JasonEvans
Host, The Duke Basketball Roundup
In the case of Dybantsa, it will be BYU that will be hard to beat. Billionaire Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith is prepared to make it hard for anyone to outbid BYU.I understand that. But does anyone think Duke can and should be shelling out $2-5M for top10 recruits in the future?
Why would Jon invest tons of energy in recruiting AJ to play for a year if in the end he's just going to expect us to match Alabama or Arkansas or Ohio State's NIL deal?
Yeah, the Boozers have not been a Duke lean for a while now. The perception is that Miami and maybe Florida are each ahead of Duke at the moment. Don't forget that the twins grew up mostly with their mom, CeCe, not Carlos (they split up in 2009).We have put out offers out to I believe 4 kids in that 15-30 range over the past two months. I know we also have offers out to several OADs. But the fact that not even the Boozer boys have committed to Duke yet is a worrisome sign about where this is moving...
The top kids now have shoe deals while still in high school. Most players expect school NIL deals (aka Pay for Play) to supplement the other endorsement deals they already have. Unless a school can demonstrate that some endorsement deal is directly tied to the player attending that school (like if Nike said "we will sign you to this lucrative contract if you go to Duke, but not if you go elsewhere") then it plays little to no role as a recruiting inducement.Another thing that helps Duke with the elite recruits is that guys like Cooper will probably have outside sponsorships which pay far more than any school can offer. Cooper is already being courted by every shoe brand in existence. One deal alone with a Nike or Adidas would blow away even the richest NIL offers, making NIL really not much of a consideration in the recruiting process.
Also, though Duke is a Nike school, rest assured that if Nike is going to make a NIL push for any school, it will be Phil Knight's beloved Oregon. In fact, it appears Nike is doing that for Oregon in football already.
Read this story --
As I said earlier, guys are waiting to get a sense of the market. The entire process seems to have been pushed back a bit. Not saying no one will commit over the summer, but it is quite likely to be fewer than in past years. Duke is not in a different position here than other top recruiting schools.Man, I hope you're right. But even in the best case view, we are facing a lot of new headwind in landing these top recruits...
And part of the evidence is what JE is pointing out and that none have committed. Playing time is a non-issue. So if NIL money is not the driving issue, why haven't any of these top guys committed?
Not gonna say NIL is the only thing that matters, that would be silly, but it is likely #1 and #1a on the decision tree. Scheyer is a great recruiter who paints a compelling story of why these dudes should come to Duke. They love him and they see him (and the Brotherhood) as a great pathway to the NBA... but if Duke's offer is 30% less than someone else, it is a big hill for Duke to climb to get there.He's a great recruiter for sure. Probably the best. But the size of our NIL bankroll really matters.
The recruitments of VJ Edgecomb and Flory Bidunga are proof of that.