Gopher MBB Coach Niko Medved Blasts NCAA in Epic Eligibility Rant

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Gopher MBB Coach Niko Medved Blasts NCAA in Epic Eligibility Rant

Gopher MBB Coach Niko Medved Blasts NCAA in Epic Eligibility Rant — Robert Goddin-Imagn Images via Reuters Connect

Eric Strack · Minnesota Sports Fan

Fri, Oct 16, 2026 ·

9 min read

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The Minnesota Gophers men's basketball team opened its 2026-27 preseason Thursday night with a 72-52 exhibition win over Omaha at The Barn.

Newcomer Malick Kordel went 5-for-5 off the bench, fellow newcomer Kyan Evans looked like his old self pre-UNC, and the Gophers mopped up an overwhelmed Omaha squad like a Power 4 team should during a meaningless exhibition against lesser competition.

KYAN TO KORDEL OH MY 🤯📺 B1G+#TeamTogether https://t.co/kH8nixyK2s

— Minnesota Men's Basketball (@GopherMBB) October 16, 2026

That's not how it felt on the bench for last year's leading scorer, Cade Tyson, who's enrolled in classes and practicing with the team, but not playing as he waits for the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals to decide whether he'll be eligible.

So when Minnesota head coach Niko Medved was asked about Tyson after the game, he wasn't in the mood for coach-speak. Instead, the Gophers' second-year head coach went all in on his qualms with the current dispute involving the 2022 class, along with who's eligible and who is not.

Gophers MBB coach rants for over 5 minutes on the NCAA 5-for-5 rule

The NCAA approved its new five-for-five rule in June, giving college athletes five seasons to play in a five-year window. The catch is that it started this academic year and left out players from the class of 2022, which includes Cade Tyson .

In all, Medved ranted for about seven minutes (below), using language like "it's a mess," "they ambushed us," "there are no enforceable rules," "it's embarrassing," even going as far as to say that the NCAA should take a second look at their legal team if they didn't know where this was going when they made the five-for-five rule.

And if they did know how all of this would unfold legally, when they made the 2022 class ineligible while every other class after them got five years of eligibility, then "they should be ashamed of themselves."

"And I just don't understand, if the NCAA, if they made this decision to throw this five-for-five on us whenever they did, and they decided not to include the class of 2022, and they didn't understand what was going to happen, boy, they better question who they have on their legal team. And maybe even worse, if they did know this was gonna happen, they should be ashamed of themselves to put players and coaches, you know, and just create the chaos… It's awful for the sport."

Niko Medved, via the Minnesota Gophers (video above)

"I'm not the smartest guy in the world," Medved quipped, "but it felt pretty easy to know what was going to happen." The worst part? They can't even enforce the rule so, by his count, around 300 kids from the 2022 class are on rosters, and only about a hundred of them are playing.

Then Medved finished by pointing out the elephant in the room. Tyson, and these other fifth-year players trying to regain eligibility, meet every qualification for the five-for-five rule. Here's the four-minute version of Medved's epic rant (with subtitles), along with most of the transcript below.

Inject Niko Medved's 2022 class eligibility rant directly into my veins. The entire thing was even longer but here are the best FOUR MINUTES.Just pure gold. "And I just don't understand, if the NCAA, if they made this decision to throw this five-for-five on us whenever they did, and they decided not to include the class of 2022, and they didn't understand what was going to happen, boy, they better question who they have on their legal team. And maybe even worse, if they did know this was gonna happen, they should be ashamed of themselves to put players and coaches, you know, and just create the chaos… It's awful for the sport."#Gophers

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) October 16, 2026

"It's chaos, I would say. And Cade, you know, I just, I don't know if a young man could handle the situation any better than he is. He's just a great guy, man. And it's a tough spot to be in. I mean, he's here, having no answers, not knowing what's going to happen. I think that's really, really difficult for him. I know he had a really hard time today having to sit and watch this and not be able to play. And it's a mess.

"They did say they weren't going to be eligible, but then you could see right away, you're like, well, wait a minute, like, they were going to have a problem legally with that class. We weren't going to take anybody. And then as you started to look around the country, you could see that schools were taking fifth-year players, only kids in this 2022 class, and then they were becoming eligible."

"So my problem with it is, you know, they don't have control of it right now. So yeah, they have a rule, but they can't enforce the rule. I mean, you have, at least as of today, unless it's changed, you have over a hundred, I think there's like 300-some kids that are currently on rosters, and over a hundred of them are eligible."

Niko Medved, via the Minnesota Gophers (video above)

Medved also gave a real-world example of how messy this gets. He brought up former Gopher-turned-Northern Colorado guard Langston Reynolds, a player he said he cares about and called one of the best in the Big Sky. Reynolds is eligible right now. Tyson, under the exact same rule, is not.

Now put yourself in Montana State's shoes, Medved said, where "your fate in your season, or maybe going to the NCAA tournament, depends on having a friendly judge? It's embarrassing."

Medved understands the other side of the argument. He just doesn't think the rule holds up, and at this point, letting all the 2022 players play is the best option.

"This is going to have major ramifications around college basketball. And I understand some people are like, well, we didn't take one of those guys. Why should we be punished? We tried to follow the rules. But there are no enforceable rules. Doesn't matter what, the NCAA rules are only as good as what you can enforce."

"It just feels like to me, probably the best of a lot of bad decisions they could make right now in a bad circumstance is to let all these guys play. And I know that benefits us as a program, but boy, from where we're at right now, I just don't understand what the alternative is, because it doesn't feel like the NCAA is winning right now, and there's too many kids that are going to play and too many that aren't."

Niko Medved, via the Minnesota Gophers

Where Cade Tyson's case stands with the 10th Circuit

Yes, Medved admitted the Gophers would benefit. That's not a small detail when your best player from a year ago is the one stuck on the bench. When a reporter asked how this gets fixed with the season around the corner, Medved's answer was simple: "Can you call Charlie Baker for me?" Somehow, I don't think the NCAA president is taking that call.

Tyson is one of the named plaintiffs in Wisne v. NCAA, the case he joined this summer to get one more year. A federal judge in Colorado granted a nationwide injunction that would have made the class of 2022 eligible, but the 10th Circuit put it on hold while the NCAA appealed.

The NCAA has now been on the losing side of some recent court rulings. Really anybody's guess on whether or not Cade Tyson will be able to play for the Gophers this season.

— Tony Liebert (@TonyLiebert) October 16, 2026

A three-judge panel heard that appeal on Tuesday. It didn't rule, and it hasn't said when it will. The early read isn't great for the players, either. Sportico's legal analysis said the panel "appeared likely to reverse" the injunction.

That matters for Minnesota because Tyson was the whole offense last season. He averaged 19.6 points and 5.4 rebounds in 32 games and led the Gophers in scoring.

Why the Minnesota Gophers want the NCAA to "let these guys play"

Medved even gave the coaches on the other side their due. Programs that passed on 2022-class players don't love the idea of playing against them now. "There's merit to that," he said.

But every answer circled back to the same problem.

"But again, going back to the beginning, they can't enforce the rule. And I don't understand why they did what they did in the first place. I'm not the smartest guy in the world, but it felt pretty easy to know what was going to happen. So I just feel like right now, from where we're at, if there's this many kids that are going to be playing and the NCAA can't find a way to enforce it, then they need to let all of them play. They do fall under the rule, right? That's what I don't understand. They do fall under the rule, right? 24 years old, five years to play. It seems simple to me, but again, you realize pretty quickly they don't really care what you think."

Niko Medved, via the Minnesota Gophers

He's not alone, either. Medved said a recent call with the National Association of Basketball Coaches board was the first time he felt most coaches shared his view. They fought the good fight, and it's just not working.

Then there's the stuff that could hit Minnesota directly. The Gophers play at Cincinnati on Nov. 9, and Medved said Bearcats guard MJ Collins, who he called one of the better players in the Big 12, is going to be eligible.

That comes after Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed an executive order this week opening eligibility to class-of-2022 athletes at Ohio schools. It's far from settled, though. The NCAA sued DeWine on Friday to block the order, and an Ohio appeals court had already denied Collins' eligibility appeal . Medved doesn't think that's the last curveball, either.

"What's to stop others from doing it?" he said. "I don't know where this is going… but I have a feeling if you can even imagine that, it's actually going to get more chaotic."

The Gophers play their final exhibition against Creighton in Omaha on Oct. 23, and the regular season opens Nov. 2. Whether Tyson is on the floor for either one is up to three judges on the 10th Circuit. Cool system.