Kentucky appeals judge denies NCAA bid to block 30 athletes from playing as hoops season draws near

The NCAA was denied emergency relief by a Kentucky Court of Appeals judge Friday, leaving eligible a host of college athletes as the basketball season is about to begin until a panel of three judges can consider the governing body’s request for relief.

The 30 athletes involved, including Missouri basketball player Mark Mitchell and LSU’s Skyy Clark, received a temporary injunction Oct. 16 to compete while the NCAA appealed a ruling that allowed members of the 2022 high school graduating class to play a final season in their respective sports under the NCA’s new five-for-five model.

Kentucky judge Sara Walter Combs wrote in her decision that the NCAA failed to prove that the injunction created “imminent, ruinous and incalculable injury,” and that it serves no purpose “to flip-flo...