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Has Carolina basketball upped its NIL game?
UNC was slow in accepting the new landscape of college sports called NIL – for Name, Image and Likeness that athletes can now be paid for. It has become the most important part of the game.
Bubba Cunningham and the administration wanted to do it, as they like to say, the Carolina Way. But they fell into an almost immediate hole when the competition made NIL an inducement to pay for play.
The day Bill Belichick was named the Tar Heels’ new football coach, Cunningham answered the concern of alumni and fans who have long considered basketball more important. “We’re all in on both,” Cunningham said when asked, but he didn’t give any detail.
Before the season, Hubert Davis would not say whether NIL was the reason he failed to bring in any of the four big men they were after. He skirted the issue because at that time it might have sounded like he was against NIL, which in turn could have hurt recruiting more.
It became critical when Davis’ current team was not being dominant inside, as the Tar Heels had been over the years. Next season, with Carolina losing R.J. Davis and likely others, it seemed catastrophic.
This week, the news broke that one of the most coveted recruits in the class of 2025 had narrowed his finalists to Kentucky, Ohio State and UNC, with the Tar Heels picked to land the 6-9 power forward.
Competing against Kentucky and Ohio State, which have built large NIL war chests, means that Carolina has raised more money that could attract prospects early and keep them interested. If it is true, and we all hope it is, Davis can seriously compete to sign the best freshmen and upperclassmen from the transfer portal.
The Tar Heels remain one of the biggest brands in college basketball, and Davis and his staff get complimented regularly about their likability. That doesn’t matter if it’s all about the money.
On his weekly radio show, Hubert was asked how he handles the changes to the game he loved to play and loves to coach. At first, he insisted that his current team gets most of their attention. But when asked if he spends any time talking to agents – the new factor in the NIL wars – he said, “I spend a lot of time talking to agents.”
A few months ago, those were short conversations, when agents told him what the players they represented wanted and learned Carolina did not pay that much, those calls ended quickly.
It seems Davis and the agents and top players they represent have more to talk about these days, if the latest recruit is any indication.
With Belichick commanding the kind of salary he and his staff will earn, that means the university must be doing something to give its marquee sport a level playing field. After all, it’s Carolina basketball.
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Featured image via Associated Press/Chris Seward
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
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