Attorney: NCAA should reinstate St. John's Orlando Sanchez

08:48 AM ET 02.24 | Robert Orr, a noted attorney and a former associate justice on the North Carolina Supreme Court, is optimistic the NCAA will overturn the ineligibility of St. John's forward Orlando Sanchez and grant the 6-foot-9 forward a year to play college ball. If not, Orr will see the NCAA in court. "I've not been instructed by St. John's to take this to court," Orr said. "I frankly have no reluctance if that's the case. That's never the ideal scenario. It's simply inefficient from a cost standpoint. It drags out from a time standpoint." Under antiquated NCAA bylaw 14.2.3.1, which states an individual 21 or older loses one year of eligibility for every season he plays organized ball outside of college, Sanchez, 24, is not eligible. The NCAA has waived this rule in cases of military service and religious commitments, such as when a Mormon goes on a mission. Orr said Sanchez's case is unique because he experienced financial hardship by being moved when he was 17 by his grandmother from the Dominican Republic to Spain to live with his father for four years. Sanchez returned home and played three minutes and 38 seconds in one game for the Dominican Republic national team, costing him his final year of eligibility.

New York Post