Indiana forward Luke Goode could be finding out soon whether his request for a fifth season of college basketball has been approved.
And a recent development provides a bit of optimism he’ll get a favorable result.
Players who suffer injuries that force them to miss a significant portion of a season can petition the NCAA for a fifth year of eligibility via a medical hardship waiver. Goode filed his waiver request pertaining to his sophomore season at Illinois very soon after the conclusion of the IU’s 2024-25 season.
Historically there have been two key criteria to obtain the waiver. First, the player should not have appeared in more than 30% of their team’s games in the applicable season, and second, they should not have appeared in the second half of that season. Recent rulings have demonstrated that these are not rigid requirements, however.
Goode played in a tick over 30% (9.9) of the games, and his 10 games in 2022-23 came at the end of the season. So he doesn’t have a clear cut case.
IU fans will remember Xavier Johnson’s waiver request being approved despite him exceeding the 30% test. And there have been others over 30% that have been approved. But waiver approvals involving players who returned to play in the second half of the season are harder to find.
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.”
Perhaps things have changed.
On Thursday St. Joseph’s announced the return of a player with a very similar fact pattern to Goode.
Justice Ajogbor played in six games at the end of Harvard’s 2021-22 season. Those were the only six games he played that year. He requested a waiver in connection with that season and it was approved despite him playing in the back half.
Ajogbor doesn’t seem to have any other unique circumstances related to his request. He played in 28, 20 and 35 games the next three seasons.
In addition to Ajogbor’s approved waiver, various NCAA eligibility rules have been overturned recently in the courts, perhaps signaling another reason why the old system for evaluating waiver requests won’t apply in 2025.
The 6-foot-7 Goode averaged a career-high 9.1 points per game for IU this past season while shooting 39.2% from three.
If his waiver is approved, he’d be the 12th scholarship player on the 2025-26 team. If it’s not approved, his college career is over unless he pursues legal remedies.
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