Rather than finding a job like every other college graduate, former Tennessee guard Zakai Zeigler is still fighting for another year in college basketball.
Around this time last month, Zeigler sued the NCAA for a fifth season of eligibility, arguing that he should be allowed the five-year eligibility window despite playing four full seasons for the Vols from 2021-25. Zeigler averaged 34.5 games per season for four consecutive years in Knoxville, a total of 138 career games, and ranks third all-time in career assists in the Southeastern Conference. Still, Zeigler believes he is due more time in college basketball, and he took the NCAA to court to fight for it.
Last week, Zeigler’s preliminary injunction for more college eligibility was denied, as expected. But today, Zeigler, who turns 23 in six weeks, officially appealed the decision, so his fight for more college basketball continues.
Zeigler’s initial complaint estimated that his market value for the upcoming 2025-26 season would be in the $2-4 million range, arguing that the NCAA’s five-year eligibility rule is “an unlawful restraint of trade under federal and state antitrust laws.”
Denied
Judge Katherine A. Crytzer wrote in her denial, “Without more, Plaintiff has not shown that Defendant’s limit on the labor side of the market—replacing one Division I basketball player with another – produces substantial anticompetitive effects … (demonstrating that limiting labor – who can play – may increase wages – NIL compensation – and that increasing labor may actually decrease wages),” Crytzler wrote. “And Plaintiff provided no other basis for the Court to conduct the required “fact-specific assessment of market power and market structure to assess” the Four-Seasons Rule’s “actual effect on competition” marketwide.”
Zeigler, who, I will remind you, played in 138 career games and soon turns 23, still won’t accept a traditional four-year college career. What is it with Tennessee and ignoring all of the rules lately?
[Zakai Zeigler appealing denial of motion for preliminary injunction in eligibility lawsuit]
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