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Mark Mitchell's decision a huge turn of events for Missouri Tigers
Missouri Tigers guard Mark Mitchell. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Mark Mitchell's decision a huge turn of events for Missouri Tigers

Mark Mitchell is sticking with the Missouri Tigers.

After gaining a fifth year of eligibility through the temporary restraining order against the NCAA, which has allowed the class of 2022 recruits to take advantage of the new "5-in'5" eligibility guidelines, Mitchell initially sought to transfer.

An extremely talented guard from Kansas City, Missouri, Mitchell had spent the past two seasons playing for Dennis Gates and Mizzou. He started his college career with two seasons with the Duke Blue Devils after entering the college ranks as a five-star recruit in the class of 2022.

Upon receiving a fifth year of eligibility, Mitchell decided to enter the transfer portal, where he committed to Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats.

The issue for him, and the Wildcats, was that the SEC has rules against players transferring within the conference outside of the designated transfer portal window. 

It seems as if conferences have so little ability to enforce their own rules right now, but this was one that the SEC was willing to draw a hard line on.

As such, Mitchell has decided not to transfer and will instead play his fifth season at Missouri.

Missouri Tigers will happily welcome back Mark Mitchell 

Will Mitchell be happy at Missouri in 2026? Heck, will his teammates be happy knowing that he intended to play for Kentucky?

More than likely, everything will smooth over pretty quickly because Mitchell is one heck of a player.

Last season for Mizzou, he notched 18.3 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.6 assists in 33.8 minutes per game.

College sports are also a big business now, and this is just all business.

Missouri will gladly welcome Mitchell back. With open arms, in fact. In the meantime, Mitchell should be happy he can play one more year of college ball. He went undrafted in the 2026 NBA Draft.

Andrew Kulha

Andrew Kulha is probably the only sports writer you know who also doubles as a mortician. Spooky! @KulhaSports

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