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The NCAA Strikes Again

Mizzou Links for Wednesday, June 27

By Karen Steger
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Are we really surprised?

Once upon a time, I used to respect the NCAA. Granted, it was a long time ago, back when I didn’t know any better and they seemingly behaved in a civilized manner. I remember going to the NCAA Hall of Champions in Indy one year (2000, if I had to guess) when my parents and I were there to watch the US Olympic Swimming Trials and thinking, “Now THAT would be a cool job. I want to work for the NCAA.”

Now, of course, I’m grown and have seen the error of my ways. Make no mistake, the NCAA is a joke of an organization, fumbling the physical and metaphorical bag left and right. They had YEARS and massively bungled the LSU infractions case, and they are 100,000,000,000,000 percent sure to botch kU’s case. And now they’re trying to mess up the ONE good thing the Missouri legislature has done for its residents. They’ve come for our remarkably progressive NIL bill.

Substitute MAN for ORGANIZATION, please

In case you’ve forgotten, here’s the proposed legislation (I can’t recall if it’s passed yet) from early May, via Matt Stahl at the Trib:

According to the amendment, high school athletes in the state of Missouri would be allowed to take NIL deals, as long as they’ve signed a national letter of intent with a public institution in the state. They will also be allowed to discuss NIL opportunities with coaches while being recruited.

There aren’t many states (any states?) with an NIL bill as good as this one. The Show Me state is showing they care about Missouri athletes. That might be all they care about, but I digress, and hey— at least they care about the sports ball stuff.

So about what the NCAA is doing to muck it all up…

Ross Dellenger, who everyone continues to hate on these days after sharing that unfortunate no-context quote from ol’ Eli, shared this on the Twittersphere (Elonsphere?):

But how can they have power over a state law? Are they Oz? That’s where I get confused. How can a club like the NCAA have more say than an actual state law? Sounds like a club I don’t want to be apart of. And I think others would agree.

So will what they’re proposing work? Who knows. The institution has shown they are adept at absolutely nothing, so maybe it won’t actually make a difference, but still... STEP AWAY FROM OUR NIL, NCAA. LET THE SHOW ME STATE HAVE THIS ONE NICE THING.

Because this is Mizzou though, and while other schools are caught on FBI wiretaps and have sham classes and used their bagmen to funnel large amounts of money and cars and houses to prospective players and their parents and handlers, the Tigers get the book thrown at them for a rogue tutor who possibly impacted the academics of what, like 10 students max? So I fully expect Mizzou to get in trouble down the road for something related to this. Sorry, it’s just the way things are.

In one more NCAA thing, there are changes coming to NLI, not to be confused with NIL, as we already talked about. This is regarding National Letter of Intent. Per The Athletic’s Nicole Auerbach, I think this broke my brain, as you will see:

So... maybe I'm not up on my rules here, but what’s changed here? It was already fine for a signee to request a release from his/her NLI when the head coach is out and not get a penalty, right? But then I’m kinda perplexed. In the rule’s previous iteration, I thought everyone got one free transfer, no matter when it occurred. And that itself was a new-ish rule? So did they take that away? — I’m thinking aloud here — Now you only aren’t penalized if you leave at semester? Or it’s only if you’re a freshman (most likely) who signed an NLI? So the players can just leave at semester and it won’t count as a “transfer” technically, just as out of their NLI. When does the “semester” start? Say you’re a FB player and come in for summer workouts and start taking classes, so you’re considered an active student. Does the summer semester, therefore, start your “clock?” So then you could just leave after summer workouts and go onto a different place like it never happened? POOF! But then in terms of this “penalty,” why sign any of that, anyway? For the pomp and circumstance of it all? Because the schools want you to? You don’t have to do it, right? Regular-schmegular transfers oftentimes just sign scholarship papers, correct? So why ever sign an NLI? And especially if you’re a normal grad transfer? To “force schools to stop contacting you?”

Hold up for a second.

Other schools are not supposed to contact you? HAAHAHAHHAHAAHAHHAA, Like that ever stopped ANYONE.

Does this have any impact on student-athletes who just move from school to school to school season after season? Like Connor Vanover, for instance, who was at both Arkansas and Oral Roberts before coming to Mizzou? Or Ronnie DeGray? Who’s been at UMass and Mizzou and is now at Wichita State? Sorry, no offense guys, you’re just who I thought of. But under these new rules, Blake Harris (remember him?), for example, would not have been penalized per these new rules when he transferred from MISSOURI (nevermind transferring to many other places after that, lol) during Christmas break in 2017, right? He signed an NLI, but he also transferred early enough to not be penalized. POOF. But Anton Brookshire, who signed an NLI and then transferred after a full year, WOULD be penalized because he waited a whole year? So confusing. Or are you only “penalized” if the school you’re leaving is a dum-dum about it? Note to schools: just let the kids go. Seriously.

Are we to interpret this internet stranger’s tweet as correct? I think so, right? RIGHT?

My head hurts.

Me too, Charlie. Me too.

On to the Links!

Don’t boil out there, friends. It’s gonna be a H-O-T one the next few days in mid-MO.

Yesterday at Rock M

Recently at Rock M

More Links:

Football

  • Brady Cook wrapped up a fun time at Manning Passing Academy. Have a good season, please.

Hoops

Side Note: Best wishes to Matt, whose last day at the Trib is June 30. He’ll be sticking with SEC coverage he says, but the whereabouts are [redacted] at this point. I always enjoyed hanging out with him in the pressbox; he’s truly hilarious and has great stories.

  • This is heartwarming. Noah and Dennis, out fishin’
  • Matt Watkins, big John Tonje guy
  • Get to know Women’s Hoops newbie Grace Slaughter and see the team at work!
  • Mizzou History Time:

Other Mizzou Sports & News, Etc.

Mizzou in the Pros & Former Mizzou Stuff

  • Chaumont out there doing Chaumont things in the pros

There’s so much more to his game ... He’s an incredible processor of the game who makes quick decisions, and the shooting-mechanic adjustments he’s made over the last year have clearly worked wonders in terms of turning him into a real potential shooter in the NBA. He’s a smart defender who was active and valuable on that end in the SEC.

And there is a real case for long-term upside if he can add a bit of quickness over the next few years. To me, it all comes down to the shooting. If Brown proves he can be a consistent shooter from distance, he might play in the NBA for the next eight to 10 years as a valuable rotation player. Every NBA team is looking for bigger guys with length who can dribble, pass and shoot. Brown can do that. There’s a world where you can see him playing both as a wing four man and a small-ball five given his strength. He is a valuable rotation player as long as he shoots.

  • Love to see it.
  • Get well soon, Hayden! That really sucks.

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