Mark Mitchell's wild offseason has taken another turn, and this time it has left Missouri's leading scorer on the outside looking in. A Kentucky Court of Appeals ruling handed down Friday dissolved the temporary injunction that had cleared the path for Mitchell and dozens of other Class of 2022 athletes to chase a fifth college season, meaning the 6-9 forward is currently ineligible to play for the Tigers this season unless he finds relief elsewhere.
The ruling, as reported by CBS Sports, dissolved the temporary injunction that had been the basis for Mitchell's eligibility and that of several other players around the country. According to the outlet, Mitchell and the other affected athletes will need to find an alternate legal path to eligibility while the broader Kentucky case continues to work its way through the court system. CBS Sports and On3 both describe the ruling as a win for the NCAA, with On3 reporting flatly that Mitchell is ineligible for 2026-27. The Kentucky Court of Appeals granted the NCAA's request for interlocutory relief and dissolved the August 21 order.
A Fifth Season Thrown Into Chaos
The legal whiplash traces back to August, when Jefferson Circuit Court granted Mitchell and other athletes temporary relief from NCAA eligibility and transfer restrictions on Aug. 21, 2026. That order briefly reshuffled Mitchell's plans entirely: he had committed to the Kentucky Wildcats after the ruling, intending to play in Lexington this fall, before reversing course and committing back to Missouri almost two weeks later. The Kentucky Court of Appeals' decision Friday dissolved that same Aug. 21 order, the one that had made his return to either school possible in the first place.
Mitchell is one of nearly 40 athletes now deemed ineligible more than a month after the Jefferson Circuit Court's temporary relief, and he was among the 38 respondents listed in the NCAA's motion, per On3. The case is far from over: the Columbia Missourian reports that the NCAA's request for interlocutory relief is expected to move before a three-judge panel at a future date, and the next hearing in the eligibility case is scheduled for Oct. 9, 2026.
What's At Stake For Mitchell And Missouri
If Mitchell does find a way back onto the floor, the stakes are significant for Missouri. He averaged 18.3 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game last season, according to CBS Sports — the best Missouri scoring average in 12 years, and a showing that made him just the second player in school history to lead the Tigers in points, rebounds and assists in the same season, per the Kansas City Star. He was a two-time All-SEC honoree at Mizzou and, by the Star's account, a team leader during his two years in Columbia.
Mitchell's path to Missouri wasn't a straight line. He started for Duke for two seasons from 2022 to 2024, helping the Blue Devils reach the Elite Eight as a sophomore, before transferring to Missouri during the 2024 offseason. This past summer, he played for the Denver Nuggets' summer league squad on an Exhibit 10 contract after going undrafted in the 2026 NBA Draft, which is what set his return-to-school plans in motion. CBS Sports notes that if Mitchell does ultimately return this season, he would be one of the most impactful fifth-year players in the sport — and the numbers back that up: Missouri projects as the No. 39 team in EvanMiya.com's preseason rankings with him, but drops to No. 54 without him. On3 adds that he would have been one of just six returners on a 17-player Missouri roster.
A Broader Fight Over NCAA Eligibility Rules
Mitchell's situation is part of a much larger legal battle. Class of 2022 athletes have been challenging the NCAA's newest 5-in-5 eligibility rules after the NCAA ruled in June that the Class of 2022 had exhausted its eligibility, per the Star. The NCAA separately adopted an age-based eligibility model in June that will grant Division I athletes five years to complete five seasons of eligibility starting in 2027 — but that change came too late to help the athletes already caught up in the dispute, who were out of eligibility under the existing rules after the 2025-26 season.
Court fights over the issue haven't been confined to Kentucky. A federal judge in Colorado issued a preliminary injunction on July 31, 2026, preventing the NCAA from enforcing its Five-for-Five rule against eligible Class of 2022 Division I athletes seeking a fifth season, according to Steptoe. That injunction applied to Division I athletes who began competing in 2022-23 and had exhausted four years of eligibility by the end of 2025-26. The NCAA appealed on Aug. 2, but the court denied both an administrative stay and a stay pending appeal on Aug. 10, the law firm reported.
Mitchell isn't the only basketball player caught up in Friday's Kentucky ruling. Louisville's Seth Trimble and LSU's Skyy Clark are among the others affected, CBS Sports reported. Missouri has already seen one athlete navigate this landscape successfully: football defensive tackle Sterling Webb was granted a temporary restraining order within a few days in July 2026 after the NCAA adopted its new age-based model, according to the Associated Press, and he has been a key contributor for Missouri through four games this season. Mitchell can apply for a similar temporary restraining order in Missouri, but as of now, he will not be eligible to play college basketball this season without that kind of relief.
