The eligibility battle for Missouri star Mark Mitchell and several other prominent college basketball players seeking a fifth season got more complicated Friday, when a Kentucky Court of Appeals dissolved a temporary injunction that had been the basis for their eligibility. Among the others affected are Louisville's Seth Trimble and LSU's Skyy Clark. While the elimination of the injunction doesn't mark the end of the court case, it does mean they will need to find an alternate legal path to eligibility while the Kentucky case proceeds through the court system.
The ruling also includes Kentucky linebacker Alex Afari and Texas Tech backup quarterback Thomas Castellanos, both of whom have been on-field participants for their teams during the first month of the season. Ramifications on the basketball side could be significant. Mitchell, if eligible, is a potential all-SEC performer.
The Tigers project as the No. 39 team in Evanmiya.com's preseason rankings, but as the No. 54 team without him. While the Friday ruling is a major blow, it likely won't be the end of the legal battle for many of the Kentucky plaintiffs. With the start of college basketball season just a month away, Mitchell and many of the other basketball players in the case are expected to file individual lawsuits in their states of residence.
When the 2025-26 season ended, Mitchell and the other plaintiffs in this case were out of eligibility under existing NCAA rules. However, when the organization adopted an age-based eligibility model in June that will grant players five years of eligibility moving forward, it prompted a flurry of lawsuits from players seeking to be covered by the new rule and play a fifth season in 2026-27. The NCAA has not backed off its stance that players who previously played four seasons are out of eligibility.
However, that hasn't stopped high-profile players in both basketball and football from obtaining temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions for eligibility through various lawsuits against the NCAA. But as basketball season is approaching, some fifth-year players are now on track to be eligible, while others -- like those caught up in the Kentucky case -- are still seeking legal cover for their returns to college basketball.
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