NIL

Governor Stitt Signs Order to Support Oklahoma Student

OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — Governor Kevin Stitt signed Executive Order 2025-01, aiming to keep Oklahoma’s postsecondary institutions and their student-athletes competitive in the changing world of intercollegiate athletics. Stitt said this proactive measure addresses the inconsistent national rules governing NIL payments, which have led to uncertainty and disparity among states and athletic conferences. Oklahoma institutions, which […]

Published

5 months ago

January 13, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Governor Stitt Signs Order to Support Oklahoma Student

Stitt said this proactive measure addresses the inconsistent national rules governing NIL payments, which have led to uncertainty and disparity among states and athletic conferences. Oklahoma institutions, which belong to different conferences with varying regulations, faced potential disadvantages that this order seeks to mitigate.
The order permits the creation of foundations to serve as a clearinghouse for entities to contribute to NIL funds without fear of retaliation or investigation from athletic organizations such as the NCAA or athletic conferences. It also ensures that Oklahoma taxpayer dollars will not be used for these payments.
“Oklahoma is home to some of the nation’s most outstanding student-athletes,” said Governor Stitt. “This executive order ensures that these student-athletes have access to the same opportunities as their peers in other states. It’s about leveling the playing field and maintaining the competitive edge that defines Oklahoma athletics. This action is a critical step to protect Oklahoma’s student-athletes and ensures they have the opportunity to succeed on and off the field.”
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt
The order allows institutions to facilitate direct payments to student-athletes for the use of their name, image, and likeness (NIL) while federal and legal decisions on NIL payments are still pending.
Key provisions of the executive order include:

Authorization for Oklahoma postsecondary institutions to facilitate NIL payments to student-athletes.
Protection for institutions and individuals from investigations or adverse actions by athletic organizations for engaging in NIL-related activities.
Restrictions preventing the use of state-allocated funds for NIL payments.
Automatic expiration of the order upon final settlement approval in the federal NIL litigation or the enactment of a federal law governing student-athlete payments.

Related Topics:athlete athletic nil sports

Up Next

RedHawks Shine in Season Openers

Don't Miss

Intel Teams With EPIC.LAN for Another Year

Click to comment

NIL

Anonymous ACC Coach Reveals College Football Program That Is ‘Lagging’ in NIL

NC State entered last season as a popular dark horse pick in the ACC, but failed to meet the lofty expectations. After a 9-4 season in 2023, the Wolfpack lost three of their final four games last season, including a loss to East Carolina in the Military Bowl. NC State finished 6-7 overall, finishing tied […]

Published

1 hour ago

June 12, 2025

Your Sports Nation

NC State head coach Dave Doeren — North Carolina State Wolfpack head coach Dave Doeren / Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Link

NIL

Texas Tech softball scores three more big additions from transfer portal

Hear Florida softball’s Mia Williams and Reagan Walsh speak after series opening loss to Oklahoma Williams hit a game-tying two run home run, and Walsh collected three hits in the 6-5 extra inning series opening loss to Oklahoma. The Texas Tech softball team nearly won a national championship with a lot of pitching, running and […]

Published

1 hour ago

June 12, 2025

Your Sports Nation

The Texas Tech softball team nearly won a national championship with a lot of pitching, running and defense and a smidgen of slugging.

All of the sudden, slugging could be one of the Red Raiders’ strong suits next season. And more proven pitching is on the way to complement ace NiJaree Canady.

On Saturday, June 7, Ohio State catcher Jasmyn Burns committed to Tech. On Tuesday, June 11, the Red Raiders picked up commitments from Florida second baseman Mia Williams, UCLA two-way player and two-time 20-game winner Kaitlyn Terry and Southern Illinois shortstop Jackie Lis.

Williams and Lis followed Burns in announcing their pledges to Tech on social media, and Softball America and D1Softball reported Terry’s commitment.

Burns hit 25 home runs this season, second in the Big Ten and tied for fifth in NCAA Division I. Williams hit 19 home runs, fifth in the Southeastern Conference and among the top 40 nationally. She batted .335 with 44 RBIs and was second among Gators regulars with a .714 on-base percentage and an on-base-plus-slugging of 1.144.

Lis hit a Southern Illinois career record 44 home runs over three seasons, earning first-team All-Missouri Valley Conference recognition all three years. She batted .356 with 17 homers and 57 RBIs as a freshman, hit .344 with 16 homers and 36 RBIs as a sophomore and batted .358 with 11 homers and 48 RBIs as a junior this season.

She’s a granddaughter of the late Joe Lis, a Major League Baseball first baseman and outfielder from 1970-77. Joe Lis Jr., her father, reached Triple-A with Toronto and Atlanta.

On the National Fastpitch Coaches Association all-America teams, Burns was one of 18 players on the first team and Williams was one of 18 players on the second team. Williams pronounces her first name “MEE-uh”. The Windermere (Fla.) Prep graduate was a sophomore this season.

She’s a daughter of former NBA point guard Jason Williams, who played 12 seasons and started on the Miami Heat team that beat the Dallas Mavericks for the 2006 NBA title. According to the Gainesville (Fla.) Sun, Jason Williams “was a regular fixture at games, sitting behind home plate.”

Florida finished 48-17 with losses in its first two games at the Women’s College World Series.

Terry can help the Red Raiders both ways, especially in the circle. In her second season at UCLA, Terry was 20-5 with a 2.64 earned-run average over 33 appearances, including 22 starts. The sophomore lefthander from Phoenix Greenway struck out 172 in 148⅓ innings, also on a WCWS team that finished 55-13. She batted .257 with two home runs, 24 RBIs and was 9 for 9 in stolen bases.

She was the Pac-12 freshman of the year and first-team all-conference in 2024, going 21-3 with a 2.38 ERA.

Texas Tech finished 54-14, made its first trip to the WCWS and lost the deciding game in the best-of-three championship series to Texas. Before the series, Patrick Mahomes gifted the team with Texas Tech letter jackets featuring his Gladiator logo from Adidas. The Kansas City Chiefs quarterback, Texas Tech alum and prominent fan of his alma mater also made it to Oklahoma City for the championship series Game 2.

The Red Raiders rode Canady, who went 34-7 with a 1.11 ERA. The junior righthander won the Honda Sport Award for softball as the most outstanding college player of the year.

Mihyia Davis, with 27 stolen bases, was one of five Red Raiders to reach double digits in that category. Canady was the only Tech player to reach double digits in home runs. She’s likely to have plenty of company in that department next season.

Link

NIL

SDSU launches athlete retention fund

The House settlement, a landmark agreement that allows universities to directly pay athletes, was approved by a California judge Friday night. Within hours, at 9:58 p.m., San Diego State had announced the launch of the Student-Athlete Recruitment and Retention Fund that athletic director John David Wicker said “is a vital step in ensuring we continue […]

Published

2 hours ago

June 12, 2025

Your Sports Nation

The House settlement, a landmark agreement that allows universities to directly pay athletes, was approved by a California judge Friday night.

Within hours, at 9:58 p.m., San Diego State had announced the launch of the Student-Athlete Recruitment and Retention Fund that athletic director John David Wicker said “is a vital step in ensuring we continue to compete for championships while also aligning SDSU Athletics with the future of college sports.”

It was met with a mix of frustration and confusion from many athletic boosters.

Frustration, because of “donor fatigue” or as one fan put it bluntly on a chat board: “How many things do I have to contribute to?”

Confusion, because the SARRF sounds an awful lot like the MESA Foundation, the NIL collective that amassed close to $3 million this season for, well, student-athlete recruitment and retention of the men’s basketball team.

At some universities, outside collectives are already being folded into the athletic department, now that the House settlement shatters the last illusion of amateurism and permits up to $20.5 million per school per year in revenue sharing with players starting July 1. At SDSU, for the time being at least, the MESA Foundation and football’s Aztec Link will remain in place, and donations to them will accumulate Aztec Club “points” that determine ticketing priority.

“It’s a recognition by the university,” MESA founder Jeff Smith said, “that our dollars can do the exact same thing as their dollars through the athlete retention fund that doesn’t really have the ability to be up and running and be impactful just yet.

“If people make the mistake of believing that now that the school has the ability to participate in athlete compensation because of the House settlement, they no longer have to support through MESA, then all the work that’s been done with the program for the last three years will be for naught and all the concerns we’ve had about losing players in the offseason will become reality.”

The athletic department’s response about which to support is: All of the above.

SDSU needed to create an in-house donation mechanism to compensate athletes because most sports don’t have outside NIL collectives, and even football’s Aztec Link started later than MESA and has struggled to generate the kind of war chest needed to be competitive in the brave, new world of college athletics.

A FAQ section accompanying the announcement of SARRF offered this answer to whether MESA and Aztec Link will now go away:

“Not at all. Both collectives will continue their important work and complement the efforts of the new fund. Together, they ensure SDSU has a robust and multifaceted support system for student-athletes.”

The SARRF allows donations to be designated for specific teams (but not specific athletes), so in theory the money from the SARRF and MESA ends up in the same place. There are subtle differences between them, though.

SARRF is administered by the Campanile Foundation, the university’s nonprofit fundraising organization. That typically means a percentage of any donations is siphoned off for overhead costs.

MESA, which also offers tax-deductible contributions, is an outside entity with only one full-time employee – president Caroline Ripley – and a few student interns. Smith and his wife, who in three years tirelessly grew MESA from nothing to raising enough money to help retain the bulk of last season’s roster in an era of unlimited player movement, serve as volunteers.

That allows MESA, Smith says, to distribute about 93% of donations to players. (SARRF’s FAQs do not indicate what percentage of the fund will be diverted to the Campanile Foundation or other administrative costs.)

Another difference: MESA’s meet-and-greet events with men’s basketball players aren’t subject to Title IX equity because it’s an outside organization that, unlike the university, does not receive federal funding.

MESA pays players in monthly installments in exchange for their participation in about a half-dozen community service events per year as well as social media posts. Because SDSU is opting in to the House settlement, any NIL compensation beyond school-distributed revenue sharing comes under the scrutiny of a new NIL clearinghouse that will prohibit individual deals above “market value.”

There’s a simple workaround, however. Because SDSU will not come close to distributing the allotted $20.5 million in revenue sharing (think more like $1 million or $2 million), MESA can simply transfer what it collects to the school, which forwards it to the athletes.

For the 2025-26 season, SDSU is not expected to provide revenue sharing with basketball players. All of their money will still come from MESA. And since the players’ current NIL deals were signed before the House settlement was finalized, they aren’t subject to the clearinghouse’s scrutiny.

So why not put everything under one roof?

“At some point in the future, will there be a scenario where funds go to San Diego State’s athlete retention fund, or will they go to MESA and then to the athlete retention fund specific to basketball?” Smith said. “Those are definitely possibilities. But for right now, what we’ve built is working and what we’ve built can’t change.

“Once it’s very, very clear that’s the environment we’re playing in – and we are in regular conversations with the university – we’ll be more than prepared to do it. Because there’s so much unknown, for the time being MESA can’t change and the fan support of Aztecs basketball can’t change. We need to continue as we are.”

One fear is losing a unique class of MESA donor that identifies more with the program and its players – “the city’s NBA team,” coach Brian Dutcher likes to say – than the university. Despite pleas from the athletic department to include football in the MESA Foundation, Smith resisted.

“There are people who are not just supporters of the university and blindly write a check and hope the money goes to a good cause,” Smith said. “They’re individual sports fans and supporters. That’s something that definitely came out through our efforts. We are always very focused on being singular with basketball. We didn’t want to confuse the audience and have multiple sports.

“If those fans who were less inclined to contribute to San Diego State now believe that San Diego State is involved and they potentially reverse course, it’s a terrible thing for the program.”

The other piece of messaging is to dispel more general misconceptions about the House settlement, which means schools merely have the option of paying their athletes up to $20.5 million per year. It also means, at the overwhelming majority of universities, they have to first find that funding.

“The biggest concern I have,” Smith said, “is that the audience doesn’t understand that this new, in-house version of being able to compensate athletes does not mean there is any new money. It’s quite the opposite. Opting into the House agreement takes a budget that is already challenged and makes it even more financially challenging.”

Originally Published: June 11, 2025 at 3:09 PM PDT

NIL

House settlement offers huge advantage

The Friday news dump to end all Friday news dumps came last week at roughly 6:15 p.m., when U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken approved the settlement terms of the landmark House v. NCAA antitrust lawsuit that begins a new era for major college sports. The ensuing hours brought a series of statements and responses […]

Published

2 hours ago

June 12, 2025

Your Sports Nation

The Friday news dump to end all Friday news dumps came last week at roughly 6:15 p.m., when U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken approved the settlement terms of the landmark House v. NCAA antitrust lawsuit that begins a new era for major college sports.

The ensuing hours brought a series of statements and responses from various conferences, schools and industry stakeholders.

At 9:05 p.m., Washington chimed in.

The Huskies unveiled Dawgs Unleashed, described by athletic director Pat Chun as “an internal business unit” designed “to assist our student-athletes with maximizing their Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) opportunities.

“The potential number of valid business-purpose NIL opportunities for our student athletes, both locally and globally,” Chun added, “will be unmatched.”

Chun was referring to his school, which shares a metropolitan area with Starbucks, Microsoft and Amazon. But he could have easily been speaking to the collective might of Washington’s institutional brethren in the Big Ten.

No conference is better positioned for the era of revenue sharing and legitimate NIL. That includes the SEC, which used its fan passion and proximity to talent to dominate the sport for years. But the creation of the transfer portal and the rise of booster-run NIL collectives this decade have reshaped the roster construction process.

Since that point, the playing field has leveled out. The Big Ten won the national championship in 2023 (Michigan) and 2024 (Ohio State) and bolstered its success at the top with quality depth. The conference went 5-1 against the SEC in bowl games last season, with two playoff victories (both courtesy of Ohio State).

The post-settlement world could supercharge the recalibration of the competitive landscape and herald a golden age for Big Ten football.

“And it’s not happenstance,” a conference source noted.

Every major strategic move made by the conference for the past 20 years — from the creation of the Big Ten Network to the bicoastal expansion — has positioned the Big Ten for the post-House world.

Two pillars of the settlement are rooted in real-time economics:

— Schools are allowed to share up to $20.5 million with athletes in the upcoming fiscal year, with the number expected to climb over time as revenues increase.

Most athletic departments in the Big Ten, SEC, ACC and Big 12 will devote approximately $15 million to football. The schools with the largest revenue streams (media rights revenue, ticket and merchandise revenue, philanthropic revenue) are best equipped to absorb that massive expense without rolling back key resources like recruiting budgets and coaching staff salaries. The Big Ten’s TV deal, worth about $1 billion annually, is the largest in the country.

— The power conferences created the College Sports Commission to enforce “valid business-purpose NIL opportunities” (Chun’s phrasing) and eliminate the pay-for-play deals negotiated by booster-run collectives. Any agreement of $600 or more must be reported to NIL Go, a technology platform designed by Deloitte that will determine whether deals fall within a reasonable range for the service performed.

Legitimate NIL deals offer a means for schools to surpass the $15 million in revenue-sharing allocated to football rosters. To exceed the cap, in other words.

How far above the cap could they go? Some schools might use their in-house NIL units — their versions of Dawgs Unleashed — to broker $3 million or $4 million in valid NIL opportunities for football players; others might arrange for deals worth a total of $10 million.

The outcome hinges, to a large extent, on the local and regional business communities that will serve as the source of NIL opportunities.

And therein lies the Big Ten’s structural advantages: the depth and scope of its alumni base, the wealth of its communities and the size of its media markets.

In all regards, it seemingly owns a decisive advantage over its rival:

— The Big Ten’s 14-state footprint (and Washington, D.C.) features 235 companies listed in the Fortune 500. The SEC footprint has 130.

(Notably, publicly-traded companies are not subject to the reasonable compensation provision in the settlement, although their status can be changed if the College Sports Commission determines they are an associated entity of the school.)

— The Big Ten footprint features 12 of the top 25 media markets in the country, including four of the top five (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Philadelphia). The SEC footprint features five of the top 25.

— Big Ten schools have a combined current enrollment of approximately 825,000 undergraduates compared to the SEC’s 600,000, an indication of the comparative size of the alumni bases.

— And perhaps most tellingly, the gross domestic product of the Big Ten states was $12.5 trillion last year, while the GDP of the SEC states totalled $8.4 trillion.

(We did not include the state of New York when calculating the GDP of the Big Ten footprint or Fortune 500 companies. However, we included New York City as a media market for the conference because the Big Ten Network is available on a basic, in-market tier on the cable systems. If you add New York’s GDP, the total for the Big Ten footprint jumps to $14.8 trillion. Adding Fortune 500 companies in New York would increase the Big Ten’s total to 287.)

On the foundation of roster construction in the post-House world, a source noted: “The last environment was about billionaires writing checks. This era will be about business opportunities.”

In theory, at least.

Legal experts question the validity of the NIL Go system used to determine whether deals fall within what the College Sports Commission (CSC) calls “a reasonable range of compensation.”

That description is code for fair market value, which many believe can only be defined by the market itself — not by a technology platform created by a client (Deloitte) to assist an entity (the CSC) that’s working for the schools.

Legal challenges to NIL Go assessments seem inevitable. If successful, they could derail oversight and return the player procurement process to the current landscape, which ACC commissioner Jim Phillips described on Monday as “an unregulated environment with no rules and no enforcement.”

Even if NIL Go withstands legal challenges and roots out illegitimate NIL deals, thus giving the Big Ten an apparent advantage, there is a potential recourse:

The return of under-the-table cheating.

The CSC’s chief executive is Bryan Seeley, a former lead investigator for Major League Baseball. Eventually, Seeley will hire a staff and create a penalty matrix, but he won’t have subpoena power.

How will the CSC police boosters in every college town (and big city) in the country?

Donor-funded NIL collectives won’t dominate the marketplace, but they will retain some influence. And if donors are determined enough, they can pull out the rules circumvention playbook that has existed for decades.

The return of under-the-table cheating could mitigate the Big Ten’s advantage in legal, legitimate NIL.

But for a conference that spent more than a decade watching the SEC celebrate one title after another, the structural advantage in talent acquisition created by the House settlement constitutes a major upgrade in the competitive balance.

*** Send suggestions, comments and tips (confidentiality guaranteed) to wilnerhotline@bayareanewsgroup.com or call 408-920-5716

*** Follow me on the social media platform X: @WilnerHotline

Link

NIL

Paul Finebaum Warns House NIL Ruling Is a “Ticking Time Bomb”

Paul Finebaum Warns House NIL Ruling Is a “Ticking Time Bomb” originally appeared on Athlon Sports. Just days after the groundbreaking House Settlement cleared a major hurdle in court, ESPN’s Paul Finebaum is raising red flags, again. Advertisement During a sharp segment on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning, the SEC Network veteran didn’t mince […]

Published

2 hours ago

June 12, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Paul Finebaum Warns House NIL Ruling Is a “Ticking Time Bomb” originally appeared on Athlon Sports.

Just days after the groundbreaking House Settlement cleared a major hurdle in court, ESPN’s Paul Finebaum is raising red flags, again.

During a sharp segment on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning, the SEC Network veteran didn’t mince words: The agreement may offer temporary clarity in the chaotic world of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) compensation, but the legal fight is far from over.

“Today they [Power Four commissioners] did [win],” Finebaum said. “But what’s behind the curtain is what always concerns and keeps people that run college athletics up at night.”

For fans celebrating what seemed like a turning point in college sports, Finebaum’s comments are a sobering reminder: This ruling might be just the beginning. While the House Settlement unlocks a future that includes backpay for past athletes, new NIL regulations, and even revenue sharing for current players, it also opens the floodgates to legal chaos.

Judge Claudia Wilken’s 76-page decision explicitly stated that every element of the agreement remains challengeable in court. That, according to Finebaum, is where things get dangerous.

“If something is challengeable… it will be challenged,” he added. “I know attorneys are actively moving, trying to figure out where the best route is, where the best lawsuit lies.”

Finebaum didn’t just point fingers at the legal system, he lit it up. He criticized lawyers for prioritizing profit over fairness and warned fans to watch out for the same players who filed this case to begin with.

“There will be a bevy of lawsuits,” Finebaum said. “And that’s where this is gonna get uncomfortable.”

He’s not alone in his skepticism. The House ruling contradicts NIL-friendly laws in states like Tennessee, which still allow schools and collectives to exceed the proposed compensation caps. It also introduces a new enforcement body, the College Sports Commission, whose effectiveness remains untested.

Meanwhile, a potential federal solution seems stalled in the same gridlock that’s frustrated college administrators for years.

“I don’t believe we’re any closer to that than we were… three years ago,” Finebaum said. “Congress is not a body made to make decisions.”

As the dust settles on the House Settlement, fans and athletes alike are left to wonder: Is this the long-awaited stabilization of college sports, or just the calm before another legal storm?

For now, the Power Four conferences are touting a win. But Finebaum, with his finger on the pulse of college athletics for decades, warns this could be a “ticking time bomb” waiting to explode.

Related: The NCAA is Dead, Long Live the Game

Related: The Last Great Underdogs: College Football’s Top 10 Most Legendary Walk-Ons

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 11, 2025, where it first appeared.

Link

NIL

Louisville basketball already holds perfect blueprint to steal ACC crown from Duke

Louisville basketball’s 2025-26 roster isn’t completely set, but what the fans do know is that the Cardinals are back. Louisville had a historic season last year, as the Cards’ broke multiple records, made their first ACC Championship game appearance, returned to the NCAA Tournament, and set this program up for future success. Head coach Pat […]

Published

3 hours ago

June 11, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Head coach Pat Kelsey put this program back on the map, and the Louisville Cardinals are just getting started. Mark Packer of the ACCN recently stated that Louisville is the team to beat and his way-too-early prediction to win the ACC next season.

Louisville has been earning National Title recognition all offseason, and they just got more praise from another college basketball expert. CBS Sports’ Isaac Trotter recently ranked the ACC, and Louisville is sitting exactly where it belongs, as he has them in the perfect position to earn the program’s first National Championship since 2013.

Related: Louisville basketball’s monster offseason raises 7 burning questions

Louisville basketball already holds perfect blueprint to steal ACC crown from Duke

Trotter went ahead and listed the ACC in four tiers, with tier one being “Title Contenders,” tier two being “Top 25 caliber club”, tier three being “Bubblicious,” and tier four being “The basement.” The ACC was dominated by Duke last season, making them a massive target for the rest of the conference next season. In Trotter’s vision, he sees only the Cardinals with a chance to end the Duke Blue Devils’ ACC dynasty.

Louisville was the first team mentioned in these rankings, implying that they are ranked No. 1 in his eyes. The Cardinals and the Blue Devils are the only teams in tier one, once again making it clear that the two blockbuster showdowns between these two teams next season are going to have a lot at stake.

Trotter really likes the roster Kelsey has built, as he gives high praise to the Cardinals’ additions as well as key returners. He also adds that Louisville will have six players 21 years or older, implying the Cardinals have elite experience, as well as NBA talent.

Related: Louisville basketball sharpens claws for sweet revenge after dream matchup reveal

“Louisville’s offense is going to turbo-smash. Pat Kelsey has endless lineup versatility after building a backcourt that is the envy of everyone in college basketball circles. Brown is a five-star freshman who is a terrific playmaker, and he’s surrounded by two special shot-makers in Conwell and McKneely. 100 3-pointers apiece for those two studs? It’s not impossible in this 3-point-happy scheme. If paint touches are hard to come by, Kelsey can insert Wooley, who is going to get to the rim by land or by sea.

The Cardinals can rotate dudes throughout this frontcourt. Fru is no typical freshman. The 21-year-old German import is armed with 7-foot-5 wingspan, and figures to be an impact defender. Five-out offense with Pryor or Khalifa (when he gets eligible)? Sure. Four-out, one-in with Fru? Sure. Scheme versatility is everything these days, and Louisville has it. Oh, and Hadley is also back to do all the winning stuff. There’s just a beautiful mix of veterans (six of Louisville’s top-eight players are 21+) and the NBA talent you need to go big-game hunting.

Louisville looks like Louisville again, and that’s a beautiful sight for this sport.”

Isaac Trotter

His projected starting five is somewhat different, as he predicts Ryan Conwell to start at shooting guard and Isaac McKneely to start at small forward. He also has J’Vonne Hadley at power forward and Sananda Fru at center. The starting five is impossible to predict right now, but Trotter laid down a perfect blueprint for the Cardinals on how to defeat Duke: take advantage of Duke’s lack of experience.

Multiple freshmen will lead Duke, and while they have the best 2025 recruiting class, it is crucial to have key veterans on the roster to win big-time games. Louisville has the better roster from top to bottom, and the Cardinals will need to utilize their experience to win the big games against Duke and claim the ACC crown from Jon Scheyer’s Duke Blue Devils.

Related: Projected 2025-26 Louisville basketball starting lineup with and without Aly Khalifa

The ACC will see a massive upgrade from the past season, and the Cardinals are expected to lead the pack with this stacked roster. Louisville fans are already counting the days to tip-off, as this upcoming season is expected to be another historic one. However, this time, the Cardinals are expected to cut down some nets and hang some banners.

For all the latest on Louisville basketball’s offseason and recruiting, stay tuned.

Link