Mark Mitchell's legal team will challenge SEC transfer policy in Kentucky court

Ben Roberts, Lexington Herald-Leader on Aug 27, 2026

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LEXINGTON, Ky. — Mark Mitchell is prepared to battle the SEC in court in an attempt to play basketball for the University of Kentucky this season.

Mitchell’s legal team amended its complaint against the NCAA in a Jefferson County court Thursday to add the SEC and its commissioner, Greg Sankey, as “acting in concert or participation with the NCAA on eligibility issues.”

The move came one day after Sankey sent a memo to the SEC’s member schools reaffirming an intraconference transfer policy that bans players from moving from one league school to another outside of the NCAA’s mandated transfer portal window.

Mitchell is attempting to transfer from Missouri, where he spent the past two years as an All-SEC player, to Kentucky for the 2026-27 season. The 6-foot-9 forward, who committed to UK last Saturday night, was granted a temporary injunction by the court last week giving him transfer rights and one more season of college eligibility.

The NCAA has vowed to fight that ruling, along with several others in similar cases around the country, and Sankey has remained steadfast in recent weeks that the SEC will bar players from transferring from one league school to another outside of the NCAA’s established portal window.

Mitchell did not enter the transfer portal during the NCAA-mandated window, which closed in April. At that time, Mitchell would have been under the impression that he had no remaining college eligibility after playing two seasons at Duke and two seasons at Missouri, prompting him to move on and begin preparations for a pro basketball career.

The NCAA adopted an age-based eligibility model in June, two months after the transfer portal for men’s basketball had closed, providing all current and future athletes five years to play up to five seasons at the college level, but it did not grandfather players from the 2022 high school class into that system, a decision that left players like Mitchell with only four seasons of eligibility.

Earlier this month, Mitchell joined the lawsuit against the NCAA in Kentucky. The initial ruling in that case last week restored Mitchelll’s eligibility and transfer rights through a temporary injunction.

The SEC, however, is holding firm to its intraconference transfer policy by saying that players who entered the portal outside of the NCAA’s transfer window and have chosen new schools within the league are in violation of that policy.

Sankey’s memo to league members Wednesday included the reminder of the penalties for any team that rosters a player who is in violation of the intraconference transfer policy.

Those penalties include a half-season suspension for the offending team’s head coach, the revocation of SEC voting privileges on league business for the offending school, a fine equal to 50% of the offending team’s annual budget and any additional penalties deemed necessary by Sankey and/or the league’s presidents.

UK had no comment on questions related to Mitchell’s eligibility status or the SEC’s interpretation of the situation when contacted by the Herald-Leader on Thursday afternoon.

Notably, Mitchell has not yet been added to the official UK men’s basketball roster for the 2026-27 season, and there has been no confirmation that he has arrived on campus. But the move by his legal team Thursday signals that he is ready to fight the SEC in court rather than back out of his Kentucky commitment and look elsewhere for the 2026-27 season.

The motion to amend the complaint against the NCAA is scheduled to be heard at 10:45 a.m. Monday in Louisville. That hearing could set the stage for the court to modify the temporary injunction and apply it to the SEC, a move that would bar the league from punishing Mitchell and/or anyone affiliated with UK as the legal proceedings continue to play out.

In the amended complaint filed Thursday, Mitchell’s lawyers laid out what they claim to be “definitive proof” that the SEC is “acting in concert or participation with” the NCAA on eligibility issues and “participated in nationwide litigation on this topic on behalf of the NCAA.”

The filing specifically challenges the SEC’s position that it can block Mitchell’s move to Kentucky based on its own intraconference transfer rule or penalize UK for playing him this season.

UK’s basketball players are back on campus and expected to start preseason workouts in the coming days, but the first official practice of the fall is not expected until the week of Sept. 21, with Big Blue Madness scheduled for Oct. 2, the first exhibition game set for Oct. 16 and the 2026-27 season opener against Manhattan slated for Nov. 3 in Rupp Arena.