James Akinjo Granted Waiver by NCAA; Immediately Eligible at Baylor

In a perfect world, I’d have posted this 11 hours ago, but in the off-season, we’re not the fastest folks.

James Akinjo, Baylor’s transfer guard from Arizona, earned a waiver from the NCAA. He’ll be immediately eligible and should be Baylor’s starting point guard next season.

Akinjo played the last two seasons at Arizona after starting at Georgetown. Because he’d previously transferred, he needed a waiver to play this season.

The Arizona transfer earned First Team All-PAC 12 honors last year. He shot 41% from three and played a ton of minutes, leading the PAC-12 in percent of minutes played in conference play.

With Akinjo eligible, the Bears should open the season in the top 10. The Bears return Matthew Mayer—he withdrew from the draft recently—along with Johnathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua, Adam Flagler and Flo Thamba from last year’s rotation. LJ Cryer should play major minutes too.