When the national pandemic struck college basketball hard in March 2020 it created quite the conundrum for this sport. The following years have seen us wading a world where that COVID year wasn’t a year of lost eligibility. That decision has helped usher us into a confusing era of eligibility, especially with recent JUCO eligibility rulings.

Dain Dainja saw his last hopes for continuing his collegiate career dry up on Thursday despite a decently solid case with the NCAA. The 6-9 forward originally from Minnesota was a Top 100 recruit back in 2020 but barely played in his first two collegiate seasons before turning into a standout frontcourt piece in recent years.

That career began at Baylor, as Dainja redshirted while the Bears ran to the national championship in 2021. As a redshirt freshman, Dainja was eligible but did not see much playtime at all, logging just 9 minutes with 6 points and 4 rebounds across the entire season. Instead of continuing to develop with the Bears, Dainja transferred to Illinois and that’s where his career began to pick up.

Dainja earned significant minutes and was a starter for most of his sophomore year, averaging 9.5 points and 5.5 rebounds for the Fighting Illini. However, Dainja took more of a backseat to Coleman Hawkins and became more of a backup player in his second year at Illinois. He had solid metrics and played a small role in Illinois’s run to the Elite Eight, but Dainja found his third home just weeks later.

This past season he became a major part of the equation for a Memphis team that won 29 games and earned a 5-seed in the NCAA Tournament. He logged the most minutes of his career, averaging 14.6 points and 7.4 rebounds a night while leading the AAC in field goal percentage. That chapter turned out to be the final one for Dainja’s collegiate journey.

That bonus year from COVID gave a long list of players a fifth full season of college basketball, meaning there was a handful of guys logging at least 150 games in their careers. While that may have been a special circumstance, those situations make it easier to feel for Dainja. He played in just three games with the Bears but it counts as a full season of eligibility, significantly limiting his career as a whole.

Memphis would have loved to have Dainja back next season with hopes of claiming another AAC title, but instead he’ll be part of the Miami Heat’s summer league roster with his own hopes of a future in professional basketball. By the letter of the law, Dainja exhausted his eligibility and wasn’t necessarily treated unfairly, but it really feels like a raw deal considering what the NCAA has allowed in recent years.