Last week, the Big Blue Nation gathered around to watch a Louisville court case potentially decide Kentucky's final roster spot. All-SEC transfer Mark Mitchell's case was delayed, and then a decision was delayed again. If that wasn't bad enough, we've now got conference commissioners out here fighting against the ruling for Mitchell's fifth year.
Per WDRB, major commissioners across the board are encouraging a rejection in the Louisville case. That includes the SEC's Greg Sankey, who obviously has an extra stake in the whole thing given he's over the conference that Mitchell played in last season at Missouri.
"The commissioners of the ACC, SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, Big East and Pac-12 joined the NCAA's argument that allowing athletes who already exhausted four seasons of eligibility to return would create "significant roster instability" across college sports," wrote Eric Crawford.
For this group to be targeting the Louisville case specifically rings odd, given just how much has already been cleared across the country elsewhere. What began with Judge Charlotte Sweeney swinging her gavel in favor of 2022 athletes has given way to an explosion of cases.
Louisville's situation is simply the latest notch in this trend, and yet, conference commissioners are taking a stand.
Jumping in on Mitchell's case makes little sense
There is no evidence to suggest that this is anything more than these guys deciding to put their foot down, but again, that decision makes little sense in the grand scheme of the direction of college athletics.
Mitchell is far from the only player involved in the whole ordeal, either. Murray State transfer Fred King, who just committed to Creighton, is also involved. Numerous football players are set to hear their fate from the same ruling, too.
Still, as far as Kentucky is concerned, the timing couldn't be worse. With Jaxon Kohler seemingly trending to BYU (even after a positive meeting with Kentucky) and the Keyshawn Hall recruitment having gone completely silent, Mitchell appears to be the only plausible option for Mark Pope remaining.
All Kentucky can do is wait on a decision in court
Which makes the reality that Kentucky can do nothing more than wait a particularly painful one. We should still get some sort of update by this weekend. If by then Mitchell is cleared, the whole thing could blow over in favor of another exciting pickup for Kentucky.
If it doesn't, and the Cats miss out on all three of Mitchell, Kohler, and Hall, though? You'll be left with a roster that Pope has essentially admitted needs more firepower, supported by an aggravated fanbase who spent hours following a court case online.
It's a fine balance this week for Pope and Kentucky. He needs to find a way to win out here, no matter which avenue he ultimately takes.
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