Report: Oregon forward N'Faly Dante's appeal for eligibility waiver denied

The Oregon Ducks officially received word back from their appeal of the NCAA’s denial of additional eligibility for center N’Faly Dante. According to college basketball insider Jon Rothstein, the NCAA has denied the university’s petition for additional eligibility.

This is the second time that the college sports governing body has denied Dante a waiver to continue his collegiate career. The initial ‘no’ was on behalf of the Oregon center himself. The second one, on Thursday, June 13, was courtesy of the university’s petition for additional eligibility.

When the NCAA denied the first appeal, several prominent individuals in the college basketball world were up in arms about the decision. One of which was ESPN’s Jay Bilas who took to social media to blast the NCAA for denying Dante‘s initial petition for additional eligibility. In a brief statement, the college basketball expert laid out the groundwork for challenging the decision.

“The NCAA’s treatment of Oregon’s N’Faly Dante is simply outrageous,” Bilas said via X. “This young man is EVERYTHING the NCAA claims it wants in an athlete. Dante has been injured throughout his career, and has played two full seasons less than players like Armando Bacot, yet he’s denied an additional year due to injury, ending his career. Absurd. Dante is a model atvlete and person, wants to come back to play and advance his education, and has never asked his school for anything. When the NCAA says “athlete welfare,” it rings hollow. The NCAA needs to do the right thing…allow Dante his additional year. Immediately.”

Initially, Bilas challenged the NCAA decision, highlighting the differences between Dante’s petition call, which has been denied twice, and that of North Carolina Tar Heels star big man Armando Bacot, who was allowed additional eligibility.

It is unclear where Dante’s career will go from here, but as things currently stand, his run in college basketball has come to an end.