Kevin Young and the BYU men’s basketball team are coming off the third Sweet 16 appearance in school history and are reloading the roster for another run. As one of the programs on the higher end of the spending spectrum, the Cougars were on a list of elites with a $10 million roster.
This “golden tier” included ten schools with two in the Big 12, according to CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander. BYU joined Arkansas, Duke, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisville, Michigan, North Carolina, St. John’s, and Texas Tech as the group of big spenders in college basketball.
“Nowadays, the sport is producing millionaire players on the regular,” Norlander wrote. “Piloting through the portal to roster-build has never been more cumbersome – yet simple. The more money you have relative to the schools you are competing against, the easier it is to recruit the players you covet most.
“More than 2,000 men’s Division I basketball athletes entered the portal in the past three-plus weeks (it closes April 22). Almost all have done so to achieve a better situation and, most importantly, find more money. That is what is driving the overwhelming number of these transfers. Money, money, money … and more money.”
BYU has two of the top players from the past recruiting classes. Top incoming freshman AJ Dybantsa has been the most sought after for the past 18 months. He reportedly received over $7 million in NIL to be at BYU, but recently denied the large sum. Baylor transfer Robert Wright joined the Cougars last week. He was the top guard coming out of high school and is expected to be the “next up” replacement for Egor Demin, who heads to the NBA. Wright was reportedly offered $3.5 million from BYU.
“Five years ago, more than 4,400 Division I men’s basketball players were legally and collectively paid a grand total of $0 in NIL earnings. That number is now promised to be in the hundreds of millions,” Norlander added.
College basketball has been staying afloat in the waves of economic chaos. But each year has been more of a “pay-for-play” scenario than the previous. Some even believe March Madness is in its final stages with no Cinderella teams advancing due to top NIL offers taking place. This is expected to be the most chaotic and unwieldy offseason to date.
As for BYU, the shift in NIL is allowing the school to take a bigger role on the national scene. More top players are coming to Provo and the program is trending in the right direction.
