RJ Godfrey was ruled ineligible for Arizona’s season-opener against UCLA after a Texas judge tentatively denied a temporary restraining order in his fight for a fifth year of eligibility. The decision on Thursday left Godfrey and other plaintiffs without the immediate relief they were seeking.
The ruling matters now because Arizona’s season-opener is looming, and Godfrey had been hoping the court would clear the way for him to play. He is described as an Arizona men’s basketball forward, and the decision directly affects whether he can take the floor for the Wildcats this season.
The judge’s comments left little room for the players who had already gone to court elsewhere. Judge Ryan Luna said players who had already sought injunctive relief in another state would be denied a TRO, pointing to cases in Tennessee and Georgia. In other words, if a player had already pursued the same kind of emergency relief in another state court, Luna was not inclined to give it again in Texas.
That is where Godfrey’s path narrowed. This week, he and other plaintiffs withdrew their five-for-five case in Georgia and then joined a separate lawsuit in Texas. The sequence mattered because the new filing did not wipe away the earlier attempt, and Luna’s ruling turned on that history. His denial leaves Godfrey ineligible for Arizona’s season-opener against UCLA and casts doubt on whether there are any other legal options left to make him eligible this season.
For now, the question is not whether Godfrey wants another year. It is whether the court system has anything left to give him before the season begins.
