College athletics is an absolutely chaotic legibility mess right now. There's just no telling who will be cleared and who won't be cleared; lawsuits are flying around, the NCAA is appealing and clarifying, and all that comes back to a weird place where nothing is for certain. Below, the complications can be broken down, but first, caught in the middle of it all is Braeden Carrington.
Carrington is a perfect case study for what's being battled the most in courts right now. He's a four-year player who ran out of eligibility the year before the '5-in-5' rule goes into effect. However, a court ruling out of Colorado has ordered the NCAA to let players like Carrington play. When the news first broke, Badger forward Austin Rapp took to Instagram with a message that said, "Run it back?" and tagged Carrington.
The message is clear: he's hoping Carrington is back for one more year, and then he took to X and tagged Carrington again with the "eyes" emoji. Which typically means, "Watching," "Noticing," or even "Did you see?"
👀 @braedencarri4 https://t.co/dOEo8Qp2cW
— austin rapp (@austinrappp) August 2, 2026
Austin Rapp is hoping to 'run it back' with Braeden Carrington for one more season
Related: How the the legibility landscape can shake up Wisconsin basketball's offseason
The timeline of his posts may have been incidental, but it lined up perfectly with the ongoing court battle. Originally, his post followed pretty immediately after Judge Charlotte Sweeney's ruling that ordered the NCAA to declare eligible all Class of 2022 athletes (those who had run out of eligibility because they'd already played four seasons). Rapp was clearly up on the latest news.
Then the NCAA immediately asked for clarification from Judge Sweeney and pushed back on her ruling, with the ultimate plan to appeal to the Tenth Circuit. Rapp went quiet as the 2022 athletes went back into limbo. Wisconsin basketball clearly seems to be waiting for this to play all the way out.
Then, the NCAA issued a statement after receiving clarification from Judge Sweeney that read in part, "According to the Court’s order, class members’ eligibility to participate will be determined by application of the age-based eligibility rule — in other words, they must be within five years of when they first enrolled at any college or turned 19, whichever occurred earlier. All other NCAA eligibility rules, including rules regarding professional participation, remain in effect; as the Court made clear, it was not ruling on any Bylaws not presented to the Court." It finished by saying that the NCAA will now appeal.
This is actually a unique clarification because the NCAA seemed to celebrate the fact that it was abiding by all the other NCAA rules and was only granting players like Carrington an extra season. While it ended with a plan to still appeal, the tone was a bit of a concession. Almost a willingness to let players like Carrington have their season.
While that wasn't the exact designation, it wasn't as hard a line as you would think, and maybe there's an open window. It was at this point that Rapp took to X and posted that second post with the "eyes."
The clarification did change the way the roster will be built if Carrington does get to play next season. There will be no extension to roster limits, making this the 15th player for Wisconsin and the final one. If all plays out according to what Rapp clearly is hoping happens.
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