Since Jim Boeheim's comments regarding how Jeff Capel "bought" -- but then did not buy -- his current Pitt team, the generator is, again, spinning about the restrictions and guardrails around name, image, and likeness components within recruiting in college basketball.
The Syracuse coach's latest "old-man-yells-at-cloud" act came on Saturday, when he blasted Pitt, Wake Forest, and Miami for buying their respective teams with regards to the NIL world in which college athletics operates.
During Monday's midday ACC coaches teleconference, Capel mentioned that Boeheim and he spoke since Saturday, but would not publicly disclose what was discussed.
"I have no comment; I have no reaction to it," Capel said. "I mean, everyone's entitled to their opinion of what they think. So, I have no comment on anyone else's opinion."
Capel then added that he did not speak with any of his players which transferred over from other schools in recent offseasons -- this last one in particular -- about NIL.
"We never had a discussion about it," Capel said. "Last year when we were recruiting we were in a period here in the state of Pennsylvania where we could have no involvement with it. So, it never came up. I mean, you have a guy from Colgate (Nelly Cummings), played for two years, Blake Hinson, and a guy that never really started at Marquette (Greg Elliott) ... it never really was a conversation that we had during our time recruiting them."
Boeheim on three separate occasions has walked back his initial comments. The first instance came via Pete Thamel, who originally posted the ESPN story with the dialogue. In that first instance, Boeheim told Thamel he “absolutely misspoke” about Pitt and Wake Forest buying their teams.
He dipped back into the pool again Monday morning with the following statement:
Statement from Coach Boeheim pic.twitter.com/MPwig9m6eu
— Syracuse Men’s Basketball (@Cuse_MBB) February 6, 2023
The third instance was during Monday's midday teleconference, in which he claimed that there is no known foul play within the NIL realm he is aware of.
"I think all the NILs that I know of -- what I know of -- are legal and within the rules completely, 100 percent," Boeheim said. "It's the way college basketball's going. I was just talking about that as I was walking from press conference, after the press conference, to my locker room, and that was -- it has changed college basketball. You can turn around a team overnight, or you can retain players, and all of that is part of the landscape of college basketball."
Boeheim also did not disclose what Capel and he talked about Saturday night.
"That's just between me and Jeff," he said. "... I'm not going to talk about any of these conversations or who I have talked to or haven't talked to."
Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes, who in a similar manner built his current Demon Deacons team within the transfer portal like Capel did with Pitt, said Boeheim called him around 2:30 a.m. Sunday while he was watching a movie. He also did not discuss specifics of their conversation.
"Us coaches stay up late," Forbes said. "I'm fine with (Boeheim). I like him, I respect him, I think the world of him. I'm fine, and I'm not here to perpetuate the narrative of what occurred on Saturday."
Miami coach Jim Larrañaga was not made available within the teleconference, as the Hurricanes are scheduled to oppose Duke Monday night. (Duke coach Jon Scheyer was also unavailable for the teleconference.)
The sheer and minimal concept of NIL deals are to allow for a student-athlete to earn money off of their name, image, and likeness through promotional or or commercial contracts. In Pennsylvania, NIL came into effect under House Bill 2633 signed by Governor Tom Wolf. Schools are prohibited in arranging and facilitating NIL deals for their student-athletes, which means schools are largely being left out of the loop themselves on NIL data.
The University of Pittsburgh is under no obligation to publicly disclose NIL information, as there is not a standing law to do so. However, student-athletes and their representatives have freedom to announce their own deals.
"I haven't really thought about it," Capel said. "I'm just going by what they tell us that we can do now. That's it. And, again, I haven't really thought about NIL that much. I'm trying to think about our team, how we can get better. That's it. I haven't really given much thought about it, at all."
According to On3's NIL database, which reveals valuation and not specifically how much student-athletes make, North Carolina center Armando Bacot is the highest-valued ACC player at an estimated $1 million. UNC guard Caleb Love follows among ACC players at $395,000, and Duke forward Kyle Filipowski is third at $392,000.
The database reads Pitt guard Dior Johnson has the school's top NIL value at $280,000, which would be 26th in college basketball.
Also among Pitt basketball players, per the database, Nike Sibande has an NIL value of $24,000; John Hugley IV at $16,100; Will Jeffress at $16,000; Jamarius Burton at $13,600; Elliott and Cummings each at $12,100; Hinson at $11,800; and Nate Santos at $11,300.
Syracuse guard Judah Mintz, a former Pitt commit, is 76th in the NCAA with an NIL valuation of $98,000, per the database.
A hot topic within Monday's teleconference, of course, bloomed into an in-depth discussion with more of the ACC's coaches about the parameters currently around NIL and where it could go from here.
Notre Dame coach Mike Brey, who is set to retire at the end of the season, was candid in calling the landscape "exhausting," and noted it contributed to a part of his decision to retire.
"I think the current climate was definitely a part of it," Brey said. "Not a major part of it, but when you looked at moving forward and how to manage it, it was exhausting, quite frankly, and I know some other veteran guys who decided to move out of it. I've kind of lived in it for two years, and you're looking at how you're managing that, and managing that within the mission of the University of Notre Dame was complicated. It definitely was a factor.
"... When we've been on the road the last couple summers, a lot of veteran guys sit together at recruiting events, and we've discussed all of this. We've been therapists for each other."
Boeheim originally told ESPN that it was "why" longtime Villanova coach Jay Wright and Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski decided to retire when they did.
Brey acknowledged the potential for the NIL rules to tighten up with new leadership within the NCAA. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker is set to take over as NCAA President in March.
"We've got to try, and I'm hopeful with our new NCAA President that he's coming from the political climate, political world, the former Governor of Massachusetts, that he can get Congress to help us," Brey said. "It's not really 'name, image, and likeness' right now, it's really 'pay-for-play,' and we're really trying to stay away from that. It got off the rails on us. I think the number one thing is the universities to have to disclose -- starting with disclosure of the deals. You must disclose what the deals are, what the numbers are. Maybe that's the start to try and bring everything -- and I know there's a lot of misinformation -- but talking to some people, they thought, they think that could be a really good start.
"And, then we are going to need some help from Congress. This is a really tricky one, and it moves so fast, and we're all kind of hanging on for dear life a little bit with it. But, I'm optimistic because of the new leadership with the NCAA and his background as far as getting some congressional help on this."
MORE FROM OAKLAND
• Pitt has a game to play at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Petersen Events Center. The Panthers (16-7, 9-3 ACC) can leap into first place in the ACC with a win over Louisville (3-20, 1-11) and coach Kenny Payne. Pitt received 26 points in Monday's Associated Press Top 25 poll, which effectively places it at a ranking of No. 30.
Pitt defeated Louisville 75-54 in Kentucky Jan. 18.
"I love the way that Pitt plays," Payne said. "I love the swag that they play with, the confidence they play with, the chatter, the toughness they play with. They talk to each other, they fight together. If one guy's down you can hear two or three other guys trying to lift them up. They're well coached. Jeff is a hell of a coach, great person.
"They run good stuff. They're a little bit undersized one through four, but they make up for it with their toughness. It's hard to guard them. They've got players that can score from different places. Not surprised that they're averaging nine 3s a game (made), leading the conference in attempts. To look a it, you may think they're settling. It's not what they're doing. They're beating you off the dribble, and they're getting you in rotations and getting shots. They're a tough opponent. We're going to have to play well, a lot better than we did the last time we played them."
Capel noted a surge in Louisville's team since the last time his Panthers faced it. The Cardinals lost to Florida State 81-78 at home on Saturday.
"I feel like in the last four games they've gotten better," Capel said. "If you look at their shooting percentages, their made 3-pointers per game from when we played them the first time, they've gone up significantly. Their scoring has gone up. I think they've gotten better."
