Braeden Carrington might be one step closer to being a Badger again.
The former Wisconsin men’s basketball guard was among the athletes who were granted a temporary restraining order Aug. 18 as part of a lawsuit seeking another year of eligibility for Carrington and others in his class.
Carrington had been one of 70-plus athletes who pursued legal action in California following the NCAA’s implementation of a five-in-five eligibility model that did not benefit players who exhausted their four years of eligibility in 2025-26.
Mit Winter – a Kansas City-based attorney at Kennyhertz Perry LLC whose practice areas include college athletics – told the Journal Sentinel there is “still some more legal wrangling to go” before knowing with 100% certainty whether Carrington can play in 2026-27.
For now, though, it clears the way for Carrington and others to play a fifth year of college basketball. A hearing to consider a preliminary injunction is scheduled for Aug. 25, which could either reaffirm or reverse the decision made with the temporary restraining order.
“The fact that the court granted the TRO means it’s probably likely it’s also going to grant a preliminary injunction because it’s basically the same factors that the court’s going to be looking at,” Winter said. “So if they thought the factors weighing in favor of a TRO are there, they’re probably going to say the same factors weigh in favor of granting a preliminary injunction as well.”
If that indeed is the case, Winter anticipates the NCAA would appeal the ruling to an appellate court in California. The NCAA has previously made it clear that it still stands by and plans to defend its decision not to grant a blanket waiver to athletes in Carrington’s class.
“Who knows what would happen there?” Winter said. “Obviously yesterday they were able to get an appeals court to stay a preliminary injunction that was granted in one of these cases in Ohio. So it’s possible that could happen in California as well, but not guaranteed by any means.”
In the meantime, Carrington does not necessarily have to stay in Madison for his fifth year of college basketball. The temporary restraining order instructs the NCAA to open the transfer portal for the plaintiffs in the lawsuit from Aug. 17 through Aug. 24.
But Carrington has spent much of his summer in Madison and was on the floor with the 2026-27 team during the two summer practices that were open to the media.
Greg Gard’s program, meanwhile, still has one open roster spot ahead of the 2026-27 season. Gard previously suggested that the 15th player could be “somebody of large size,” but general manager Marc VandeWettering also said that UW was “trying to stay flexible.”
The 6-foot-4 Carrington averaged 8.3 points and provided a valuable spark off the bench in his lone season with the Badgers in 2025-26. He spent his first two years at Minnesota before transferring to Tulsa for his junior year and then UW for his senior year.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin's Braeden Carrington gets legal win in fight for fifth year