Whether IU basketball’s final game was played on Thursday or at some point in the NCAA Tournament, things are about to dramatically change within the program sooner than later.
Senior forward Luke Goode wants to be the constant from this season to the next.
As we’ve reported here multiple times, Goode has a fact pattern in his college career that at least creates the possibility of obtaining a medical hardship waiver from the NCAA and earning a fifth season of eligibility.
The wheels are already in motion to file the petition to seek that extra year.
Goode’s fact pattern is not on all fours with the waivers that are typically approved. The NCAA is generally looking for a player who did not appear in more than 30% of their team’s games in the applicable season, nor in the second half of that season.
Goode only played in 10 games at Illinois in 2022-23, but he did come back from an injury towards the end of that campaign.
“I know it’s not the typical situation where people would ask for waivers, but we’ve got some people working on it and I’d be very fortunate to play another year,” Goode said following IU’s loss to Oregon on Thursday at the Big Ten Tournament.
“With everything that’s going on in college basketball, and all the extra years they’re giving JUCO kids, and non-D-I kids and all that, I think only playing 10 games in a season would be more than justifiable.”
The fact that Goode played 10 games in 2022-23 probably wouldn’t work against him in isolation, but he returned to play games at the end of that season, and that could be a complicating factor. Waivers have been rejected because an injury was not “season ending.”
Goode’s injury as a sophomore happened before the season, and he says he could have elected to sit out that entire season and taken an undisputed redshirt year. But he chose to play and try to help an Illinois team that was navigating the NCAA Tournament bubble that season. Goode doesn’t think when his games were played that year should have an impact on the NCAA’s waiver approval process.
“I could have sat out and taken the redshirt, but I elected to come back and help my team,” Goode said. “Hopefully they realize that and I get the opportunity to play again.”
In addition to an NCAA approval, Goode would also need a blessing from the new IU coach if he wants to return to Bloomington — which he says he does.
Goode said both of his siblings will be at IU next year, which only makes the opportunity even more appealing.
“Yeah, if the new (IU) coach takes me. I love this place and grew up dreaming to play for this program. So I would love nothing more than to represent the school again,” he said.
“We’ve got everything (with the waiver) ready to go and we’ll start approaching that after the season.”
Goode is averaging a career-high 9.1 points per game for IU this season while shooting 39.2% from three.
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