Quinnipiac transfer forward Amarri Monroe is eligible to play for Syracuse men’s basketball, at least for now.
On Tuesday, Onondaga County State Supreme Court Judge Jean Marie Westlake granted him a preliminary injunction in his lawsuit against the NCAA. The NCAA is likely to appeal the injunction while they continue to fight the case itself, so there could be a bunch of twists and turns with eligibility throughout the season. But for now, Monroe will be available for the Orange.
No date was set for the next court appearance, and there’s a scenario where the entire season is played without a further update in this matter, essentially running out the clock without a decision. It’s also possible that a court date gets set some time in the near future, or an appeal changes the status quo, and it ends up being a storyline that follows the Orange around all year.
At Quinnipiac, Monroe averaged 15.6 points and 8.3 rebounds per game last season. The year before, he won MAAC Player of the Year while leading the Bobcats to their second consecutive conference regular season title. He has scored over 1500 points and grabbed over 800 rebounds in his college career. He started his career at Wofford in 2022-23 before transferring to Quinnipiac, where he starred for three seasons.
The 6-foot-7 forward would add another long and athletic defender to a team already stacked with those players.
Monroe, along with many athletes across the country, is arguing that the NCAA’s exclusion of Class of 2022 athletes from the new age-based eligibility guidelines is unfair. Many of these cases hinge on the idea that Class of 2022 athletes had to play with and against fifth- and sixth-year players due to the COVID year and later the Pavia waiver throughout their college career, and that those players, and all future players, will receive the benefit of the ability to earn revenue sharing and NIL for five years instead of four.
The Orange play their first exhibition game in less than a week, taking on UConn at Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut on Tuesday, October 13 at 7 p.m. Syracuse’s regular season starts at home on Monday, November 2 against New Haven.