According to sources close to Virginia’s basketball program, the NCAA has approved Braxton Key’s hardship request and the 6-foot-8 power forward will be eligible to play for the Cavaliers this season.

The transfer from Alabama has been waiting for months to learn whether his eligibility to play immediately for Virginia will be granted via the hardship request. Rumors have been flying for weeks but as of Friday night there had been no confirmation by UVa or the NCAA on Key’s case.

I talked with a member of the coaching staff on Thursday night and he had not heard anything new.

Our spies, however, claim that Key’s hardship has been approved and that UVa cannot release anything until early next week. There is no official confirmation of this but that is the speculation, so Wahoo Nation will likely be officially celebrating in the coming days.

If it turns out that is the case, then Key will be a huge addition to Virginia’s team, which opens the season Nov. 6 at home against Towson. Key would give Tony Bennett’s squad another proven big man down low, a player that can score and rebound and take some pressure off the perimeter guys.

Key is a muscular, 6-foot-8 power forward, who has two years of eligibility remaining. A former Oak Hill Academy star, he averaged 12 points per game as a freshman for the Crimson Tide and made the SEC All-Freshman team. He did not enjoy quite as good a sophomore campaign.

Should his hardship case be approved as we’ve heard, he would allow Virginia to play either big or small. Bennett could go with Salt, Key, Mamadi Diakite and De’Andre Hunter or a combination there of.

With a lineup of Kyle Guy and Ty Jerome, Hunter, Key and either Salt or Diakite, the Cavaliers would easily be able to stretch the floor, creating matchup problems for the opponent.