https://www.yahoo.com/sports/articles/dan-hurley-admits-star-player-193927223.html

I am just so frustrated with this. NOT that these guys are making money. And maybe not even that Cal in 2025-26-27 doesn't have money.

But I just do not believe (there are only 1000 billionaires in the entire country) that this is all being done with whales. That is the narrative that frankly I just can't believe because it means that somehow BASKETBALL is bucking national trends that show that giving is WAY down among people with money. That BASKETBALL is bucking long standing trends that those with wealth are much more likely to give to capital campaigns or endowments than OPERATING costs. That it can do so against EVERYTHING that philathropy has done for a century - put donor names on walls or on buildings or in the opera program.

Gut tells me - X subsidies between Football and BB.

I am not saying that cal should do this. We need to win in FB. But the narrative that "Everyone else has a Larry Eilison" just doesn't ring true. Yes...there is a lot of money in Connecticut. But people willing to give, every year, 15-25 million. Not once. Not for a building. But each and every year into the infinite future....and all the while operating in the dark with no public recognition or appreciation?????

PS. It also could be that schools like UCONN have spent decades building the kind of donor engagement infrastructure that lets them partially buck these trends. But then THAT suggests not (as much) chiding emails saying Cal whales are cheap but POINTED and DIRECT emails to Lyons that says "We organizationally SUCK" and time to get serious about fixing those things we can control to get things moving in the right directlon.

Dan Hurley is exaggerating by quite a bit. The 15th pick in last year's NBA draft is making $4.6 million this season and $4.9 million next season, guaranteed.

The other way in which Hurley is wrong about suggesting that a projected first round pick should bypass the draft is that a player is risking his NBA draft stock being lower next year than it is this year. Remember Ivan Rabb? He was projected to be an NBA lottery pick if he had entered the draft after his freshman year at Cal. He stayed at Cal for a second season and was then an NBA second round pick. Playing a second season of college basketball cost Rabb millions.

HKBear97! said:

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BearSD said:

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Dan Hurley is exaggerating by quite a bit. The 15th pick in last year's NBA draft is making $4.6 million this season and $4.9 million next season, guaranteed.

The other way in which Hurley is wrong about suggesting that a projected first round pick should bypass the draft is that a player is risking his NBA draft stock being lower next year than it is this year. Remember Ivan Rabb? He was projected to be an NBA lottery pick if he had entered the draft after his freshman year at Cal. He stayed at Cal for a second season and was then an NBA second round pick. Playing a second season of college basketball cost Rabb millions.

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Changing subjects, but on Rabb, Cuonzo cost him millions. That offense did not set him up for success - it was criminal!

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The nba scouts had plenty of videos on Rabb to realize his game's serious limitations for the Association.

First-year NBA salary (late 1st round) is $2.7M $3.7M

So UConn will pay him $3M+ if Hurley is being accurate

What I rarely see mentioned is that a player who stays in college rather than get drafted isn't giving up his first year compensation, it's one more year at the end of his csreer he's missing. And for a star that could be tens of millions.

Internet rumor mills suggest that Flory Bidunga (Kansas) and Juke Harris (Wake Forest) each might fetch over $5 million. Both are very good but not elite IMO. Pretty crazy stuff.

northbay said:

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Internet rumor mills suggest that Flory Bidunga (Kansas) and Juke Harris (Wake Forest) each might fetch over $5 million. Both are very good but not elite IMO. Pretty crazy stuff.

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As so many weak souls succumb to their gambling addictions, the need for product will only increase.

socaltownie said:

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PS. It also could be that schools like UCONN have spent decades building the kind of donor engagement infrastructure that lets them partially buck these trends. But then THAT suggests not (as much) chiding emails saying Cal whales are cheap but POINTED and DIRECT emails to Lyons that says "We organizationally SUCK" and time to get serious about fixing those things we can control to get things moving in the right directlon.

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It can be both. A program can have an infrastructure for large and small donors built over decades. An example of that is Clemson's IPTAY.

Or, a program can fund NIL with donors who are entirely self-motivated, like the mostly anonymous Duke alums who have built an NIL collective for their men's basketball program.

Quote:

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There is "virtually no online footprint" for Duke basketball's NIL booster collective, meaning "who exactly is paying for a roster that cost millions of dollars to put together remains a gigantic mystery," according to Andrew Beaton of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. Duke's collective is a "group of high net worth donors who have chosen to operate in a way that makes them unique in the braggadocious world of college sports -- by conducting their business from the shadows." But those in the operation say that the group's silence is "intentional," and their "goal is to give coach Jon Scheyer the resources to compete, to support his vision and never be a distraction from the ultimate goal of winning national championships."Beaton reports in March 2023, three Duke alumni "incorporated a non-profit in Delaware," calling it "One Vision Futures Fund" and applied to do business in North Carolina, according to state records.OVFF's address "belongs to the office of Duke alumJeff Fox," the CEO and founder of the investment firm Circumference Group. He is "listed on incorporating documents as one of three executive officers, along with fellow alumniDan Levitan, co-founder of the venture capital firm Maveron, and Steve Duncker, a former partner atGoldman Sachs." Beaton notes the collective was formed "after last year's freshman class had already committed," so this "marks the first season when its muscle is being fully deployed" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 4/2).

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