The selection of Jalen Green at #2 could open the floodgates of top high school talent right to the G-League. That won't be such a bad thing for college basketball.

It will be interesting to balance that with NIL compensation, though.

I’ve long said that many fans have been overrating the “Alabama car dealer booster signing up a football recruit” for NIL money and underrating the national Nike/adidas money for basketball players. I think the latter will end up having a much greater impact on the sport.

14 picks in and not a single player from a blue blood school yet. This is a sea change in college hoops.

Two G-League players chosen in the top 7 tonight.

As Frank said, Nike and adidas can now legally pay college players as much as or more than a G League salary -- but Nike or adidas could also pay a G-Leaguer money on top of his salary.

(07-29-2021 08:30 PM)ken d Wrote:  14 picks in and not a single player from a blue blood school yet. This is a sea change in college hoops.

It is one draft and I would not read too much into it. The blue-blood schools look strong for the 2021-2022 season and have done well in recruiting in 2021 and working the transfer portal. All traditional blue-blood schools are in the preseason top 25 rankings:
https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men...withdrawal

This draft looked like the 247sports.com rankings of top 2020 basketball recruits. No. 1 ranked Cade Cunningham was the No. 1 draft pick. His brother was an assistant coach at Oklahoma State. No. 2 ranked Jalen Green was the No. 2 draft pick. No. 3 ranked Evan Mobley was the No. 3 draft pick. His father is an assistant coach at USC. Six of the top seven draft picks were five star high school basketball players in 2020. The only player in the top 7 that was not a five star high school recruit in 2020 was Josh Giddey, the 18 year old point guard out of Australia.

Cunningham and Mobley likely ended up where they did due to family connections. Green went to the G League for the money. I am not sure that is indicative of a trend, especially wth the new NIL guidelines. Ziaire Williams, the No. 10 draft pick and the No. 6 ranked player in the nation in 2020, decided to attend Stanford because he is an aspiring venture capitalist and entrepreneur, and he thought Stanford would be a great place to grow and establish connections for the future. He is not your typical five star high school basketball player.

I see the blue-bloods as strong as ever, with schools like Michigan and Gonzaga really looking good as well. Duke is playing Kentucky on November 9th at Madison Square Garden. UCLA takes on Gonzaga in Las Vegas on November 23rd. North Carolina plays Michigan and UCLA in December. Kentucky is at Kansas in January. Looks like a great college basketball season coming up.