Saturday Quickies: NCAA moves on NIL Edition

Good morning and happy Saturday to all!

NIL is closing in for a number of states in the South as well as California. On July first student-athletes in Florida, Texas, California and a few other states will be able to profit off of their name, image, and likeness while the rest of the country remains in a holding pattern.

But yesterday the news broke that the NCAA will have some parameters in place for NIL by the end of the month:

This comes off of the heels of UK and John Calipari releasing info about how they plan to utilize NIL at the university and after a number of football players around the country took to their social media and let it be known that their DMs were open for offers from local businesses.

I didn’t think the NCAA would actually do anything before July so this comes as a complete shock to me. But it cannot be ignored that the NCAA would have had a major problem on their hands if student athletes from only six states could profit off of their NIL while the rest of the country couldn’t do anything.

This is perfect timing as Jalen Duren is set to visit campus at the end of the month. Even with this, the G-League is going to be tough to turn down if they do indeed offer him an excess of $1 million dollars.

Tweets of the Day

Big O is back after a much needed trip to Congo to visit his family!

We’ve seen this before. It’s too damn bad we didn’t see him and Immanuel Quickley together in the NCAA Tournament.

Quickies

Big weekend for official visits | Cats Pause- UK basketball has a number of five/four star prospects in town for their official visits all through the weekend and into Monday.

Reed Sheppard hearing from Orlando Antigua | KSR- After Chris Mack and UofL offered Sheppard, many in BBN worried that he wouldn’t get an offer from UK. It looks like that may happen eventually.

UK baseball’s TJ Collett gets award | UK Athletics- Congrats to T.J. for receiving the 2021 Senior CLASS Award.

Lance Ware enjoyed fan interactions this summer | Vaught’s Views- Last year’s team wasn’t able to enjoy the perks that come with being a Kentucky basketball player. It’s already made a difference in the team.

Devin Booker headed to Tokyo | ESPN- Devin Booker’s rise to NBA Star continues as he will join the USA Olympic Basketball Team in Tokyo to play for the Gold.

Seth Curry and Tyrese Maxey lift the Sixers | SI.com- Maxey came in with the Sixers down and poured on 16 points and lifted them to a Game 7 in Philly. He did this with Ben Simmons on the bench and played four more minutes than the former top draft pick.

Good stuff there from Matt Norlander.

Clippers stun Jazz in furious comeback | CBS- Terance Mann filled Kawhi Leonard’s role by scoring 39 points in a close out win over Donovan Mitchell and the #1 seeded Jazz.

Ryan Lochte misses cut for Olympic team | USA Today- It appears as if the 36 year old’s decorated career is at an end.

Reds drop second straight to Padres | Cincy Enquirer- The Reds were the hottest team in baseball and all the way up to second place in the NL Central before losing two straight out West.

US Open tee times and leaderboard for Saturday’s Round 3 | USA Today- All of your US Open information in one place. Bet wisely.