By Ryan Kramer, Newswire Intern  

On Oct. 13, Gov. Mike DeWine (R-OH) signed Executive Order 2026-04D, which allows collegiate athletes who graduated high school in 2022 to increase the length of their eligibility for the 2026-27 athletic season.  

This is creating optimism for Musketeer basketball fans and conflict with the National Colligate Athletic Association (NCAA). 

The NCAA changed their rules regarding who is eligible to compete in college athletics in June. The new eligibility rules are age-based and centered around a continuous period of five years. For athletes who entered college in 2022, the old rules still apply since the new eligibility rules are active only for those who graduated high school in 2023 or later. DeWine’s decision to grant eligibility for the class of 2022 raises questions about how far state governments can push against national organizations like the NCAA. 

The NCAA sued DeWine on Friday. While the decisions made at the state level affects all of Ohio, the executive order brings specific changes to Xavier’s men’s basketball team. 

Xavier forward and current senior Filip Borovićanin sought litigation to obtain an additional season of playing time, something the new five-year eligibility rule would give him if applied to his situation. Borovićanin received an injunction in July before the beginning of the year, which let him compete during this season while the case continues.  

This year, Borovićanin has recommitted to the Musketeers, and DeWine’s executive order has allowed him to be eligible for the time being. 

For Xavier University and many other institutions in Ohio, Executive Order 2026-04D is a collective breath of fresh air. Borovićanin averaged 10.8 points per game during the 2025-2026 season, and his eligibility to play may determine how well the Musketeers perform this season. 

Despite Borovićanin’s temporarily permitted spot on the roster, questions remain about what DeWine’s policy means in the long run. 

“The organization is being sued currently in the U.S. court system just over this eligibility to begin with, and if governments are blocking these or passing temporary measures like this, as DeWine is using his executive order to do, there needs to be established precedent for this before this can go further. That would be something that we should be asking our representatives, asking our legislators, not just determining it to court rulings,” sophomore Philosophy, Politics, and the Public major William Brewer said. 

The premise behind DeWine’s executive order is that it would not be fair to students who started college in 2022. In the executive order, he upholds many of the eligibility rules of the NCAA and states that no athletes who have previously played in professional leagues such as the National Basketball Association can play in college athletics. However, the NCAA, when they filed a federal complaint in the Southern District of Ohio against DeWine, argued that his action was unfair to everyone.  

“If state courts – or governors – can unilaterally change the rules to give certain schools competitive advantages, it will become impossible for all schools to compete on a level playing field,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said on Friday in a statement made on NCAA’s website. 

Baker also addressed the developments in the Borovićanin case. 

“Separately, questions have been raised about the Ohio Supreme Court’s recent order in the ‘Borovićanin’ case. We look forward to answering the Ohio Supreme Court’s questions on Monday, as ordered. In the meantime, the NCAA does not believe the Ohio Supreme Court declared the ‘Borovićanin’ plaintiffs immediately eligible to compete,” Baker said. 

As the case currently stands, Xavier University will have the roster it wants unless the NCAA is able to declare the executive order unconstitutional in the courts.