The NCAA is changing its eligibility rules. Here’s how it affects UK basketball
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Division I athletes may have five seasons if they enroll by the year after turning 19.
- Redshirts will be disallowed; exceptions limited to mission, military service, pregnancy.
- Most Kentucky players on the 2026-27 roster will gain an extra season of eligibility.
The NCAA Division I Cabinet this week approved sweeping changes to longstanding eligibility rules governing college athletics, paving the way for a new era, presumably with a simpler formula for determining how long players can compete in their respective sports.
Division I athletes will now be permitted up to five years of eligibility, but they will also have a set window to compete, with a limited number of exceptions to extend their ability to remain at the NCAA level.
Under the new rules, players will have five seasons of eligibility if they enroll in college no later than the academic year after their 19th birthday. The changes were finalized at the conclusion of the NCAA’s Division I Cabinet meeting Wednesday and will go into full effect starting next year, though current college players with eligibility beyond the 2025-26 academic year will also be allowed to benefit from the new guidelines.
“While previous NCAA rules have served college sports well for a long time, we heard also loud and clear from NCAA members and student-athletes that eligibility rules should be easier to understand,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said in a statement. “This change to an age-based model eliminates aspects of the rules that have proven difficult to administer in the current litigious environment and clearly defines the exceptions available in limited circumstances.”
The changes will have a lasting impact on college basketball, in particular. Here’s a closer look at what the new guidelines will mean for the UK men’s basketball team.
Why is the NCAA changing its eligibility rules?
As Baker alluded to in his statement, the rise of NIL opportunities in college athletics, particularly revenue sports such as football and men’s basketball, has led to numerous lawsuits on behalf of players hoping to capitalize on the changing landscape of NCAA athletics.
The 2025-26 college basketball season included attempts to return to school — or enroll for the first time — by players who had already started professional careers in the United States or otherwise made career decisions that would seemingly disqualify them from NCAA competition.
The new rules, which will effectively give players five years to play five seasons, are intended to prevent such litigation and attempts at prolonging college careers by athletes who would have already cycled out of NCAA sports in the pre-NIL era.
The rule changes will also limit the number of exceptions college athletes can utilize to receive additional eligibility. Redshirts, which allowed players to sit out a full season in order to prolong their competition window by another year — either due to personal choice or medical hardship — will not be permitted in the new college landscape.
Exceptions to the “five seasons in five years” model moving forward will apply only in cases of official religious missions, active-duty military service or pregnancy.
The guidelines will take full effect starting with the 2027-28 academic year, though students enrolling in college for the first time this fall, as well as current players with eligibility remaining after the 2025-26 academic year, will be able to utilize the new rules in their favor.
And while the hope on the NCAA’s end is that the streamlined nature of these rules will set a uniform standard of eligibility, there have already been promises this week of lawsuits on behalf of players who have been in college for four years and completed their fourth season of eligibility in 2025-26.
Former Kentucky guard Denzel Aberdeen is an example of a player who, under the new rules, would be able to play one more season of college basketball. But since his eligibility was exhausted under the old system this year, he will not be among those grandfathered into the new system.
Aberdeen, who transferred back to Florida, where he spent his first three years of college, is expected to be among the dozens of players who fight for an extra year of eligibility before the start of the 2026-27 season.
How will UK basketball players be impacted?
Most of the players on Mark Pope’s 2026-27 roster will gain an extra season of eligibility due to this week’s NCAA decision.
Milan Momcilovic, for instance, was Kentucky’s top-rated acquisition out of the transfer portal this offseason. Under the previous rules, the 2026-27 season would have marked his fourth and final year at the NCAA level. But Momcilovic will be permitted to play two more seasons of college basketball under the new system.
That could obviously benefit UK beyond the upcoming season.
Momcilovic was viewed as a potential first-round pick in this year’s NBA draft after emerging as the best 3-point shooter in college basketball last season, but his earning power at the NCAA level was expected to be far greater than his potential rookie deal as a pro.
That could be the case again next spring, and Momcilovic could opt for a fifth and final year of college basketball, though the transfer portal would remain an option if he does return to school for the 2027-28 season.
The new rules will also give major offseason acquisitions like Zoom Diallo and Alex Wilkins an extra year of eligibility. UK center Malachi Moreno, who also could have been a first-rounder in this year’s NBA draft, technically has four more seasons of eligibility under the new system, though he’s expected to begin his professional career before his NCAA window closes.
The only returning college players on UK’s roster who won’t benefit from the changes are Franck Kepnang, who has used multiple injury exceptions to gain extra eligibility and is entering his seventh season of college basketball; and Braydon Hawthorne and Reece Potter, who both sat out as redshirt players at Kentucky last season.
Hawthorne will still have four seasons of NCAA eligibility, and Potter will have two more seasons to compete after playing two years at Miami (Ohio) before transferring to UK.
Returnees like Trent Noah and Kam Williams, who have each played two seasons of college basketball and will be classified as juniors on the 2026-27 roster, will have three more years to compete. Freshman guards Mason Williams and Zyon Hawthorne will start their careers with five years to play five seasons.
What about international players, like Ousmane N’Diaye?
The emergence of seven-figure NIL deals for promising basketball players has also led to an influx of international prospects joining college teams, many of whom have considerable experience at the professional level overseas.
Ousmane N’Diaye, a forward from Senegal, is such a player on Kentucky’s 2026-27 roster, and he’s viewed as one of the most intriguing additions to Pope’s program for next season.
While the full effect of the new rules on international players remains unclear, the NCAA’s previous approach has been pretty straightforward.
Under the old system, NCAA officials typically allowed a player one season as a senior-level professional overseas before taking away years of college eligibility. So, a player who competed for one season as a pro in Europe could still be classified as a college freshman, with four seasons of eligibility at the NCAA level.
If a player competed for two seasons for a senior team, he would have been classified as a sophomore. And so on. Since N’Diaye played three seasons at the highest level in Europe, he likely would have been classified as a junior for the 2026-27 campaign at Kentucky, with two full seasons of eligibility at the NCAA level.
The NCAA’s move to the age-based model could make these situations more clear, no matter how much professional experience an international player had before coming to the United States.
N’Diaye turned 19 years old in March 2023, meaning his NCAA clock would start with the 2023-24 season, giving him five years to play five seasons from that time. Three full seasons have already passed since N’Diaye turned 19, so it stands to reason that the NCAA will ultimately give him two years to play two seasons at the college level.
UK has not made an official announcement on N’Diaye’s competition status or given him a classification on its 2026-27 roster, but the assumption is that he will have two years of eligibility at Kentucky and his college career will end at the conclusion of the 2027-28 season.
