Adlee Blacklock Among Players Seeking Fifth Year of Eligibility in NCAA Lawsuit

Adlee Blacklock, who spent the past two seasons with the Texas Tech women’s basketball program, is among more than 45 college basketball players seeking an additional year of eligibility as part of a new lawsuit filed against the NCAA in California. According to On3’s Pete Nakos, attorneys Darren Heitner and Ryan Downton filed the lawsuit on behalf of players from the 2022 high school recruiting class who recently completed their fourth season of college basketball. Blacklock is among the athletes named in the filing, which seeks an injunction that would allow them to compete during the 2026-27 season. The group is at the center of the NCAA’s transition to a new age-based eligibility model, which provides athletes five years of eligibility based on their initial full-time college enrollment or the academic year following their 19th birthday, whichever comes first. Under the transition plan, currently enrolled athletes who have eligibility remaining after the 2025-26 academic year can choose between the new model and the NCAA’s previous eligibility rules. However, players such as Blacklock who entered college in 2022 and exhausted four seasons of competition in 2025-26 are not currently grandfathered into the new system. The lawsuit seeks to change that. Blacklock began her college career at Oregon State before transferring to Texas Tech ahead of the 2024-25 season. She spent her final two seasons with the Lady Raiders, completing her fourth season of college basketball this spring. A successful injunction would not guarantee Blacklock returns to Texas Tech for another season, but it could give her the option to play a fifth year if the court rules in favor of the players. The California filing comes after an Ohio judge granted a preliminary injunction last week to 24 men’s and women’s college basketball players challenging the NCAA’s eligibility rules under the new age-based model. Blacklock is one of several women’s basketball players named in the latest lawsuit, joining Sophia Glancey, Amina Muhammad, Saniyah Glenn-Bello, Hannah Stines and Ines Bettencourt. Stay tuned for more as this case and any potential future ones unfold. Join the conversation with other Red Raiders on the Inside The Double T forum. Subscribe today to get the most in-depth Texas Tech sports and recruiting coverage. Follow us on X: @RedRaiderSports Like and follow us on Instagram @rrs_rivals & like us on Facebook.