Dan McDonald is back with his weekly column, McDonald's Nuggets. This week’s edition addresses the NCAA moving toward passing name, image and likeness legislation, Wake Forest’s hire and more.
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2020 Rankings: Rivals150 | Team | Position
2021 Rankings: Rivals150 | Position
2022 Rankings: Top 75
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WHAT’S ON MY MIND: 'Name, image and likeness' moves forward
Give the NCAA a nice pat on the back for taking another step toward allowing athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness. It’s long overdue, and I’m a big fan of this move. With that being said, I have some questions and concerns about how this will be implemented.
Let’s start with the biggest problem of all. States such as California and Florida have passed legislation that basically allows athletes to take money from whoever they can, for whatever service they want. The NCAA’s version has restrictions on athletes only taking market value for whatever service they offer, and made it clear this rule isn’t supposed to be influential in the recruiting process or from keeping players from leaving the program. The only way this issue can be solved would be for Congress to get involved with a superseding law.
About those restrictions, why are they in there? And how in the world does the NCAA plan on enforcing them? And more important, who is going to be determining if a payment violates the rules? The NCAA wants to get out of the business of determining which transfers get waivers to be eligible right away because it’s too tricky. Good luck with this one.
Who is going to decide what the next college athlete like Zion Williamson is worth? He signed a shoe deal worth $75 million not long after his Duke career ended. Most first-round picks don’t make more than $10 million on their first deal. He’s clearly the most marketable college basketball player in the past decade. How does the NCAA determine whether he’s getting too much money? Again, have fun with that one.
Let’s say a team’s star player is on the fence about returning to school or going to the NBA, or a team’s sixth man is on the fence about leaving for an opportunity to start or staying in his current role? A local business steps up and helps out the player in either scenario with a sponsorship deal that is enough to keep the player. How does anyone determine if that was a deal put in place to retain the player or not? The same goes for a prospect torn between two schools during the recruiting process. You see how this could be problematic - and I could poke several more holes in this.
Lastly, I’ve seen people speculating how this could change the competitive landscape of football and basketball. Some are worried it just puts more separation between the top programs and the next tier. I’ve seen others suggest the opposite, that it could close the gap. I’ll go on record as saying it probably won’t change a whole lot. The top schools will keep getting the top players and on down the line. The biggest plus for college basketball fans with this ruling could end up being that it keeps top high school prospects from going to the G League instead of college.
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WHAT’S ON MY MIND, PART 2: Wake Forest with a home run hire
Wake Forest knocked it out of the park with the hiring of Steve Forbes. When I saw the news last weekend that the Demon Deacons had moved on from Danny Manning, I figured two names would be in the mix: Forbes and UNC-Greensboro head coach Wes Miller, who have been battling each other at the top of the Southern Conference for the last several years. Wake Forest AD John Currie couldn’t go wrong either way, but this is a really, really good hire.
When a school hires a new head coach that comes from a mid-major program, it’s always best to hire one who has a background of recruiting at the high-major level, whether as an assistant or head coach. Forbes coached at Texas A&M under Billy Gillespie and at Tennessee under Bruce Pearl. Forbes developed a reputation as an elite recruiter at both stops, which is a major plus for a Wake Forest program that needs a talent infusion in a bad way. Beyond that, Forbes won 130 games in five years at ETSU, including 30 wins and a SoCon conference tournament championship this season. He can clearly coach, too.
I’d expect Wake Forest to trend upward over the next few years, especially with the likelihood of major coaching turnover in the ACC as several older coaches in the league are not far from retirement.
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2020 COMMIT OF THE WEEK: Greg Brown to Texas
There might not be a coach that needed a prospect in the 2020 class more than Shaka Smart needed Greg Brown. The Longhorns locked in on the five-star prospect who lives just a few miles off the Texas campus early on, and they simply couldn’t afford to lose him to another program or the G League.
Brown’s signature gives the Longhorns' roster the type of boost for next season that could help Texas make a real run in the NCAA Tournament. At 6-foot-8, Brown is an elite athlete with an always-improving skill level.
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2021 COMMIT OF THE WEEK: Kowacie Reeves to Florida
Florida was the first school to offer Kowacie Reeves in early May 2018. Just under two years later, Mike White’s staff landed a commitment from the four-star shooting guard from Georgia after he narrowed his list to Clemson, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Stanford and Tennessee, along with the Gators.
Currently No. 35 in the 2021 Rivals150, the 6-foot-5 wing is one of the best shooters in his class, and he also possesses really good athleticism. This is another really good recruiting win for Florida.
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TRANSFER OF THE WEEK: Marcus Santos-Silva to Texas Tech
VCU transfer big man Marcus Santos-Silva released a final six last week that included Arizona State, Georgia, Maryland, Ole Miss, Penn State and Texas Tech. Earlier this week, it was Chris Beard’s Red Raiders that won out in a really important recruiting battle for all six programs.
Santos-Silva was one of the top remaining post players in the transfer portal. He’s an absolutely beast on the boards, coming off a season averaging 8.9 rebounds per game, but he’s also a career 57.3% on field goals in his career.
The 6-foot-7 big man with a 7-foot-1 wingspan is the perfect addition for a Texas Tech program looking to replace T.J. Holyfield’s production.
