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Big East Portal Additions

I don’t disagree, just wanted to let you know how it’s “supposed” to work.
I hear ya. It won't take long for schools to figure out what the algorithm or AI approves and what it doesn't and they will learn to submit NIL deals that the software likes. It's like we all have a front row seat to the Hindenburg crashing into the Titanic.
 
He turned down a 10 day contract lol. Either way, point is this shouldn’t be legal, everyone knows it
It’s unique. He actually committed to ignite which went under, so G league was all he had. I don’t disagree with you that it’s a problem and I don’t like where this is all going. I will also say if he was a Husky you wouldn’t say a damn word about its legality, and everyone knows it.
 
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St. John's has been quiet.
You just needed to wait a few hours... now go to Post #63 from HooperScooper.

Feel better? They already have 2 guys scheduled for visits next week. Definitely NOT being quiet. Nor did anyone expect them to be. They have already shown what blueprint they will be following, as long as Pitino is there and Repole's deep pockets are flowing.
 
6’8” PG was a top recruit a couple of years ago that Hodgson had ready to go at Alabama and he decided to go to G league. Kentucky fans are losing their mind after losing two of their top targets to PC in one day. I’ve already lost mine. WTF is happening?
You are obviously positively giddy over these first two pick ups... you have re-emerged with multiple posts for the first time in awhile.

It's obvious that Hodgson knows what he is doing in the portal. Eye opening to beat out Kentucky - twice - in one day. Now the question is: how will he be as your game coach.

If he is good, and he makes a couple of more top level pick ups, you guys are going to be dangerous next year. And definitely eyeing an NCAA tournament berth at the very least.

Honestly, we need a few more programs to step up like St. John's has. If it is you guys at PC and Villanova under Willard, that would be excellent, actually.

Here's hoping these two portal pick ups are just the beginning of the metamorphasis of PC back into an upper echelon team in the Big East.
 
He’s not a washout, turned down multiple promotions to the Knicks to do this. Someone is counseling this young man properly.
$$$$$ He made about 1.3M with the Knicks last year. I'm quite sure he got about double that at Providence. Great counseling by his agent.
BTW, very, very good player.
 
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I hear ya. It won't take long for schools to figure out what the algorithm or AI approves and what it doesn't and they will learn to submit NIL deals that the software likes. It's like we all have a front row seat to the Hindenburg crashing into the Titanic.
I dont even know what you guys are talking about and I have absolutely no interest in finding out but I know it sounds preposterous.
 
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It’s unique. He actually committed to ignite which went under, so G league was all he had. I don’t disagree with you that it’s a problem and I don’t like where this is all going. I will also say if he was a Husky you wouldn’t say a damn word about its legality, and everyone knows it.
I would. I've already said it. I think it's crazy that you believe most posters are 100% OK with anything goes.

If we wanted minor league sports, we'd watch the G-League
 
It’s unique. He actually committed to ignite which went under, so G league was all he had. I don’t disagree with you that it’s a problem and I don’t like where this is all going. I will also say if he was a Husky you wouldn’t say a damn word about its legality, and everyone knows it.

I don’t care about this one….Ignite was such a bait and switch.

But we don’t have to do these things.
 
It’s unique. He actually committed to ignite which went under, so G league was all he had. I don’t disagree with you that it’s a problem and I don’t like where this is all going. I will also say if he was a Husky you wouldn’t say a damn word about its legality, and everyone knows it.
I am sympathetic to the guy's problem, but that doesn't mean I would be thrilled if UConn brought him in. Part of being arrogant and spoiled includes thinking that UConn should be better than that.
 
It’s unique. He actually committed to ignite which went under, so G league was all he had. I don’t disagree with you that it’s a problem and I don’t like where this is all going. I will also say if he was a Husky you wouldn’t say a damn word about its legality, and everyone knows it.
I don't blame PC at all for doing this as the NCAA is allowing it and the current environment is making things far more challenging for schools like PC.

Why I don't get is what the NCAA is thinking as this kid was in the 2025 draft (wasn't drafted) and Nnaji (allowed to join Baylor mid-season this past season) had been drafted.

They have basically allowed an enormous can of worms to open as they've basically made it impossible to prevent a kid from returning to school after remaining in the draft.
 
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Good to see the Big East is losing kids like Acadien Lewis and KJ and picking up random guys off the SEC bottom feeders I've never heard of. Really moving in the right direction.

Byrd was a nice PU by PC.
I think Lewis had a promising freshman year, but look at his shooting stats: 45.6% FG, 27% 3PT, 58.3% FT. And, he really struggled vs top competition. Here are his shooting stats in the 6 games vs UConn, St. John's, Michigan, and BYU: 23.8% FG, 14.2% 3PT, 44.4% FT. He needs to improve and with the right coach, he's got a shot.
 
I don't blame PC at all for doing this as the NCAA is allowing it and the current environment is making things far more challenging for schools like PC.

Why I don't get is what the NCAA is thinking as this kid was in the 2025 draft (wasn't drafted) and Nnaji (allowed to join Baylor mid-season this past season) had been drafted.

They have basically allowed an enormous can of worms to open as they've basically made it impossible to prevent a kid from returning to school after remaining in the draft.
I think this is similar to the influx of Euros. There isn't much difference between this kid and the entire Illinois team. He is actually the same age as Vaaks when he came over.

Not a fan of this, but as long as you are playing by the rules, take advantage of it.
 
I don't blame PC at all for doing this as the NCAA is allowing it and the current environment is making things far more challenging for schools like PC.

Why I don't get is what the NCAA is thinking as this kid was in the 2025 draft (wasn't drafted) and Nnaji (allowed to join Baylor mid-season this past season) had been drafted.

They have basically allowed an enormous can of worms to open as they've basically made it impossible to prevent a kid from returning to school after remaining in the draft.
Yeah, but all these rules were about separating amateur college players from professional players. Once college players are being paid, what is the rational reason for saying a 21 year old with college eligibility left should be excluded from playing college hoops for money because he already played somewhere else and earned money there? Frankly, if Pate had played some in the NBA this year, what is the rational reason for preventing him from playing from Providence for money anyway? An accountant enrolling right out of school at PWC doesn’t stop him or her from changing their mind in a year and going to a smaller firm for whatever compensation they’re willing to work for.

I don’t like the new rules either, but once you’re not talking about college students playing basketball in their free time but athletes putting the names of colleges on their uniforms to play basketball for money, I don’t see the rational for restrictions other than years of eligibility and age. (To be clear, I’m talking about legal and moral reasons only. None of this is good for the game we’ve all loved for generations.)
 
Geez, hell of an offseason so far for Providence.

Flushed Kim English for arguably one of the most exciting mid-major coaches in the nation and then added the Mountain West DPOY and a stat-stuffing G-League 6'8 point guard. Both players have got the size (Byrd is 6'6 190; Pate is 6'8 210) to play a few positions to the point where I can honestly see Providence adding a true PG to right the ship and then have Byrd/Pate playing more off-ball, but also being very good secondary distributors (combined to average 7 assists-per-game).
 
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I am sympathetic to the guy's problem, but that doesn't mean I would be thrilled if UConn brought him in. Part of being arrogant and spoiled includes thinking that UConn should be better than that.
Honestly, I look at the portal era like the steroid era in baseball. You can either complain from afar or join it. Hurleys interview with Dan Patrick said to me they are realizing they might need to adjust their approach moving forward. Pretty much everything that was good about CBB was dead. If some G League guy could be brought in to help us win a championship, then so be it.
 
Yeah, but all these rules were about separating amateur college players from professional players. Once college players are being paid, what is the rational reason for saying a 21 year old with college eligibility left should be excluded from playing college hoops for money because he already played somewhere else and earned money there? Frankly, if Pate had played some in the NBA this year, what is the rational reason for preventing him from playing from Providence for money anyway? An accountant enrolling right out of school at PWC doesn’t stop him or her from changing their mind in a year and going to a smaller firm for whatever compensation they’re willing to work for.

I don’t like the new rules either, but once you’re not talking about college students playing basketball in their free time but athletes putting the names of colleges on their uniforms to play basketball for money, I don’t see the rational for restrictions other than years of eligibility and age. (To be clear, I’m talking about legal and moral reasons only. None of this is good for the game we’ve all loved for generations.)
Question for you BL, drawing on your background.

This past winter, the NCAA allowed a young man who was drafted in 2023, but never signed an NBA contract to join Baylor's team (James Nnaji). PC just signed a young man (Pate) who entered the 2025 draft but went undrafted.

My question:

If a player (for example, Braylon Mullins) enters the draft, gets drafted, but instead of attempting to immediately pursue an NBA career instead says "I'm returning to school for another year" what would the NCAA possibly be able to do to prevent this?

I personally believe that things can and will get even crazier because of this.
 
My question:

If a player (for example, Braylon Mullins) enters the draft, gets drafted, but instead of attempting to immediately pursue an NBA career instead says "I'm returning to school for another year" what would the NCAA possibly be able to do to prevent this?

This is essentially what already happens in hockey. It's complicated, and college teams sometimes lose players midseason. I've never understood why the different sports all have drastically different rules on NCAA eligibility
 
Question for you BL, drawing on your background.

This past winter, the NCAA allowed a young man who was drafted in 2023, but never signed an NBA contract to join Baylor's team (James Nnaji). PC just signed a young man (Pate) who entered the 2025 draft but went undrafted.

My question:

If a player (for example, Braylon Mullins) enters the draft, gets drafted, but instead of attempting to immediately pursue an NBA career instead says "I'm returning to school for another year" what would the NCAA possibly be able to do to prevent this?

I personally believe that things can and will get even crazier because of this.
From what we’ve seen so far, if the question is can a player who declares for the draft and doesn’t like where he is drafted, or by whom, say “screw it, I want to put myself on the NIL market and play another year at college at a school I get to pick” go to court and win, I think the answer based on what we’ve seen so far is “heck yes.” From an antitrust perspective, what reason is there that a potential employee who tests the market at the highest level and then doesn’t love the opportunity should be denied the right to then go back into a lower part of the market. Could the McGladrey’s and CBiz’s have a rule that says if you want to interview with a Big 4 firm, once you’ve interviewed then the next level of national firms have agreed that none of us will hire you? No, I’m not an antitrust specialist but it seems to me that that would be a clear restraint of trade. And given what the courts have said about colleges and the NCAAs to date, I don’t see why this restraint would be treated any differently.

Said another way, if colleges can’t agree (through NCAA rules) that they won’t hire people who’ve played professionally in Europe, or the G League, what is the justification for saying but if you see what your options are in the NBA now it’s o.k. to agree no one can hire them? As I said above, under the current rulings (meaning unless laws change or the Supreme Court gets involved) I don’t see how the NCAA could have stopped Providence from signing Pate even if he had played for the Knicks that year. Could all the second tier national accounting firms have a deal that once an accountant started at PWC, they would all agree not to hire them?

Once we crossed the line where NCAA athletes were treated by courts as employees, where concerted actions to limit their opportunities were subject to antitrust laws, I don’t see how any restraints beyond age, years of eligibility and academic eligibility could possibly stick.
 
I don’t care about this one….Ignite was such a bait and switch.

But we don’t have to do these things.
I agree, but the genie is out of the bottle and these young guys (this one is 20) see this money and see that it’s been allowed, what are you going to do, just let the SEC get them all? According to Trilly this guy took much less ($2m) to come here than what Kentucky was offering. Hodgson had a relationship with him and he leveraged it.

Regarding all of it, it’s crazy. We are paying boys and young men millions of dollars to play 35 games a year to play college basketball. You have to completely suspend what you believe the value of money is. It’s like buying a Budweiser at the Super Bowl crazy.
 
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