A current and past member of the West Virginia men’s basketball team are the latest to partake in the recent trend of a lawsuit against the NCAA.
Javan Buchanan and Brenen Lorient electronically filed suit Monday in United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia in a case that seeks a fifth year of eligibility for both.
Buchanan is a Boise State transfer and presently with the Mountaineers, though second-year WVU head coach Ross Hodge said last Thursday his request for a waiver and subsequent fifth season of eligibility for 2026-27 had been denied by the NCAA.
Hodge then noted this was the next step.
“At this point, it’s out of the waiver process completely and the next phase is the legal process,” Hodge said. “He doesn’t have a hearing date set or anything like that. Obviously, we’re in communication with him on those things. But that part specifically is kind of through the individual, his representation and you’re allowing them to handle that as much as they can while you’re supporting them in that process.”
WVU signed Buchanan in April and did so knowing he would need a waiver to be eligible for a fifth and final season of college basketball after spending the previous two at Boise State and his first two at NAIA-level Indiana Wesleyan.
Hodge said last week Buchanan was a full participant in summer practice as he awaits clarification on eligibility.
Lorient was thought to have exhausted what remained of his eligibility at the conclusion of the 2025-26 season, though eligibility rules have changed since.
Starting with the 2026-27 academic year, a new age-based eligibility rule was established for student-athletes meeting all eligibility requirements that entered college no later than the academic year after their 19th birthday to have up to five years of eligibility.
A 2022 graduate of Calvary Christian Academy, Lorient played his first two seasons of college basketball at Florida Atlantic and his third under Hodge at North Texas before following the head coach to Morgantown for the 2025-26 campaign.
Last Friday, U.S. District Court of Colorado Judge Charlotte Sweeney issued an injunction against the NCAA allowing all class of 2022 athletes a fifth-year of eligibility, though Sweeney added important clarification to the filing two days later in stating athletes granted a fifth year of eligibility do not override current transfer rules, roster limits or revenue-sharing totals.
Yet in the lawsuit from Buchanan and Lorient, injunctive relief against the Rule of Restitution and transfer portal provisions are sought — both matters not covered by Sweeney’s injunction.
Including Buchanan, West Virginia has 14 players on a roster that is capped at 15.
Hodge noted last week WVU would try to fill out its roster and hinted Lorient could be in play to rejoin the program depending on eligibility rulings.
“You probably look to start internally in that manner with players out of that pool that maybe you have some familiarity with that maybe have familiarity with you before you just brought in someone new,” Hodge said. “There is a chance the landscape or market could get inundated with a lot of talent here late in the summer.”
In response to Sweeney’s injunction, the NCAA says it creates “roster chaos” for member schools and has already filed a notice of appeal. Should the governing body for college sports win that appeal, Sweeney’s injunction would be overridden, thus adding to the importance of the lawsuit filed by Buchanan and Lorient and numerous others across the country.
John Preston Bailey, U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of West Virginia, has been athlete-friendly in recent previous rulings. That includes one in favor of men’s basketball player RaeQuan Battle in 2023 that issued a temporary restraining order against the NCAA and allowed undergraduate college athletes that had transferred multiple times immediate eligibility.
Last August, Bailey ruled in favor of four WVU football players that had been denied a waiver for the 2025 season by granting a TRO and preliminary injunction against the NCAA permitting eligibility.
In both rulings, Bailey prevented the NCAA from enforcing its Restitution Rule, meaning the organization could not issue punishment in the future for the use of ineligible players.