This was one close game.
Pro basketball prospect Vincent Iwuchukwu — who survived a heart attack and then bravely fought against a controversial NCAA rule keeping him off the court — will get to lace up again this season, a judge has ruled.
In June, the NCAA axed its rule that collegiate athletes had four seasons of competition to use within a five-year eligibility window, known as the “four seasons in five years” rule, replacing it with an age-based model that allows athletes to play an unlimited number of seasons within five years.
But for the 22-year-old Germany-born Iwuchukwu, the victory was hollow — the organization did not apply the new rule to his 2022 high school class — which seemed to dash the NBA dreams of the 7’1 forward.
He wasn’t about to give up so easily, though. Afterall, his climb had been uphill from the beginning.
On July 1, 2022, during his first practice as a USC Trojan, the then-incoming freshman suffered a sudden heart attack.
“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.”
Doctors don’t know what caused the life-changing event, he said. But during his recovery, all he could think about was getting back on the court.
And he did.
Iwuchukwu started playing again in January 2023 at St. John’s 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 two seasons 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 implanted a defibrillator and 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.
