A Kentucky Court of Appeals judge declined to grant emergency relief to the NCAA on Friday, allowing a group of college athletes to remain eligible to compete as the basketball season approaches. The decision comes amid ongoing legal challenges to the NCAA’s new eligibility rules.

The ruling affects 30 athletes, including men’s basketball players Mark Mitchell of Missouri and Skyy Clark of LSU, who had received a temporary injunction on October 16 permitting them to play while the NCAA appealed a lower court decision. That ruling allowed members of the high school class of 2022 to participate in an additional season under the NCAA’s updated five-for-five eligibility model, which took effect despite some controversy.

Judge Sara Walter Combs wrote in her decision that the NCAA did not demonstrate that the injunction would cause “imminent, ruinous and incalculable injury.” She further noted that “flip-flopping” on eligibility status would serve no constructive purpose while courts continue to examine the underlying legal matters.

The decision also permits football players involved in the litigation to compete, including Alex Afari Jr. of Kentucky, Thomas Castellanos of Texas Tech, and Louisville’s Jabari Mack and Kalib Perry. These athletes belong to a cohort affected by changes to the eligibility framework, which grants athletes five years of eligibility starting from the earlier of their 19th birthday or high school graduation.

While the new model is set for implementation next fall, it excludes athletes who began their college careers in the 2022-23 academic year and have already completed four seasons. Many such athletes, some of whom have had professional experience, have filed lawsuits seeking recognition of a fifth collegiate season.

The Kentucky ruling follows a similar decision by the Ohio Supreme Court the previous day, which upheld a lower court’s authorization for about two dozen players to remain active. The Ohio case includes basketball players such as Filip Borovicanin of Xavier, named as the lead plaintiff, as well as Gonzaga’s Javon Bennett and Cincinnati’s MJ Collins.

In response to the Ohio ruling, the NCAA legal office expressed its “deep disappointment” in a memo sent to member institutions. The organization argued that fielding players it deems ineligible “deprives opportunities to eligible student-athletes,” particularly in key competitive moments, and confers an “unfair competitive advantage” to teams with experienced players who have exhausted their original eligibility.

The cases in Kentucky and Ohio form part of a broader wave of litigation challenging the NCAA’s revised eligibility rules, which have significant implications for college athletics and player participation rights. A panel of three judges is expected to review the NCAA’s appeal in the Kentucky matter in the coming weeks.