​Point guard Noam Yaacov, a University of Utah basketball commit, shared a photo of himself in a Utes jersey on an Instagram story last week.
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Instagram photo, via user noaamyaacov
A projected key piece of the University of Utah men’s basketball puzzle for the 2026-27 season won’t be available after all.On Monday evening, both CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein and KSL’s Steve Bartle reported that Israeli guard Noam Yaacov has been ruled ineligible by the NCAA for the upcoming season.The university later confirmed the news, announcing that his NCAA waiver was appealed and denied last Thursday, Aug. 20.There was a bit of good news for Utah in the announcement: The school said former Northern Iowa guard Trey Campbell has been cleared to practice with the team as he seeks a fifth year of eligibility.“We’d like to thank everyone who worked so diligently throughout this process,” Utah head men’s basketball coach Alex Jensen said in a statement.“Given the outcome, Noam will pursue other playing opportunities, and we wish him the very best moving forward. We are excited to welcome Trey to the Runnin’ Utes family and look forward to his contributions to our program.”The specifics on why Yaacov was denied eligibility weren’t immediately known.“The inconsistency on stuff like this is gonna be wildly confusing,” The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie wrote on X after news broke of Yaacov’s ineligibility. “Would be very interested to hear why Yaacov is ineligible while some others are eligible.”The 6-foot-1 Yaacov, who was listed as a freshman on Utah’s roster for the upcoming season, was expected to play a pivotal role both as a playmaking point guard for Utah in Jensen’s second year as head coach.Because he’s an international player who will turn 22 this year, Yaacov was an auto-eligible prospect for the 2026 NBA draft.He ultimately wasn’t selected — he did show up on several media-crafted NBA draft boards — but Yaacov did earn an invite to the G League Draft Combine, then participated in scrimmages at the NBA Draft Combine.His work going through the draft process helped Yaacov earn praise from several basketball experts.Among them, CBS Sports’ Isaac Trotter took an extended look at the Big 12 basketball scene and wrote, “Yaacov will be in the conversation for All-Big 12 honors and is the engine who will make the Utes go.”During a breakout 2025-26 season playing for Filou Oostende of the BNXT League, a first-tier league in Belgium and the Netherlands, Yaacov averaged 17.4 points, 5.8 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game. He also shot 46% from the field, 38.3% from 3 and 76.8% at the free-throw line.Yaacov was one of