To highlight just how goofy the eligibility cases are across college athletics right now, consider that the following statement is true: A former Missouri standout who gained a fifth year of eligibility two weeks ago and quickly committed to Kentucky is now headed back to Missouri out of fear of being ruled ineligible.
If you're confused, how could you not be?
The player in question is Mark Mitchell, the All-SEC forward who averaged 13.2 points and 5.1 rebounds last season while helping Mizzou make the NCAA Tournament in what was his fourth year of college basketball. Earlier this month, Mitchell received a temporary restraining order to pursue a fifth season of college basketball via a Jefferson Circuit Court ruling in Kentucky, and he subsequently pledged to Mark Pope's UK Wildcats.
The answer is more or less that fifth-year players like Mitchell are facing increased scrutiny and legal hurdles to actually play a fifth year — and Mitchell's camp reportedly concluded that the path to competing this season is less complicated at Missouri than it would've been at Kentucky because of the SEC's intra-conference rules that state an athlete can only transfer within the league "within the sport's regular NCAA transfer window immediately following the sport's championship segment."
Mitchell did not do that — most obviously because, like all other graduating seniors, he believed he was out of eligibility "immediately following the sport's championship segment." Then came the so-called five-for-five rule in June. Then came a bunch of lawsuits. Now confusion rules the day.
To be clear, Mitchell could've made a compelling argument for why he should've been allowed to play at Kentucky this season despite not entering the transfer portal "within the sport's regular NCAA transfer window immediately following the sport's championship segment." But the truth is that making a compelling argument is not enough. Mitchell would've also had to win the argument. And that risk is a risk he and his advisors ultimately decided to take off the table in time to enroll at Missouri by Monday's deadline.
Does this guarantee Mitchell will play for Mizzou?
No, it doesn't. And if it's up to the NCAA, he won't.
But as I explained in Version 24 of the 2026-27 CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 preseason college basketball rankings, what I'm doing now is just assuming everybody committed to a school will get eligible — one way or another. If that proves to be untrue, I'll adjust accordingly. But, for now, if you're committed to a school, for my purposes, you are considered a part of the roster. So Mitchell is now considered a Missouri Tiger, and because of that, I've moved Dennis Gates' program up to No. 21 in Version 25 of the Top 25 And 1.
