Yeah, I saw the list of the rest of her top 7 and thought…that’s a good win.
And that’s now two top-75 players and 3 top-100 players in next year’s class.
KBA can recruit!
Yeah, I know that in the vacuum of information there was concern about cultural issues, but the continued freshman wins (and he comments in the article linked above) really suggest we just got wrong-footed on NIL.
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I hope that new locker room and an NIL boost are the remedies for retaining players.
I would think that a new CBA for the WNBA and their expansion has some trickle-down effect to college, where there’s more attention being paid to women’s basketball and more opportunities to market themselves arise.
There’s already been a rise in popularity nationally, but I haven’t seen much change in turnout in Crisler, just yet. Even 500 more fans a game would make a difference. And more local buzz could create more local NIL opportunities.
I don’t know how much NIL played a part in the departure of Phelia but I’m guessing that it was a big factor, if not THE factor. I think she’s a borderline WNBA talent but it’s not a lock. This is her last year to maximize her earnings in college so going to a slightly better team (they’re preseason #4 but would probably be down several spots without her and Michigan would likely be ranked with her) that’s in a bigger market, as well as a state with no state tax, makes sense.
Cam Williams going to Miami might’ve been for similar reasons, and she likely knows the W is a longshot.
I’m still baffled why Evans left. She seemed to be a lock as a starter and a focal point this season.
I’m going off on a tangent here.
Reeling myself back in, it seems like KBA is a very good recruiter, along with being a good coach. If we are able to add in more and better NIL opportunities, we really could see the program being a consistent top-10 squad.
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Unfortunately, women’s sports, especially baskteball, have long been marketed to ornery older white guys as an example of purity - the sport unsullied by “greed”, “selfish play”, etc. - they “play the right way” or “the way the game used to be played” (no dunking or something?). I won’t dive into all the problematic gender and race related reasons I think that messaging existed, but obviously I think the biggest reason is simply the women never HAD the opportunity to be greedy, because the money simply wasn’t there.
It’s awesome (for all of them) that’s increasingly no longer the case (tickets for the awful Chicago Sky were $100+ a seat this year!), but it’s a dynamic the sport has never really had to deal with. The WNBA was always billed as “family friendly” in part because…you could afford to take your family! It’s unquestionably good for the players that this isn’t really the case anymore, but I think it’s going to force a pretty rapid shift in messaging and perception.
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Completely agreed re: Evans. I can’t make sense of that one at all. Ditto Woodson, who was getting significant minutes as a freshman. At least she just transferred closer to home. The Evans one still makes no sense to me. I think that’s the transfer that started to make people wonder “what the heck is going on?”
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Byars clip