You guys are not understanding... 

Coaches, players, agents, and handlers have been "working the portal" in addition to practicing and preparing for games since December, if not earlier, in many cases. 

 

Whether the portal is open in March, April, June, July - it doesn't make a difference for the people trying to make a quick buck off of these kids. In December 2023, I know of a low major player whose 'guy' or 'handler,' even though he was signed with an agent, who was contacting college coaches and shopping his player around. 

 

So while the kids coaches are trying to put together a game plan to win a game or conference, many of the kids are fielding calls from people in different cities, who oftentimes have never played college basketball and don't know the difference between Thomas Moore and UK, and these people are telling the players "if you average XX points I'm going to get you $XX,XXX next year."

 

The argument that points to Will Wade, etc "well coaches can move so why can't players" is a tad bit ridiculous, as coaches are not trying to earn a degree, coaches have contracts with incentives to stay/disincentives to leave (buyouts, etc), and coaches can get fired mid-season for underperforming. 

If college kids want to become employees, I hope they are ready for the consequences that come with it...

Its bonkers right now folks.

1 hour ago, InItToWinIt said:

You guys are not understanding... 

Coaches, players, agents, and handlers have been "working the portal" in addition to practicing and preparing for games since December, if not earlier, in many cases. 

 

Whether the portal is open in March, April, June, July - it doesn't make a difference for the people trying to make a quick buck off of these kids. In December 2023, I know of a low major player whose 'guy' or 'handler,' even though he was signed with an agent, who was contacting college coaches and shopping his player around. 

 

So while the kids coaches are trying to put together a game plan to win a game or conference, many of the kids are fielding calls from people in different cities, who oftentimes have never played college basketball and don't know the difference between Thomas Moore and UK, and these people are telling the players "if you average XX points I'm going to get you $XX,XXX next year."

 

The argument that points to Will Wade, etc "well coaches can move so why can't players" is a tad bit ridiculous, as coaches are not trying to earn a degree, coaches have contracts with incentives to stay/disincentives to leave (buyouts, etc), and coaches can get fired mid-season for underperforming. 

If college kids want to become employees, I hope they are ready for the consequences that come with it...

Its bonkers right now folks.

So to my point...make the players sign 1 or 2 year contracts...they have to maintain a 2.0 GPA and complete 12 or more credit hours to receive their mid year payment and end of year payment.  2 year contracts are worth more money.  If the player leaves early, they forfeit the 2nd payment.  Put a salary cap in place and the longer a player is at a school, the more money they can make.

Open free agency for every sport after the last NCAA championship is played for a calendar year.

It really wouldn't be that hard.

9 hours ago, okie1 said:

So to my point...make the players sign 1 or 2 year contracts...they have to maintain a 2.0 GPA and complete 12 or more credit hours to receive their mid year payment and end of year payment.  2 year contracts are worth more money.  If the player leaves early, they forfeit the 2nd payment.  Put a salary cap in place and the longer a player is at a school, the more money they can make.

Open free agency for every sport after the last NCAA championship is played for a calendar year.

It really wouldn't be that hard.

That makes too much sense for the NCAA lol.

 

22 hours ago, okie1 said:

So to my point...make the players sign 1 or 2 year contracts...they have to maintain a 2.0 GPA and complete 12 or more credit hours to receive their mid year payment and end of year payment.  2 year contracts are worth more money.  If the player leaves early, they forfeit the 2nd payment.  Put a salary cap in place and the longer a player is at a school, the more money they can make.

Open free agency for every sport after the last NCAA championship is played for a calendar year.

It really wouldn't be that hard.

12 hours ago, 9068 said:

That makes too much sense for the NCAA lol.

Currently as it stands, players must maintain a 2.5 GPA and be in good academic standing in their 12 credit hours to retain their scholarship.  When players fail a class midyear, they will oftentimes drop that class and add a new one so that it doesn't impact their eligibility. 

 

Yes, putting specific benchmarks onto NIL contracts is a good idea, and many schools put academic incentives into their NIL deals.  

 

The issue with the salary cap, is that the salary cap from the time the NCAA existed until 2021 was "$00,000" and people were paying under the table. If they put the cap at $5,000,000 per year per team, and Louisville wants to pay beyond that- let me tell you.... They'll find a way. The current system in place already puts the entities (NIL Collective) in place to make these payments.

 

Its not as cut and dry as many think.

Not a Tom Crean fan, but his comments are correct:

 

"The Portal is open 365 days a year. 

Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise 

Rumors since November, December, January and February become REALITY in March and soon to be April."