Former Missouri, Duke starting forward Mark Mitchell transfers to Kentucky for disputed 5th season

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Mark Mitchell, who started 133 games at Missouri and Duke over the last four years, is transferring to Kentucky for a disputed fifth season of basketball.

The move was confirmed Sunday by his agent, Brandon Mitchell, who said the 6-foot-9 forward informed the Wildcats’ program of his decision on Saturday.

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.

Mitchell, along with scores of college athletes who graduated from high school in 2022, appear to be 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.

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