Good call, I saw two open spots on @Illini Zip's most recent grid but that was before Scott and Okonkwo were coming back, so you're correct in that we currently have zero open spots.
If everyone returns, we have two open scholarships with Wilson and Gray leaving.
Okonkwo
Lyles
Harris
N. Johnson
T. Johnson
Scott
Hardman
Young
MMK
Mahaffey
Brisco
Adding another big would definitely make sense. I'd guess at combo guard for the other spot.
I think the NCAA could have gotten ahead of this a long time ago. I am in favor of letting players get paid - there just need to be some guardrails added to get it under control.
A few ideas:
- A NIL cap for each team
- Contracts (with multi-year options)
- Limits on number of times a player can transfer in their college career
I think the NIT sealed its fate when it went away from giving AQ bids to regular season champions. They tried to cater to the P5 teams and missed that the P5 tournaments don't care about the NIT.