having also filed waivers and court disclosures in Westchester County, New York, on behalf of former Rutgers center Emmanuel Ogbole for the 2026-27 season, according to KU Sports.
The Kansas City Star's coverage of the case comes from Gary Bedore, who has covered Jayhawks basketball since 1978 and has won the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year award. White's case now sits alongside dozens of others working through state courts nationwide, part of the same wave of litigation that has already produced rulings and hearings involving Indiana and Iowa State.
