Banned Rutgers transfer basketball player suing NCAA for immediate reinstatement
Rutgers basketball guard Jeremiah Williams, an Iowa State transfer who has been sitting out this season while awaiting a ruling on his penalty for violating the NCAA’s gambling policy, filed a lawsuit against the NCAA Thursday seeking an injunction to become immediately eligible in time for the Scarlet Knights’ game at Michigan Saturday.
According to Williams’ complaint, which was filed Feb. 1 in the U.S. District Court of New Jersey, the NCAA on Jan. 31 handed down a 15-game suspension, some of which is retroactive. The complaint contends Williams “has already served his 15-game sports-wagering suspension in anticipation of that announcement.”
It adds: “Plaintiff has sat out all twenty games Rutgers has played this year, the last five while waiting for the NCAA to formally impose the suspension it imposed last evening. He is therefore now eligible to begin playing basketball for Rutgers.”
NCAA says Jeremiah Williams ineligible until Feb. 18
The complaint explains the NCAA's position as follows: "The NCAA has taken the position, however, that because its now-unenforceable transfer rule was in effect during the first nine games of the season: (a) those nine games do not count against his sports-wagering suspension; (b) Plaintiff must therefore serve his entire sports-wagering suspension based on games played after December 13, 2023, rather than receive credit for the nine games he sat out before that date; and (c) Plaintiff is therefore not eligible to play beginning with Saturday’s game and will not be eligible to play for Rutgers until February 18, 2024."
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Rutgers is currently 10-10 overall and 2-7 in the Big Ten. The Scarlet Knights have 11 regular-season games left on their schedule. Four of those games take place before the Feb. 18 trip to Minnesota.
The lead attorney on the complaint is Kevin Marino of the Chatham-based law firm Marino, Tortorella and Boyle. Marino just served a term as chair of the Seton Hall University Board of Regents – though no longer in that post, he remains one of the most influential people at the university.
Rutgers Athletics declined to comment on the lawsuit; it’s not technically a university matter.
Williams, a 6-foot-5 junior combo guard, has been practicing with the Scarlet Knights since transferring from Iowa State in July, though he last played in a game two years ago for Temple.
Williams played his first two collegiate seasons at Temple and averaged 9.4 points and 4.2 assists there before transferring to Iowa State for the 2022-23 season. He never actually played for Iowa State after damaging an Achilles tendon during a workout in October 2022. After entering the transfer portal in the spring, Williams committed to Illinois early in June but then decommitted and landed at Rutgers.
In September Williams pled guilty to underage gambling in an agreement reached with prosecutors in Iowa City and paid a fine of $645. As part of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation’s sweeping probe into sports gambling by college athletes, Williams was charged with tampering with records for allegedly falsifying information used to register accounts on mobile sports wagering apps.
In his plea, Williams admitted to placing wagers while underage using the FanDuel account of someone over the age of 21. He also admitted to placing more than $1,000 in wagers while under 21, the legal gambling age in the state of Iowa.
Originally Williams was planning on sitting out this season as a two-time transfer, but the NCAA’s transfer penalty got blown up by the courts. The 21-year-old has two years of eligibility remaining after this one.
Williams is not a jump shooter – his career 3-point percentage is .267 – but he’s a good ball-handler (career assist-to-turnover ratio: 2-to-1) and a decent rebounder who could bring much-needed size to the backcourt.
.Jerry Carino has covered the New Jersey sports scene since 1996 and the college basketball beat since 2003. He is an Associated Press Top 25 voter. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Rutgers basketball: Iowa State transfer Jeremiah Williams suing NCAA
