Former Villanova star Kris Jenkins, whose buzzer-beater helped the Wildcats to the 2016 NCAA Tournament title, is suing the NCAA and six major conferences for restricting athlete pay and his ability to monetize his name, image and likeness while he was in college.
Jenkins’ antitrust complaint was filed last week in the Southern District of New York. It names the Big East — along with the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC — as defendants. Those five conferences, along with the NCAA, were also named defendants in the House v. NCAA case.
Jenkins’ lawsuit says he opted out of the House v. NCAA settlement, which is awaiting final approval from a federal judge in California. That hearing is scheduled for later Monday in Oakland, Calif., in front of U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken. Approval of the settlement would pave the way for nearly $2.8 billion in damages to be paid out to hundreds of thousands of former and current college athletes and the implementation of a new revenue-sharing system that will allow schools to directly pay athletes.
The final of this year’s men’s NCAA Tournament is also Monday night, with Florida facing Houston in San Antonio, Texas.
Jenkins’ lawsuit says he “formerly worked as a college basketball player at Villanova University.” The South Carolina native, who went to high school in Washington, D.C., attended the Big East school from 2013 to 2017.
The lawsuit is similar to one filed last year by former Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson and several other ex-Wolverines that seeks more than $50 million from the Big Ten and NCAA for denying the athletes a chance to make money from sponsorship and endorsement deals during their college careers.
“Gives it to Jenkins… FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP!” 🚨
On this day in 2016, Kris Jenkins (@Smoove2you_) hit the ICONIC shot that won the #NationalChampionship for @NovaMBB at the buzzer 🤩#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/fIcg21HFtM
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) April 4, 2025
Jenkins’ 3-pointer in the closing seconds of the 2016 men’s NCAA Tournament final against North Carolina gave Villanova a 77-74 victory and is considered one of the most memorable moments in the history of March Madness.
Jenkins’ lawsuit does not seek a specific amount in damages but does lay out the millions in revenue Villanova, the Big East and NCAA received from the tournament and the Wildcats’ championship, and how “The Shot” is still monetized today.
The lawsuit says the video of the play is both the first and third-most viewed on the NCAA March Madness YouTube channel, “inundated with paid commercial content …” It also says Jenkins and his teammates did “countless” autograph signings before and after his famous shot for donors, fans and collectors, but NCAA rules at the time banning athletes from receiving NIL compensation prevented him from cashing in. It estimates about $400,000 to $500,000 in lost earnings.
“Plaintiff Kris Jenkins seeks the compensation that he would have received absent Defendants’ unlawful restraint on pay-for-play compensation, a share of game telecast revenue, and compensation that he would have received for media broadcast uses of his NIL (‘BNIL’), and the compensation that he would have received for his NIL from third parties for use in video games and other opportunities including marketing, sponsorship, social media, branding, promotional and other NIL deals,” the lawsuit says.
Jenkins played one more year at Villanova after the championship season, resulting in a second-round exit of the 2017 NCAA Tournament as a No. 1 seed alongside teammates Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Donte DiVincenzo and Mikal Bridges. Jenkins then had a short professional career in the NBA’s developmental league and overseas.
(Photo: Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)
