Huge loss for the program though. Had Mick known earlier, we'd go after other PG prospects. Nix committed so early, all the other PG prospects were probably turned off.
Offered $300k a year vs one season at UCLA? Why would you ever go to college? A lot more decommitments are coming soon with the g-league now able to offer 6 figure salaries. I think it will be better for college basketball it the long run. Many coaches are going to adjust how they recruit. Many of the one and dones won’t even be recruited anymore as it will become a waste of everyone’s time. Time to get college basketball back to wear it was 20 years ago
I concur on this being an interesting and well-written article, Dimitri. But one wonders what we see if we move the camera from the 2,000 foot level up to the 20,00 foot level and look around? (It's a tortured metaphor; work with me here.)
On Friday and soon thereafter, states like Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Alabama, etc. will be opening up from their COVID-19 lock-downs while we are in a state where the governor seems to be averse to relaxing restrictions. We are currently in wait-and-see mode until 15 May and longer in Northern California.
Please note that I am NOT trying to inject politics into OTMB (per Nestor's cardinal rule that BN remain politics-free) but I am calling attention to the fact that circumstances might dictate these restrictions remain in place for the greater societal good. In that case, Cal, Stanford, UCLA, and USC might not have a 2020 football or basketball season. Or, at the very least, it might severely hobble the PAC-12 while other states (notably the SEC states) will be open for biz.
This would understandably influence any young prospect's college choices and, similarly, the effect would ripple through the rosters causing athletes to hit the transfer portals or future drafts to save conserve their "youth" and marketability.
Of course, this also applies to other sports as well where there are out-of-state college or professional alternatives.
My opinion is that, over the long haul, losing one 5-star recruit will be the least of UCLA's problems should California be late in returning to a semi-normal state of affairs.
This is the start of a trend. I think colleges should focus their recruiting on the 4-star and below prospects (maybe other than K and Calipari). This would bode well for UCLA - I think Coach Cronin has proven to be one of the best at getting the most out of these mid-level prospects. Better chance also that they will hang around for more than 1 year. It's a new world.
Can't really blame him. He wasn't going to be at UCLA for more than a year anyway and that's a hell of an offer.
If Chris Smith doesn't come back, the conference is going to have a ridiculous amount of parity. There probably won't be a single top-25 team in the conference but like 5 or 6 from 26-40. With no Smith I'd probably say ASU is the early favorite but I think any of UCLA, ASU, or Oregon could make a case. If Smith does come back, I think we are the definite favorites.
This seems like a pretty isolated incident, because the G League option is so new. In future cycles I think Mick will have a good grasp of which recruits want to take that professional route and navigate that obstacle with some success, but it definitely sucks to lose that kind of talent so late in the cycle.
Calipari already bitching LOL: “My issue with the G League trying to entice players by giving them more money, is not the kids that you’re getting,” Calipari said this week, as Jon Hale of USA Today relays. “It’s the thousands of ninth and 10th graders that think that’s how they’re going to make it, when you and I know it’s going to be 2%. We’re not talking 50. It will be thousands and thousands and thousands.”
Hey Cal: They think that this is how they are going to make it....as opposed to playing for 3 months "in college" at Kentucky? What's the difference? Thousands of young kids aspire to make it YOUR way....by going to college for 3 months and then straight to the NBA. Very few succeed. And thousands are going to aspire to do it the g league way. And the ones that do not get the offer, will be forced to play in college or not play at all. Why don't you just be honest and say that this hurts your business model?
I actually think this G league select team isn't going to last very long, at least in it's current form. It will ultimately result in guys again being drafted straight out of high school. What's going to happen when it's more than 10 guys a year opting for this route? No room for them all on one team. And really, what's the point? If they are going to be in the G league, let them be in an organization. No need to have this fake wall between 18 yr olds and professional basketball. If the NBA doesn't want 18 yr olds in the NBA, but will allow them in the g league, why not let NBA teams draft them and require a year of g league? Really like the baseball model where they can all try to get drafted, but if they fail, they can go to college but must stay for 3 years.
Guess I’m kinda of dumb-dumb here, but....can you explain why this has any correlation to the Under Armor deal ? Is the idea that with Nike they’d simply get more players and better depth ?
I did get a bit of a chuckle at the speculation that if things don’t work out for Dashean in his G League path to the NBA, he could use his $300k to go back and get his college degree....just don’t see it.
I'm shocked and disappointed the headline didn't read "Daishen Nixes UCLA". That was such a gimme, D.
But I'm more disappointed about the basketball team. I get that next year may still be fine, but damn I was really looking forward to next year being great. I miss basketball being great.
Can't blame the kid for jumping at $300k. I don't make that.
Under Armor has been an absolute disaster. I like what they did with our uniforms and colors scheme but other than that they have done serious harm to our major programs. We signed with them at the worst possible time. It was right before they started crashing and burning. I can’t believe I’m saying this right now because I absolutely hated our deal with adidas (they marketed our school so poorly) but ever since signing with UA recruiting in both basketball and football has gone to levels of shit we have never seen before.
While disappointing, I do personally love it when the teams with non-blue chip recruits are the ones that make noise during March Madness. I also think that UCLA basketball success is actually insulated a bit from the potential future in which all of the real blue chip recruits end up going to the G-League (or any other parallel), as Cronin has proven capable of building high level teams with 3/4 star recruits. If anything, the end of the one and done system will expose mediocre coaches such as Calipari and Miller. In the end, the G-League will likely only be snagging the absolute top 5 (and some 4) star recruits, like the #1 PG in the nation. No matter what, they can't afford to drop 300k on every player and it's telling that it took someone of Nix's background to even get that much.
Wishing him the best.
Huge loss for the program though. Had Mick known earlier, we'd go after other PG prospects. Nix committed so early, all the other PG prospects were probably turned off.
Quality article, Dimitri. Tracy said little if anything on BRO and Bruinsnation hasn't even reported this yet.
Not surprised. Bound to happen.
Offered $300k a year vs one season at UCLA? Why would you ever go to college? A lot more decommitments are coming soon with the g-league now able to offer 6 figure salaries. I think it will be better for college basketball it the long run. Many coaches are going to adjust how they recruit. Many of the one and dones won’t even be recruited anymore as it will become a waste of everyone’s time. Time to get college basketball back to wear it was 20 years ago
I concur on this being an interesting and well-written article, Dimitri. But one wonders what we see if we move the camera from the 2,000 foot level up to the 20,00 foot level and look around? (It's a tortured metaphor; work with me here.)
On Friday and soon thereafter, states like Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, Alabama, etc. will be opening up from their COVID-19 lock-downs while we are in a state where the governor seems to be averse to relaxing restrictions. We are currently in wait-and-see mode until 15 May and longer in Northern California.
Please note that I am NOT trying to inject politics into OTMB (per Nestor's cardinal rule that BN remain politics-free) but I am calling attention to the fact that circumstances might dictate these restrictions remain in place for the greater societal good. In that case, Cal, Stanford, UCLA, and USC might not have a 2020 football or basketball season. Or, at the very least, it might severely hobble the PAC-12 while other states (notably the SEC states) will be open for biz.
This would understandably influence any young prospect's college choices and, similarly, the effect would ripple through the rosters causing athletes to hit the transfer portals or future drafts to save conserve their "youth" and marketability.
Of course, this also applies to other sports as well where there are out-of-state college or professional alternatives.
My opinion is that, over the long haul, losing one 5-star recruit will be the least of UCLA's problems should California be late in returning to a semi-normal state of affairs.
This is the start of a trend. I think colleges should focus their recruiting on the 4-star and below prospects (maybe other than K and Calipari). This would bode well for UCLA - I think Coach Cronin has proven to be one of the best at getting the most out of these mid-level prospects. Better chance also that they will hang around for more than 1 year. It's a new world.
Can't really blame him. He wasn't going to be at UCLA for more than a year anyway and that's a hell of an offer.
If Chris Smith doesn't come back, the conference is going to have a ridiculous amount of parity. There probably won't be a single top-25 team in the conference but like 5 or 6 from 26-40. With no Smith I'd probably say ASU is the early favorite but I think any of UCLA, ASU, or Oregon could make a case. If Smith does come back, I think we are the definite favorites.
This seems like a pretty isolated incident, because the G League option is so new. In future cycles I think Mick will have a good grasp of which recruits want to take that professional route and navigate that obstacle with some success, but it definitely sucks to lose that kind of talent so late in the cycle.
Calipari already bitching LOL: “My issue with the G League trying to entice players by giving them more money, is not the kids that you’re getting,” Calipari said this week, as Jon Hale of USA Today relays. “It’s the thousands of ninth and 10th graders that think that’s how they’re going to make it, when you and I know it’s going to be 2%. We’re not talking 50. It will be thousands and thousands and thousands.”
Hey Cal: They think that this is how they are going to make it....as opposed to playing for 3 months "in college" at Kentucky? What's the difference? Thousands of young kids aspire to make it YOUR way....by going to college for 3 months and then straight to the NBA. Very few succeed. And thousands are going to aspire to do it the g league way. And the ones that do not get the offer, will be forced to play in college or not play at all. Why don't you just be honest and say that this hurts your business model?
I actually think this G league select team isn't going to last very long, at least in it's current form. It will ultimately result in guys again being drafted straight out of high school. What's going to happen when it's more than 10 guys a year opting for this route? No room for them all on one team. And really, what's the point? If they are going to be in the G league, let them be in an organization. No need to have this fake wall between 18 yr olds and professional basketball. If the NBA doesn't want 18 yr olds in the NBA, but will allow them in the g league, why not let NBA teams draft them and require a year of g league? Really like the baseball model where they can all try to get drafted, but if they fail, they can go to college but must stay for 3 years.
Guess I’m kinda of dumb-dumb here, but....can you explain why this has any correlation to the Under Armor deal ? Is the idea that with Nike they’d simply get more players and better depth ?
I did get a bit of a chuckle at the speculation that if things don’t work out for Dashean in his G League path to the NBA, he could use his $300k to go back and get his college degree....just don’t see it.
Would really be nice if we could snag Makur Maker
I'm shocked and disappointed the headline didn't read "Daishen Nixes UCLA". That was such a gimme, D.
But I'm more disappointed about the basketball team. I get that next year may still be fine, but damn I was really looking forward to next year being great. I miss basketball being great.
Can't blame the kid for jumping at $300k. I don't make that.
Under Armor has been an absolute disaster. I like what they did with our uniforms and colors scheme but other than that they have done serious harm to our major programs. We signed with them at the worst possible time. It was right before they started crashing and burning. I can’t believe I’m saying this right now because I absolutely hated our deal with adidas (they marketed our school so poorly) but ever since signing with UA recruiting in both basketball and football has gone to levels of shit we have never seen before.
While disappointing, I do personally love it when the teams with non-blue chip recruits are the ones that make noise during March Madness. I also think that UCLA basketball success is actually insulated a bit from the potential future in which all of the real blue chip recruits end up going to the G-League (or any other parallel), as Cronin has proven capable of building high level teams with 3/4 star recruits. If anything, the end of the one and done system will expose mediocre coaches such as Calipari and Miller. In the end, the G-League will likely only be snagging the absolute top 5 (and some 4) star recruits, like the #1 PG in the nation. No matter what, they can't afford to drop 300k on every player and it's telling that it took someone of Nix's background to even get that much.