KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – Well, well, well. How the tables have turned.
Just more than a week after announcing he would transfer to Kentucky, Mizzou’s Mark Mitchell will stay another year in Columbia, Missouri.
Mitchell, who started 133 games at Missouri and Duke over the last four years, will play a disputed fifth season of basketball.
After scoring 18.3 points for the Tigers last season as a two-time All-SEC player, he signed a contract with the Denver Nuggets that was not guaranteed.
Missouri’s Mark Mitchell (25) chases a loose ball during the first half of an NCAA basketball game against Arkansas, Saturday, March 7, 2026, in Columbia, Mo. (AP Photo/L.G. Patterson)(L.G. Patterson | AP)
Mitchell, along with scores of college athletes who graduated from high school in 2022, is on a path to play a fifth season in five years after filing state-court lawsuits. They are not included in the NCAA’s new rule approved in June that grants most Division I athletes five years of eligibility over five years but doesn’t take effect until next season.
The NCAA seemed to have an important win in federal court Friday over its much-disputed rule, though it fell short of shutting down the last-minute shuffling threatening to upend rosters in every college sport, including football, just days before the season kicks off.
A 2-1 decision by a panel of the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals halted, for now, a judge’s order that would have granted thousands of athletes an extra season of eligibility. But it did nothing to resolve dozens of other lawsuits and court orders piling up across the country that allow players in the same situation to join teams for the upcoming season.
FILE – Missouri’s Mark Mitchell (25) celebrates during the final minute of their victory over Tennessee during the second half of an NCAA basketball game, on Feb. 24, 2026, in Columbia, Mo. (AP Photo/L.G. Patterson, File)(L.G. Patterson | AP Photo/L.G. Patterson)
Days after Mitchell announced his move to Kentucky, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and conference leaders reaffirmed their intraconference bylaws stating an athlete can transfer within the conference, “within their sport’s regular NCAA transfer window immediately following the sport’s championship segment,” CBS Sports reported. But the intra-conference SEC transfer is under renewed scrutiny and was in serious doubt after SEC presidents reaffirmed their conference’s policy on intra-league transfers.
Mitchell, a former Bishop Miege star, played in summer league with the Denver Nuggets before exploring a path to return to school after going undrafted in the 2026 NBA Draft.
Coach Dennis Gates’ 2026-27 squad will arguably feature their most talented roster in years, highlighted by prominent incoming freshmen Jason Crowe Jr. and Toni Bryant, transfer sophomore forward Bryson Tiller and senior Trent Pierce.
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