By Brian Wolf
Remember when Lavar Ball tried to start a college alternative pro league? Well the Junior Basketball Association (JBA) lasted just one season and was a complete failure. Missed paychecks, shady business dealings, and cooked up stats led to the demise of the Association. Three years later, Overtime Elite(OTE) is taking a stab as the next basketball league to compete against the NCAA and I have a feeling it will have more staying power after their inaugural season this fall.
ESPN Senior NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski dropped the above Woj Bomb and it caught my eye. If you remember, Kevin Ollie won an NCAA title with the Huskies in his second year and was then fired in 2018, voiding the three years and $10 million remaining on his contract. Ollie has been away from the game since, but is making a big splash with this return. OTE has some pretty reputable members on their board with the likes of Carmelo Anthony, Jay Williams, in addition to former NBA G-League President Malcolm Turner, and former Major League Baseball CFO Jonathan Mariner. Right away, this league has a much better infrastructure than the JBA.
According to their website, the OTE will provide a comprehensive accelerator for elite players’ professional careers. The league will offer a year round development program, which includes world class coaching, top notch facilities, cutting edge sports science and performance technologies, and a highly personalized academic program. Each one of these athletes will receive a guaranteed minimum salary of $100,000 per year plus bonuses and shares of equity in Overtime. These 16 to 18-year-old student athletes will also be able to be compensated from the use of their name, image and likeness through sales of custom jerseys, trading cards, video games, and the latest money revenue maker in NFT’s.
How will this new league affect the college basketball landscape?
Well if the waters weren’t already muddy, you better prepare yourself. Brandon Jennings was one of the first young talents to take his game international instead of going to Arizona. Jennings ended up in Europe as a 19-year-old after signing a $1.2 million dollar deal in salary and endorsements.
Instead of waiting on an SAT score, Jennings chased the paper and the opportunity to play against grown men. More and more high school players followed suit, and since the evolution of the G-League, high school seniors have been playing in that league, just one step closer to their ultimate goal of playing in the NBA.
Is college basketball the same that it was 20 years ago? The major programs have adapted to modern one-and-done type players.
Can you blame it on John Calipari? Roy Williams and Coach K had to keep up and alter their recruiting pitches. This ultimately led to the retirement of Williams from UNC. We have been seeing more mid-major teams last longer in the NCAA tourney with rosters filled with juniors, seniors, and graduate transfers. Oh did you think I’d forgot to mention transfers?
Have you ever looked at the transfer portal? If you turn on ESPN and check the bottom ticker, you see at least five new names a day transferring from one program to another. Jeff Goodman(@GoodmanHoops) is all over the transfer portal, reporting every transfer that occurs, including Jalen Coleman-Lands who will enter his seventh season of college hoops, playing for his fourth university.
The NCAA has a huge problem on their hands if they do not fix the name, image and likeness situation. High School athletes will see the money waived in front of them, will think of their family and parents, and try and support them. Mark Emmert and company better come to the drawing board ASAP and come up with a plan, and if not, the college game will continue to suffer.
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