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Just confirmed with Shammah's grandpa that he's staying put.

Now that you mention it, Tavari doesn't have X, or at least didn't post on X, so hopefully the same w/ Shammah.

I can't link what isn't posted 😂 that was the point

Linky

Okay so good news. They aren't on Instagram but Shammah and Sharron still have their posts on Twitter. Maybe they never posted on IG

Where am I not seeing it, you mean?

Where are you seeing this?

Is the Conner Groce era upon us?

This is fine

Shammah Scott's is also gone

Losing either of those 2 would be devastating as it magnitudes the loss of Nate that much more.

There was a recent court ruling stating that two years of JUCU do not count against your four years. It raises what I think is an interesting question based upon college athletics now being minor league pro sports. At what point can a player no longer play in college? For example, a player goes to the NBA after two seasons at School x. The player bombs out after three years in the NBA or some other professional league different than college. Why can't the player go back to college, finish a a degree and get paid NIL money? I would imagine a man with three years of NBA or D League could name a pretty high price at a college. I hate to even bring this up because as disgusting as it sounds, the logic connects.

I'm a bit concerned that only 6 of the "Back to work" images are still up on the ZipsMBB Instagram. Young and Tavari Johnson's specifically have both been deleted. I think a lot more dominos are still yet to fall.

Agreed. It's definitely a symptom as opposed to "the issue." We'll eventually end up with another division in D1 athletics as the Akron's of the world can't compete financially.

I take a different view ... big guys aside (they are rare and coveted) - there are a plethora of unsigned guards and wings in the portal, not to mention prep decomits from coaching changes and the ever available jucos. Time for Groce and Dustin to recalibrate and beat the bushes. As time goes by the asking prices will drop for guards and wings .... then they start looking for winning programs to validate their new decisions. Patience grasshopper.

Any time the NCAA tries to put rules in place to get things under control they get sued and lose in court. They have no authority. Without the players forming a union and a collective bargaining agreement being formed, there is no way to restore order.

The issue isn't backups making millions. It doesn't matter what the young adults make. The issue is 99% of the schools in the country are feeder schools every single year for the 1% without any return on their investment. If the NCAA is going to allow this to be free agency, they need to establish a legitimate group of approved agents and put in place contractual requirements and a transfer fee. If P4s want to poach, they need to pay the school for their development. This current iteration of NIL is BS.

We've gone from thinking that kids deserved an opportunity to make some pocket money signing autographs at the local car dealer to backups making millions. It's ridiculous.

The article mentions that back when it started top players were making $400k. Now those same caliber players are making $2.5-4 million. P5 payrolls have climbed to $5-10 million. At some point one would think it will level off. Not saying we're there yet, but players pay doubling annually isn't sustainable long-term. Also, one wonders if donor fatigue settles in at some point. Not at a place like Florida or Purdue as you're seeing your dollars are making a difference. More so at places like Georgia Tech, Boston College, Penn State, etc where alumni are spending millions a year and the team still isn't competing for Tournament appearances.

I guess I am in a wait and see mode because either (A) we have some serious holes that will make this season way more difficult than we thought a week ago or (B) Groce and Wentz are playing money ball and systematically addressing issues position by position within a set budget. We already replaced Gray with Evan. Maybe replacing Okonkwo was intentional and we helped him land somewhere safely. Maybe his replacement is already lined up, but we just don’t know it yet. Maybe we needed to cut Nate’s salary to acquire these players. And maybe there are cheaper options for Nate’s replacement in consideration at this very moment. I know that’s a lot of “maybes”, but I’m trying to keep an open mind.

Very revealing article. I remember a news story on Nate Johnson, discussing when he came to UA and Groce wanted to redshirt him. His mom said "Does that mean he gets and extra free year of education?" Groce replied "Yes", and mom was excited to have him redshirt. Fast forward to today: "Five years ago, more than 4,400 Division I men's basketball players were legally and collectively paid a grand total of $0 in NIL earnings. That number is now promised to be in the hundreds of millions." We live in The United States of America, and every citizen is free to make as much money as they'd like. That's what makes our country great, and I can't fault any kid for taking the cash being thrown at them today. But it has destroyed what made college basketball so cool. It's created a G-League disguised as college basketball, and that isn't nearly as cool. It's money-driven and corporate. It's eliminated the underdogs and Cinderella's and created a handful of Yankee's, Mets and Dodgers. And no, Rob Senderoff...the Zips ain't the Yankees.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/the-10-million-club-college-basketballs-portal-recruiting-hits-unthinkable-levels-of-financial-chaos/

Nate could have told us this before I made my $5000 "anonymous" donation this morning. 😁

A tad unrelated, but it appears feartheroocollective.com has been updated so football and soccer are now live for donations. The general fund link still prompts an email.

Looking on the bright side, I imagine the number committed to keep Nate wasn't small, so we should have an okay budget for the roster spot