05-05-2026, 01:41 PM
I really don't agree with what Stephanie White said. Personally, I think all the discussions about how unfair things have become, money can buy championships, teams will be poisoned with all the roster changes and "mercenaries" etc. aren't really true at all. Before all the changes, there were constant complaints about unfair it was to recruit against the top brand schools (Duke, Kansas, Kentucky mens basketball, UConn womens basketball, top SEC and B10 football, etc.), they had all the advantages, best facilities, the rich were just getting richer and everyone else was living off their scraps. So we have completely forgotten about all those issues because now the players are getting paid?
Fast forward to today, and for every UCLA womens team who spent a lot of NIL money and won, I can name tons of teams who spent a lot of money and failed miserably. The championship football team from Indiana spent nowhere close to the amount of money as the Ohio States of the world (of which there are many). It is simply not true that you can just buy championships. There is so much more to it.
We just all watched (well, at least I did because I still really enjoy watching) a team from High Point (from the mighty Big South) upset a team that went 14-6 in the B10. Nebraska made it to the Sweet 16 and they'd never even won a game in the tourney before this year. Vanderbilt has somehow found a way to be MORE competitive in basketball and football. I guess I could be wrong, but I really doubt those things happened because they outspent their competition.
As for White's line of "Now the game is drifting into a marketplace where the highest bidder wins, not the most committed team. If this continues, what once was a brotherhood of passion will become nothing more than a business fueled by money, not meaning." This year's NCAA mens basketball champion Michigan completely refutes that. There was no better example, IMO, of a brotherhood of passion. That was an incredibly committed team and Dusty May did a phenomenal job of bringing them together. They were one of the most unselfish teams I've ever seen and one of the better examples of a team that was truly committed to one another than we've seen in quite some time. AI also tells me that Louisville, Tennesse, Texas, Florida, Duke, Indiana, and Miami all were in the top tier of NIL basketball spending and not a single one of them even made the Final Four. What White said is popular and convenient, but it's wrong.
I think the main problem is that people aren't able to separate the money aspect from the love of the game and the hard work of the players. She makes it sound like you can only have either 1) Pro players getting paid OR 2) Brotherhood and commitment. I think you can have great teams/brotherhoods/sisterhoods AND get paid at the same time. The game is alive and well.
Fast forward to today, and for every UCLA womens team who spent a lot of NIL money and won, I can name tons of teams who spent a lot of money and failed miserably. The championship football team from Indiana spent nowhere close to the amount of money as the Ohio States of the world (of which there are many). It is simply not true that you can just buy championships. There is so much more to it.
We just all watched (well, at least I did because I still really enjoy watching) a team from High Point (from the mighty Big South) upset a team that went 14-6 in the B10. Nebraska made it to the Sweet 16 and they'd never even won a game in the tourney before this year. Vanderbilt has somehow found a way to be MORE competitive in basketball and football. I guess I could be wrong, but I really doubt those things happened because they outspent their competition.
As for White's line of "Now the game is drifting into a marketplace where the highest bidder wins, not the most committed team. If this continues, what once was a brotherhood of passion will become nothing more than a business fueled by money, not meaning." This year's NCAA mens basketball champion Michigan completely refutes that. There was no better example, IMO, of a brotherhood of passion. That was an incredibly committed team and Dusty May did a phenomenal job of bringing them together. They were one of the most unselfish teams I've ever seen and one of the better examples of a team that was truly committed to one another than we've seen in quite some time. AI also tells me that Louisville, Tennesse, Texas, Florida, Duke, Indiana, and Miami all were in the top tier of NIL basketball spending and not a single one of them even made the Final Four. What White said is popular and convenient, but it's wrong.
I think the main problem is that people aren't able to separate the money aspect from the love of the game and the hard work of the players. She makes it sound like you can only have either 1) Pro players getting paid OR 2) Brotherhood and commitment. I think you can have great teams/brotherhoods/sisterhoods AND get paid at the same time. The game is alive and well.