Noland's judge would not pause her own order, so the NCAA has one court left

Kenny Noland has been eligible for seventeen days. Two courts have declined to interrupt that, and the NCAA has one request left in one court.

Judge Kara E. Krothe of Monroe Circuit Court in Bloomington, Indiana, granted the preliminary injunction on September 23. The NCAA filed an emergency motion to stay it the same day, filed a notice of appeal the next, and asked the Indiana Supreme Court to take the appeal directly. On October 1 the Supreme Court said no. On Monday, October 5, Krothe denied the stay, finding, per The Daily Hoosier's report of the ruling, that the NCAA is not likely to win on appeal and had not shown it would be harmed while the injunction stands.

That leaves the emergency stay motion the NCAA filed in the Indiana Court of Appeals, where the appeal is docketed as 26A-PL-02703. A three-judge panel set the schedule on September 30: the trial court had to rule on its own stay motion by October 5, and the players' response to the appellate motion was due October 8. The players filed it on October 8. As of Saturday morning the docket showed no ruling, and The Daily Hoosier wrote that it was not clear how soon one would come.

Michigan plays Eastern Michigan at Crisler on Sunday at 2 p.m. It opens the season against Oakland on November 2, in 23 days. The appeals court is the only court with the question in front of it between now and then.

One order, 97 names#

The ruling that matters to Michigan was reported as a ruling about Indiana. The Daily Hoosier's story named Stephen Daley, Kellan Wyatt and Sam Alexis, three Indiana athletes, and "dozens of other class of 2022 athletes." Noland was not mentioned.

He did not need to be. Tatum v. NCAA is one suit with 97 plaintiffs, filed September 4, and Krothe issued one preliminary injunction covering all of them. Noland is one of the 97. There is no separate Noland ruling because there is no separate Noland order.

The appeals court decides the same motion for itself, and the Tenth Circuit stayed a federal injunction for the same class of players on August 21. The other outcome is not theoretical.

The roster has not moved, and the lineup has#

Michigan's official roster listed seventeen players on Saturday morning, as it did a week ago. Gayle and Noland are both on it. The limit is fifteen, and the roster that counts is due November 1, the day before the opener.

Both guards are expected to play Sunday. Mike Boynton Jr. said at Big Ten media day on Thursday that Michigan continues to "function as if he's eligible" on Gayle, and that Gayle "will play unless somebody calls me before Sunday at 2:00 PM," per Maize n Brew's availability report, which lists Noland as available too.

Gayle's own order is still not on paper. Justice Frank A. Sedita III granted his preliminary injunction from the bench in Niagara County on September 24, and the written order is due October 24, two weeks from today, per the College Sports Litigation Tracker. Until then there is nothing in New York for the NCAA to appeal.

What Church said, and what he did not#

Kyle Church, Michigan's assistant coach and general manager, was asked on the program's own Defend the Block podcast, in an episode posted October 6, which players had caught his eye in fall practice. He gave one name.

The one player he would single out, Church said, "would probably be Roddy Gayle. I've just been unbelievably impressed with him, his mentorship of the younger guys, his intensity, his practice habits, his just overall play. You know, he looks like a fifth-year guy, looks like a guy that's been through high-level college basketball several times over." His consistency, Church added, had come a long way, and the staff was glad to have him on the floor.

Church said nothing about the starting lineup. UM Hoops' Dylan Burkhardt, writing up the same remarks on October 6, called Gayle "Michigan's starting three." That is Burkhardt's read, and he named no source for it. A coach praised a player's practice habits; a reporter drew a conclusion about the lineup. The two should not be run together.

The fifth spot#

Elliot Cadeau and Trey McKenney, both named preseason All-Big Ten on Monday, and the transfers J.P. Estrella and Moustapha Thiam up front are the four I have treated as settled since the European tour. The fifth spot has been the open question on this beat since then, and two open calls on this site depend on it.

In August the candidates were Joseph Hartman and Quinn Costello. Hartman, a 6-foot-6 freshman guard, played 69 minutes across the three tour games, 28 of them against Mega Superbet, with 9 assists against 7 turnovers, and he was the guard on the floor when Cadeau sat with fouls. I called in August that he starts the opener, and that call stands as filed. The call I am making today runs against it, and at most one of the two can be right. Costello, a 6-foot-10 forward, is the subject of a colleague's call.

Since then two guards with court orders have joined the roster. Gayle played 823 minutes across 39 games for last season's champion, sixth on the team. Noland started all 28 games he played at Columbia last season, 927 minutes, with 101 assists against 69 turnovers. Either one can bring the ball up when Cadeau rests, and Cadeau had 234 of Michigan's 745 assists last season, just under a third.

So the question has four plausible names where it had two, and the one Michigan's own staff chose to talk about is Gayle. Sunday is the first time the answer is visible. Who starts an exhibition is a coach's experiment and a first draft. The decision is the box score on November 2.

Up front, Jalen Reed is the name to watch Sunday. He is recovering from the Achilles injury that ended his season at LSU, met with doctors on Thursday for clearance, and was listed as questionable in the same report, which has Oscar Goodman probable after a minor back injury in practice this week and Lincoln Cosby out and not likely to play this year.

Where it stands#

I called in September that Gayle would be on Michigan's roster page on October 11. He has been on it since late September, and that one resolves tomorrow. My call that Noland is listed on December 9, the day Michigan opens Big Ten play at Rutgers, now depends on a court in Indianapolis more than on a page in Ann Arbor.

Called shot: Roddy Gayle Jr. is among Michigan's five starters in the November 2 opener against Oakland, as listed on the official Michigan box score. The case for it is above: a staff that singled him out, 39 games for a champion, and an open spot at the three. The case against is that Michigan kept its leading three-point shooter on the bench for all 40 games last season, that Hartman has the staff's trust from the tour, and that a court in Indiana or New York can still change who is available.

Sources: mgoblue.com official 2026-27 men's basketball roster and 2026-27 schedule, read October 10; mgoblue.com, "Defend the Block 405" transcript, October 6, "Cadeau, McKenney Named to Preseason All-Big Ten Team," October 5, and "Wolverines Open Exhibition Slate Against Eastern Michigan," October 9; Mike Schumann, The Daily Hoosier, October 5; Dylan Burkhardt, UM Hoops, September 23 and October 6; Charles Post, Maize n Brew availability report, October 8; Indiana MyCase, Monroe Circuit Court 6, No. 53C06-2609-PL-002418, chronological case summary as read October 3, and Indiana Court of Appeals No. 26A-PL-02703, chronological case summary as read October 10 (September 30 scheduling order; Indiana Supreme Court transfer denial, October 1; players' response, October 8); the College Sports Litigation Tracker on Gayle v. NCAA; mgoblue.com 2025-26 statistics and European tour cumulative statistics; Columbia athletics 2025-26 statistics.