Guard Zakai Zeigler will remain a former Tennessee and men’s college basketball player after a judge denied his quest for a fifth season of eligibility.
On Thursday, a U.S. District Court Judge Katherine Crytzer denied Zeigler a preliminary injunction that would have granted him another season, writing that Zeigler and his lawyers failed to present sufficient evidence that the rule of four seasons of eligibility “produces substantial anticompetitive effects in the market.”
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So his career as one of the best players in program history is over, and a possible flood of four-year players seeking a fifth year of eligibility is potentially avoided.
Mit Winter, a college athletics attorney, told The Athletic when the lawsuit against the NCAA was filed that he thought Zeigler had a “50-50” chance. In response to Thursday’s ruling, Winter said this should dissuade athletes in Zeigler’s situation from suing, but added that he doesn’t think the ruling is “all that great for the NCAA,” as some may conclude.
“The court did hold that NCAA eligibility rules like the four seasons of competition rule are commercial and subject to antitrust law,” Minter said. “The NCAA argued the rule isn’t commercial and so not subject to antitrust law at all. Some (judges) have agreed, some haven’t. So this is another court decision holding NCAA eligibility rules are subject to antitrust law. As a result, attacks on those rules will likely still continue.”
Zeigler’s representation, Litson PLLC and Garza Law Firm, said when the suit was filed in May that “the NCAA’s rule permitting only four seasons of competition within the five-year eligibility window is an unlawful restraint of trade under federal and state antitrust laws.”
The lawsuit claimed that the fifth year of eligibility is the most lucrative for “the vast majority of athletes” and that Zeigler would suffer irreparable harm without an immediate injunction allowing him to compete in the 2025-26 season. His lawyers claimed he could have earned up to $4 million in a fifth season of college basketball after making $500,000 in his fourth season.
Zeigler intended to pursue a graduate degree after graduating in May with a degree in retail and merchandising management. The lawsuit pointed out that Zeigler’s class is the first in the era of name, image and likeness compensation for athletes who have not been granted an extra year. Classes that entered school between 2016 and 2020 received the extra year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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This was different from recent lawsuits challenging eligibility rules in that there are no special circumstances for Zeigler, such as Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia’s successful suit to gain another year to play because a court ruled his time in junior college should not count against eligibility. Absent those circumstances, Zeigler’s case was not compelling enough.
The 5-foot-9 Zeigler, a last-minute addition to Rick Barnes’ 2021 recruiting, blew past expectations immediately and had a legendary four-year career. He led the Vols to two of the three Elite Eights in program history, finishing as Tennessee’s all-time leader in assists (747), which ranks third in SEC history.
He’s the only player in SEC history to be named to the All-Defensive team four times and to win SEC Defensive Player of the Year twice. He was All-SEC first team as a junior and senior, averaging 13.6 points and 7.4 assists as a senior. He was also a fan favorite, and when his family’s home in New York burned down during his sophomore year, UT fans raised more than $360,000 via GoFundMe.
(Photo: Gregory Shamus / Getty Images)
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