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The national player of the year (if he doesn't win, they should shut down the award) jacked up his ankle and is lucky he didn't break it. But also sitting out ACC final against Louisville.

How long until we see players like Flagg, obvious high draft craft choices awaiting a huge payday, follow the example of football players who skip bowl games to protect their draft stock, and skip the NCAA tournament altogether?

It's different for athletes making huge NIL money, but I expect that day is coming.

The football playoff and NCAAs still seem to be important. Maybe some NIL will require it if healthy?

I’d guess 75-80% Duke fans tonight and 10-15% LVille. My wife attended the SMU vs Clemson game and said Clemson had a showing almost as good as Duke’s. Last night must’ve been crazy.

tristatecoog wrote:The football playoff and NCAAs still seem to be important. Maybe some NIL will require it if healthy?

I wondered that, but is there anything the NIL folks can do?

If an athlete declines to play in a bowl game or NCAA tournament, the NIL people have no leverage. If the athlete reverses course and decides to come back to school, the NIL-ers can then reduce or eliminate payment, but that also would likely lead to a transfer.

Didn’t our beloved stalwart, Jon Konack, “sit out” towards the end of his run, hence being labeled Jon Contract?

So a couple of thoughts here. First, NIL money is getting to the point that some players (not Flagg, who reportedly would surrender something like $50 million if he returns for his sophomore year) are already coming back just to collect it rather than go pro.

One issue with the "play in the tournament/playoffs or else" attitude, though, is that the Power 4 really are seeming to be trying to make NIL be restricted to the use of the athlete's name, image, and likeness to endorse products. That's what the Deloitte audit of P4 schools' NIL programs is about. So it'll be hard enough to make sure NIL monies are tied closely enough to actual N-I-L uses, but there's no basis for tying future NIL money to an explicit "if you fail to play through the end of the season you lose bucks" penalty.

Is it wrong of me to root against Cooper Flagg returning from injury right away simply because of that stupid number 32 necklace he was wearing on the bench in the ACC tournament?

Motivation might be a difference. Except for the CFP, bowl games are rewards for an excellent season. That use to mean something for players. Now the best sit out if its not a CFP game. Might be incorrect, but don't remember a lot of high draft round players skipping CFP games. They were play8ing for a national championship, not a 'reward'.

MBB March Madness is playing for a National Championship which is different from a 'reward' for a good season.

There might be a larger downstream consequence to players skipping out of post season games (and I'm not blaming or critiquing players). Bowls may not be attractive to viewers if big name teams show up without their best players to play less talented teams. If less talented teams begin beating the big name teams, there may be a chance in the national bias and less importance given to big name teams in the post season since they will not show up with their 'best' team. Then money begins to shift from the Big 2 conference to other conferences.