The BE coaches in the October time frame come out with their Pre-Season poll. Perhaps we should wait till then or since their is more expertise here maybe we could give it a go now. I'm not sure there will be any more impactful team changes between now and the start of the season that will make much of a difference. Anyone want to give it a go?

1. Creighton
2. UConn
3. St Johns
4. Marquette
5. Providence
6. SHU
7. Xavier
8. Villanova
9. Butler
10. G-Town
11. DePaul

Numerous stay-or-go decisions could be impacted by the largest NIL deal on record, while players staying in the 2024 NBA Draft may be a teensy bit jealous​

By Isaac Trotter

​

Former Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski shared his thoughts on NIL, the transfer portal and more with CBS Sports​

By Isabel Gonzalez

As the landscape of NIL continues to evolve, there are currently a lot more questions than answers regarding the long-term model. Mike Krzyzewski spent 42 years coaching men's basketball at Duke before retiring at the conclusion of the 2021-22 season, when NIL was just getting started.

The Hall of Famer is still involved with the Blue Devils as an ambassador to the university and he recently shared his thoughts on the current state and the uncertain future of college athletics and basketball with CBS Sports.

"I don't think there is a clear path of where it's heading, because so much of it is tied up in lawsuits with the NCAA," Krzyzewski, speaking ahead of an event for the V Foundation, told CBS Sports. "Different conference realignment, lawsuits, you do not have a parent organization that really is leading college sports right now.

"All these things, hopefully some of them will be settled this summer, the legal issues. Once the legal issues are settled, hopefully a new structure for doing things is formed. Then you can get some semblance of order. Right now there really isn't any order.

In April, the NCAA officially said schools can facilitate NIL deals with third parties — but not pay players directly. Nothing is currently black or white, and congress has had discussions on whether players should be considered employees of their respective universities.

There is also the House v. NCAA lawsuit and other antitrust cases with the main argument being how NCAA limits compensation and whether or not there is an unlawful restraint of trade.

NIL is a complex situation with multiple pieces involved and no set standard on how to do anything, despite several deals reaching six-figures and some having an even higher valuation. The lack of uniformity across the country and current legal wrangling make the landscape feel chaotic, but Krzyzewski is hopeful that in the end everything will work out for the best.

"NIL is a really good concept that has gone further than anybody from the NCAA could have imagined," he said. "There is no transparency and there are no guard rails, but overall it's a good idea."

Another hot topic of conversation in college athletics is the transfer portal as NIL opportunities became something else to consider for players who are looking for a new school. NCAA transfer rules typically dictated that a player who transfers has to sit out a year, however, that will no longer be the case. Also in April, the NCAA announced student-athletes will be allowed unlimited transfers with immediate eligibility.

"It's a good idea, but you have almost 3,000 Division I and Division II male players who have gone into the transfer portal," Krzyzewski said. "That's well over a quarter of all the young men who play in Division I and Division II. Is that good? Bad?

"It is what it is, along with NIL. It's tough to make predictions. If I knew who was leading and in charge, I think I would be more apt to make some level of prediction, but you or I cannot say who is in charge because there is nobody in charge, which is kind of scary."

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By Ryan Glasspiegel

Pete Thamel, ESPN

As the NCAA continues to make steps toward the expected settlement of the landmark House v. NCAA lawsuit and other related anti-trust cases, there is pushback on how the NCAA plans to pay the expected $2.7 billion in back damages over the next decade, sources told ESPN.

The NCAA sent out a four-page memo to all 32 Division I conferences this week detailing how the organization plans to cut back on distribution to leagues in six annual payout categories to pay the proposed $2.7 billion in damages.

The memo detailed how the NCAA could split up an expected $1.6 billion that would come from reductions in NCAA distribution, sources told ESPN. The remaining $1.1 billion is expected to come from NCAA reserves, catastrophic insurance, new revenue and budget cuts, sources said.

Of that $1.6 billion, nearly 60% is expected to come from leagues outside the Power 5 conferences that are named in the House lawsuit, sources said. (The NCAA is named, and all of the schools are members.) The other 40% will come from the power conferences.

For example, the cost annually for the Big East is projected at between $5.4 million and $6.6 million over the next decade, according to a source familiar with the memo. The West Coast Conference, another successful basketball-centric league, is expected to annually pay between $3.5 million and $4.3 million. The lowest level of annual payouts expected to be withheld for smaller leagues is just under $2 million, which is estimated to be more than 20% of what those leagues get from the NCAA annually.

This has set off a flurry of upset commissioners and officials in those smaller-revenue leagues, including a series of meetings of the Collegiate Commissioners Association and the CCA22, which are the 22 leagues that don't have FBS football.

Of the $1.6 billion, the NCAA will be withholding distributions from six funds across its 32 Division I leagues, ESPN has learned. Those include the basketball performance fund (via the NCAA tournament), grants-in-aid, the academic enhancement fund, sports sponsorships, conference grants and the academic performance fund.

Three categories of NCAA payments are not expected to be impacted: the equal conference fund, the student-athlete opportunity fund and the special assistance fund.

The NCAA does not plan to take money away from its Division II and Division III distributions, sources said. Sources cautioned to ESPN, however, that the numbers are fluid and could change.

There has been a flurry of meetings of the CCA and the CCA22 in recent days, and the tenor of those meetings has been trying to find whether additional models can be proposed that lessen the financial burden. According to a memo obtained by ESPN, the CCA22 plans to send a letter to the Power 5 and NCAA requesting additional payment models.

According to a source, one smaller non-power football league was told in the NCAA memo that it would be expected to pay more than $2.5 million per year to help cover the costs of the settlement. A source in that CCA22 league said that amount is approximately 25% of the annual NCAA revenue for the schools in the league.

"We're not named in the lawsuit," said a source in a smaller league. "We don't have a voice in any of this. We're just being told what our taxation is."

Added another source in a CCA22 league: "This is incredibly unfair and has a dramatic impact. I'm losing about 10% of my operating budget. Do I cut two staff members in order for money to go to Zion Williamson? Ninety percent of the money in the suit projects to go to Power 5 football and men's basketball players. The 40% payment for the power conference isn't proportionate."

There's a counter to those numbers, as nearly 300 schools would be paying for 60% of the settlement, whereas 68 power conference schools from the four major football leagues in 2024 would pay for nearly 40%.

According to a source, the average overall revenue of non-Power 5 schools was $27 million in fiscal year 2022. A $330,000-per-school reduction in distribution, according to a source, would come out to 1.2% in the school's average revenue. (That $27 million is different than the pure NCAA payouts referenced above.)

"The payment of the back damages is only half of the picture," an industry source told ESPN. "The proposed revenue-sharing arrangement -- nearly $20 million per campus for more than 60 campuses -- would cost more than $1 billion annually and provide all of Division I protections from future similar lawsuits."

There is expected to be continued pushback from the CCA22 in the coming days, sources said. That will come amid the backdrop of votes by the NCAA and power conferences on the settlement, widely expected to pass, that are coming next week.

Gary Cohen mentioned.....

Login to view embedded media The NCAA sent out a four-page memo to all 32 Division I conferences this week detailing how the organization plans to cut back on distribution to leagues in six annual payout categories in order to pay the proposed $2.7 billion in damages.

The memo detailed how the NCAA could split up an expected $1.6 billion that would come from reductions in NCAA distribution, sources told ESPN. The remaining $1.1 billion is expected to come from NCAA reserves, catastrophic insurance, new revenue and budget cuts, sources said.

Of that $1.6 billion, nearly 60 percent is expected to come from leagues outside the Power 5 leagues that are named in the House lawsuit, according to sources. (The NCAA is named, and all of the schools are members.) The other 40 percent will come from the power conferences.

For example, the cost annually for the Big East Conference is projected at between $5.4 million and $6.6 over the next decade.

The NCAA's only source of revenue is from the men's basketball tournament. The back NIL is mostly due to football players based on the number of scholarships per team. So, once again, men's basketball is footing the bill for problems created largely by football. And the big east is paying for conferences that have worked to destroy us at every opportunity. How about dividing this obligation up by prorating it versus annual media distribution rights?

I've long had a "worst CEO of all time" list.‌

I actually keep it on a piece of paper in the kitchen drawer. I haven't made any additions in some time, as there's a high bar to get on the list, and I am 99.99% of the time a happy person — who wants to spend their time labelling people the worst?‌

There is no set formula to landing on my list. But if there is any tie that binds the 10 people who are on it, it's consistently being inconsistent in delivering financial numbers, brutal underperformance versus competitors, and just incompetence in the role.‌

Some don't strike me as nice people, either. I like nice.‌

No. 1 on my list — will never change for as long as I am on this planet — is former Sears CEO Eddie Lampert. A trip down memory lane for you. One of the worst to do the job in history — ran Sears into the ground from his posh mansion. Most investors never even knew what he looked like!

I'm not going to tell you the other nine names.‌

But I'm going to reluctantly add an 11th name to the list.‌

Under Armour's (UAA) founder and boomerang CEO Kevin Plank.‌

I say reluctantly because I have a lot of respect for Plank as a founder. To go from selling T-shirts out of your trunk to building a global retail brand is commendable.‌

Hell, while I got to interview President Joe Biden this week — which has basically taken me 21 years of hustle — I haven't built a company from scratch.‌

But what's going on at Under Armour is a full-on disaster, and Plank has to bear the brunt of it all.‌

Although he only recently returned as CEO — after booting his hand-picked successor a year into the job — he's been on the board since day one. He's been a constant presence at Under Armour, meddling where meddling wasn't needed. Putting the company in news cycles it shouldn't be in.‌

All in all, just not getting it done as a leader, from execution to innovation to company culture.‌

And this week it once again blew up in his face in the form of a shocking earnings release and outlook.‌

Fourth fiscal quarter sales tanked 5% from the prior year. Sales in North America plunged 10%. International sales were down 7%. Wholesale sales (aka sales to department stores and other partners) fell 7%. E-commerce dropped 8%. Apparel sales down 1%. Footwear sales down 11%. Accessories sales down 7%.‌

A little bit of perspective:

• Walmart US e-commerce sales rose 22% in the most recent quarter. Sure, Under Armour doesn't sell ground beef and bikes, but e-commerce continues to be a major growth driver for most retailers. Provided your name isn't Under Armour.
  ‌
• Lululemon's sales in the most recent quarter rose 16%. Sales in its Americas division advanced 9%.
  ‌

"With several CEOs and heads of product marketing in North America over the past half a decade, ongoing turnover of critical leadership has been central to our inability to stay agile and decisive," Plank told analysts on his first earnings call since returning as CEO.

Reminder: Plank has been the constant in the past half-decade during this internal turmoil. The buck has always stopped with him, who is still the controlling shareholder.‌

The company guided to a low-double-digit-percentage sales drop in its new fiscal year, including a startling 15% to 17% decline in North America.

Plank says he is resetting the business.‌

That includes slashing 25% of the company's stock keeping units (SKU), cutting more costs (the other constant in recent years), and rededicating himself to innovation. Under Armour is promising brighter days 18 months from now.‌

But Wall Street is rightly skeptical.‌

"Several of the initial inputs to the turnaround strategy add some comfort (new $500 million buyback, 25% SKU reduction, new cost cut initiatives). However, many elements of the plan seem dependent on UAA achieving a degree of success in product innovation we haven’t seen in years," wrote Evercore ISI analyst Michael Binetti in a client note.‌

And this brings me back to Plank.‌

Under Armour's share price has plunged 87% since its 2015 record. This is a $6.71 stock now! The company's market cap stands at a paltry $2.90 billion, versus $42.3 billion for Lululemon and $138 billion for Nike.‌

Deckers Outdoor — once only known for Uggs boots — has seen its market cap swell to $22.7 billion on the back of feverish demand for Hoka running shoes.‌

Once a consistent 20% plus annual revenue grower, Under Armour's sales are outright declining — with the decline poised to accelerate over the next 12 months.‌

A few odds and ends to this analysis:‌

• The company is in such sorry shape you have to wonder how much longer key brand sponsors such as Steph Curry, The Rock, and Jordan Spieth stick around.
  ‌
• The company totally missed the super-shoe movement.
  ‌
• The company totally let Hoka and On run all over a sneaker business that has never truly gained traction — because of a lack of design and technical factors.
  ‌
• Adidas is becoming popular again and could have a big autumn while Under Armour sags.
  ‌
• Quality has fallen way off. Go touch a pair of Lululemon leggings, then a pair of Under Armour leggings.
  ‌
• The company isn't even in the conversation in terms of offerings for the coming summer Olympics.
  ‌
• Malls are filling up with new Under Armour competitors such as TYR.
  ‌

I want to remove Plank from my list. He has earned his place, however.‌

The next 18 months are likely to be some of the most trying in his career. At some point, he has to consider his legacy, which could mean stabilizing the business by year-end and selling it to private equity.

David Purdum, ESPN Staff Writer

One in three high-profile athletes receive abusive messages from individuals with a "betting interest," and more than 540 men's and women's college basketball players received similar abuse, including death threats, during championship tournaments in March, the NCAA said in a release Friday.

The NCAA looked at athletes participating in sports that attract the most betting interest -- football and basketball, among others -- and found that online abuse is widespread. Signify, an artificial intelligence company and NCAA partner, covered 1,000 Division I men's and women's college basketball players, 64 teams, more than 200 coaches and 120 NCAA game officials during March Madness. The analysis, which is part of an NCAA initiative aimed at combating online abuse and harassment, found 4,000 posts or comments that were confirmed to be abusive or threatening during March Madness.

The NCAA said the data showed women's basketball players received approximately three times more overall threats than men's players and that 15-25% of abuse directed at players, coaches and officials who are involved in the most popular college sports was related to betting.

"Individuals who harass athletes, amateur or professional, over a sports bet should not be tolerated," Joe Maloney, senior vice president of strategic communications for the American Gaming Association, told ESPN in a statement. "Importantly, the legal sports wagering market is providing the transparency critical to discuss solutions to reducing player harassment for the first time -- an opportunity illegal market actors do not provide. We look forward to continuing our dialogue with the NCAA, professional leagues, and other stakeholders on the universal shared goal of reducing athlete harassment."

In March, Armando Bacot, a forward on the North Carolina men's basketball team, told reporters he received dozens of direct messages on social media criticizing him for his performance in the Tar Heels' win over Michigan State in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

"It's terrible," Bacot said. "Even at the last game, I guess I didn't get enough rebounds or something. I thought I played pretty good last game, but I looked at my DMs, and I got like over 100 messages from people telling me I sucked and stuff like that because I didn't get enough rebounds."

The data released coincides with the NCAA's efforts to ban sportsbooks from offering prop betting on college players. Prop betting includes wagers such as the over/under on a player's points or rebounds. Ohio, Louisiana, Maryland and Vermont have passed recent legislation banning prop betting on college players, and more states are considering the issue.

Joe Brennan, a longtime internet gaming consultant and now executive director for online sportsbook Prime Sports, believes the NCAA is looking at the issue "from the wrong end of the telescope."

"This is a social media problem first and foremost," Brennan said. "The NCAA demanding the banning of college player props is a distraction from the root causes and likely solutions. Abusive speech towards teams and players is a sad reality in competitive sports. ... It's unfortunate that sports betting has now also become another subject in this, but it certainly didn't start it."

Scottie Scheffler detained and handcuffed by police outside of PGA Championship​

By Justin Terranova

Showed yet again that James Comer does not meet traditional merit of being a chair, what an embarrassing display enabled

Player profile

• Class Sophomore
• Position Guard/Forward
• Height 6-7
• Weight 225
• Hometown Minneapolis, Minn.
• High School Minnehaha Academy
• Twitter prince_buckets
• Instagram prince_buckets

AS A FRESHMAN (2022-23):

• Saw action in 27 games, earning 24 starts in his first season at Boston College
• Led the Eagles with 16 points in his collegiate debut, connecting on the game winner with 0.9 seconds remaining against Cornell
• Became the first BC freshman in 11 years to lead the team in scoring in his first career game
• Grabbed a season-best nine rebounds against Cornell - in games where Aligbe grabbed six or more boards, BC was 8-2
• Reached double digits in the scoring column on seven occasions - BC was 5-2 in those games
• Suffered a high ankle sprain four minutes in the Detroit Mercy game; missed the next seven games
• Scored 10 of his 15 points in the second half against Notre Dame, including a go-ahead jumper with 2:32 left
• Posted 10 points, seven rebounds, and a blocked shot in the home victory over No. 20/21 Clemson
• Had 10 points (3-3 FG) and seven boards in a win at Florida State
• Corralled seven boards in BC's home win over No. 6/6 Virginia

AS A PREP:

• Consensus four-star rated recruit from Minnehaha Academy in Minneapolis
• Finalist for the Mr. Basketball Award in Minnesota, after leading the state of Minnesota in scoring at 28.3 points and 12.0 rebounds per game as a senior
• A 2022 Star-Tribune All-Metro team selection, he had 36 points and 14 boards in a quarterfinal loss in the Minnesota state 2A quarterfinals
• Also a finalist for the 2022 Pioneer Press Metro Boys Basketball Player of the Year
• Teamed with Chet Holmgren and Jalen Suggs of Gonzaga while at Minnehaha Academy
• Shined in the 24KShowcase, earning MVP honors and a spot in the Iverson Roundball Classic in Memphis in April

HS Mixtape

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