Why NCAA should stand for “Not Competent At All” after latest ruling on Louisville basketball center Aly Khalifa.
The NCAA is a funny organization – and when I say “funny,” I don’t mean ‘Richard-Pryor-in-a-red-suit-talking-about-prison-on-the-Sunset-Strip-in-1982’ funny. No…the NCAA is more ‘how-a-landfill-next-to-a-dog-food-factory-on-a-sweltering-hot-day-following-a-flash-flood-smells’ funny. In a decision that is as bewildering as it is aggravating, the governing body of college athletics denied Louisville basketball center Aly Khalifa’s request for an extension of his five-year eligibility clock.
That request would have allowed him to participate in a fourth season following last year’s knee surgery that caused him to miss the season. The consensus reaction of the basketball world has been shock, disappointment, and outrage: this ruling, like a hot, wet city dump, stinks.
Khalifa, a 6-foot-11 center from Egypt who cut his basketball teeth in Australia, had high hopes for next season. His skill set, as a five who can shoot the three and distribute the ball with the prowess of an elite guard, is as dynamic as it is rare amongst men of his stature. Add to that the fact the Khalifa shed fifty pounds following his surgery rehabilitation and practiced in Kelsey’s system for most of 2025, and the stage was effectively set for Aly to shine as a potential starter for Louisville basketball.
The NCAA, however, seeks to close the curtains, turn off the spot lights, and get the Cards’ resurgent center off center stage.
And nobody understands why.
Also relevant: Kasean Pryor makes Card a National Title contender
Aly Khalifa’s path to Pat Kelsey
Khalifa’s college career looks like this in a nutshell: Aly spent his freshman year in Charlotte, where he redshirted in 2020-21. He was then an on-court 49er for two seasons before transferring to BYU, where he played under current Kentucky coach Mark Pope in 2023-24.
He became a Cardinal last year, but never clocked a minute of game-time basketball in Louisville basketball red. Instead, he spent the first half of the season mending his knee, then practiced with the team from January, on.
Do the math: that’s three years of on-court college basketball. What’s more, Khalifa’s redshirt season in Charlotte fell during the COVID year, which has been universally written off do to the viral shutdown’s effect on the season, for everyone…
Everyone, except Aly Khalifa, it would seem.
Smells like bullshirt to me
In an era during which the landscape of college basketball has been completely transformed by NIL money and the transfer portal, players are seeking more extra eligibility than ever. More often than not, they get it.
Gonzaga’s Khalif Battle, for example, played games in six different college seasons. Battle was granted extensions because two of his seasons were cut short by injury, limiting him to seven and eleven games in them, respectively. How on Earth is it then possible that the NCAA permitted Battle’s extensions because multiple seasons were ended because of injury, while simultaneously denying Khalifa, whose seasons-in-question never even began?
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If the NCAA is trying to assert its authority in an age when it is becoming increasingly irrelevant, the hypocrisy of this decision only further subverts the Association’s validity.
Grabbing the bull by the horns
Khalifa has lawyered up, filing an appeal that most experts believe he should win. At face value, there is no reason he is not cleared to play. His first season at Charlotte shouldn’t be an issue for multiple reasons: either because he redshirted, or because of COVID. If that were the issue, then the NCAA should have notified Louisville basketball long before May of 2025.
I’m aware that the redshirt paperwork doesn’t get filed until after the season, which is problematic in and of itself: take a look at the current predicament. Still, the fact that Khalifa was even allowed to transfer to Louisville should have made his eligibility waiver a mere formality: his intention to have knee surgery and sit out was made public and tied to his decision to transfer from BYU.
As the transfer was approved, the waiver should have followed, because without the waiver the transfer had no point.
Khalifa is a big deal… no bull
With or without Khalifa, Pat Kelsey has the Cards loaded for next season. But if Khalifa’s appeal is denied, things could get dicey for the Cards in the front court should anything else go awry.
James Scott became an Ole Miss Rebel after Kasean Pryor declared his intent to return and the Cards acquired Sananda Fru: playing time could have been scarce for Scott with Pryor, Fru, and Khalifa all competing (I would have liked to see him stay and elevate his game, though). But Pryor is coming off a torn ACL, and Fru is a freshman from Germany, untested by American elite talent.
Without Scott and Khalifa, the roster that seemed to be bursting at the seams with talent when the portal opened now seems an injury away from having some quite literally sizable gaps to fill.
Kentucky coach Mark Pope said that Khalifa changed the very way he thought about the game of basketball. Any player that can profoundly impact the way an experienced college player and coach like Pope sees the game would surely have a remarkable impact within it.
And Pope coached a Khalifa who was fifty pounds heavier and struggling with a bad knee.
Let this bull run
Hopefully, the NCAA will do the right thing. But in denying Aly’s waiver, and allowing things to enter the legal realm, the NCAA risks setting a new precedent for player eligibility if they lose in court. Make no mistake: if Aly wins, and my God I pray he does, there will be further lawsuits for more eligibility by other players. It is this precedent, and nothing at all to do with the validity of Aly’s claim, that makes me wary of the upcoming face-off in court. But I, quite honestly, couldn’t care less about the implications for the NCAA, or NCAA in general, for that matter. I just want to see what Aly can do in the eye of the storm of talent Kelsey has coming to Louisville.
All things considered, Aly Khalifa is a Master’s level immigrant student who has played in only three seasons of college basketball. If anybody deserves another year of eligibility, it’s Aly. Unfortunately, though, if Louisville’s past dealings with the NCAA have showed us anything, it’s that it rarely gives the Cards what they deserve, and takes things from them that they have earned.
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