This one came down to the wire.
Vincent Iwuchukwu, the pro basketball prospect who survived cardiac arrest and later challenged a disputed NCAA eligibility rule that threatened to keep him sidelined, will be allowed to suit up again this season after a judge ruled in his favor.
The NCAA in June eliminated its long-standing “four seasons in five years” rule, which had required college athletes to complete four seasons of competition within a five-year eligibility period. In its place, the organization adopted an age-based system that permits athletes to play an unlimited number of seasons within five years.
For Iwuchukwu, a 22-year-old Germany-born Nigerian-American forward, the change initially offered little relief. The NCAA did not apply the updated eligibility policy to his 2022 high school class, a decision that appeared to put the 7-foot-1 player’s NBA aspirations in jeopardy.
But Iwuchukwu was not ready to let the ruling end his career. His path to this point had already demanded far more resilience than most young athletes ever have to show.
On July 1, 2022, during his first practice with the USC Trojans, the incoming freshman suddenly suffered cardiac arrest.
“It really happened instantaneously. I wasn’t really feeling a particular way before going into that practice,” he recalled. “Then I was gone, so I couldn’t really tell what was happening.”
Iwuchukwu said doctors still do not know what triggered the life-altering medical emergency. As he worked his way through recovery, however, his focus never shifted far from basketball — and the possibility of returning to the court.
And he did.
Iwuchukwu started playing again in January 2023 at USC but he wasn’t out of the woods yet. He developed back herniations and spasms that required surgery to fix, and underwent a procedure that March.
He went on to play another season at USC, the following at St. John’s, and then his most recent at Georgetown beginning in 2025, where he averaged 11.6 points per game with 6.1 rebounds.
“I think the biggest battle was probably mentally, telling yourself that, ‘You’re okay, I can play,’” he told The Post.
At the end of his fourth season, Iwuchukwu’s physician, who serves on the NBA’s professional fitness-to-play panel, said he needs one more year playing at the collegiate level to secure medical clearance for the NBA in the 2027 season.
That’s where he ran into the NCAA’s rule that had excluded his 2022 high school class.
But even that didn’t stop him. Iwuchukwu sued the NCAA on Aug. 14 in Queens Supreme Court.
“If he does not play this season, that evaluation will not occur on schedule and cannot be recreated. The harm to Vincent is now,” Iwuchukwu’s lawyers argued in the lawsuit.
“To take that opportunity away from [the class of 2022] is frankly just cavalierly and without much thought,” Brandon Leopoldus, one of Iwuchuku’s lawyers, told The Post.
Again, the never-say-die court dynamo was victorious — a judge ruled in his favor within days.
Iwuchukwu is now looking forward to the upcoming season. He said is considering return offers from St. John’s and Georgetown, as well as offers from other universities.
He plans to make a decision this week.
The power player said that everything he’s fought through taught him the power of persistence.
“The NCAA told me no, but the ball kept rolling on colleges and the pros. So nothing stops. Be patient, keep working, and things will wind up working out in your favor,” he said, adding, “I’m feeling good.”
The NCAA, NBA, Georgetown and St. John’s did not return requests for comment.
