Kansas has officially appealed the NCAA’s two-year suspension levied against forward Silvio De Sousa, the school announced in a release Thursday morning.

The NCAA initially ruled on Feb. 1 that De Sousa must sit out the remainder of the 2018-19 basketball season and all of 2019-20 “because his guardian received payment from a university booster and agent and agreed to receive additional funds from the same person.”

In its statement Thursday, KU said it was “challenging the two-season penalty De Sousa received from the NCAA for alleged violations that he was unaware of and from which he did not benefit.” KU also said it would not have further comment until the process was complete.

KU athletic director Jeff Long did, however, clarify why it had taken this amount of time to file De Sousa’s appeal.

“This has been a detailed, collaborative process involving the University of Kansas, the NCAA and Silvio’s attorney,” Long said. “That process has resulted in the best possible appeal for Silvio.”

Thursday’s news means that a final resolution on De Sousa’s status appears to be imminent. His appeal will now go in front of the Committee on Student-Athlete Reinstatement — a five-person panel made up of non-NCAA employees, typically consisting of personnel from individual schools with one student-athlete representative.

Depending on one’s reading of the NCAA’s policies and procedures, the appeal should be heard either within seven business days or three weeks. The reinstatement committee’s ruling on the case is final.