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RJ Luis remains in NBA Draft rather than return to college and enter transfer portal

RJ Luis will not be wearing another college basketball uniform as he is remaining in the NBA Draft instead of returning to college basketball and officially jumping into the transfer portal. Luis announced his intentions to both declare for the 2025 NBA Draft as well as enter the portal shortly after the St. John’s basketball […]

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RJ Luis remains in NBA Draft rather than return to college and enter transfer portal

RJ Luis will not be wearing another college basketball uniform as he is remaining in the NBA Draft instead of returning to college basketball and officially jumping into the transfer portal.

Luis announced his intentions to both declare for the 2025 NBA Draft as well as enter the portal shortly after the St. John’s basketball season ended in the Round of 32 against Arkansas.

However, Luis never wavered from his commitment to the draft despite many projections not having him selected in either round as well as the potential to get very lucrative offers from other college programs.

Recently, North Carolina and Kansas were two of the schools pursuing Luis the hardest.

The Field of 68 first reported the news that the Big East Player of the Year would remain in the 2025 NBA Draft.

“There will be no change of heart,” his father, Reggie, told the outlet. “RJ’s excited about the future. He’s appreciative of St. John’s, Coach Pitino and the fans. He wants to leave college as Johnnie.”

The end of Luis’ career with St. John’s ended ugly as he was benched for the final five minutes of the Red Storm’s season ending loss after shooting 3-of-17 from the field.

“We understand the situation; we were offered a lot of money to go back to college,” his father added. “But we have a plan and we’re going to stick with the plan.”

Regardless of Luis’ decision, his career at St. John’s was over.

After spending his freshman season at UMass, Luis battled a broken hand and shin splints during his sophomore season at St. John’s which forced him to get double shin surgery last spring. He responded by averaging 18.2 points, 7.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 1.4 steals per game in as a junior while shooting 43.9-percent from the field and 33.6-percent from 3-point range.

Luis, who was also named as the Most Valuable Player of the Big East Tournament, is still not projected to be picked in various notable mock drafts but could find his way into the second round.

The NBA Draft will take place from June 25-26.

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Baker discusses NIL in new revenue sharing world

The House Settlement is set to change a lot of things in the world of college athletics. With that will come the rise of revenue sharing allowing college programs to distribute money to student athletes, but the world of NIL isn’t necessarily going away either. But with the settlement will come some guardrails and will […]

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The House Settlement is set to change a lot of things in the world of college athletics.

With that will come the rise of revenue sharing allowing college programs to distribute money to student athletes, but the world of NIL isn’t necessarily going away either.

But with the settlement will come some guardrails and will allow for a certain amount of matchmaking for those real NIL opportunities.

“You know, the old system of donors just throwing money into one big collective bundle, thus the name collectives. And then making up some reason to pay for play is very much the target of the settlement implementation. They want to eliminate that,” Athletic Director Wren Baker told 3 Guys Before the Game.

But would be permitted are any kind of forward-facing business that has goods and services for sale that want to do deals with student-athletes according to Baker.

Those deals have to pass the Deloitte Clearinghouse if they’re greater than $600 according to Baker.

“You just put the deal in and it’ll kick you out a range of compensation,” Baker said. “So you have really three options. If you kick in a deal and the range of compensation is $100,000 and you had signed this deal for $200,000 you can either go back and make the deal $100,000. You could change the amount of activity that you were going to do for the $100,000 potentially to make more value creation there. Or you could shift some of that deal.”



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NCAA, college athletic departments need to fully embrace athletes as employees

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Hugh Freeze blasts Paul Finebaum for not understanding Auburn football’s recruiting

Auburn head football coach Hugh Freeze doesn’t think Paul Finebaum, and similar talking heads, understand the nuances of NIL in the modern recruiting landscape. Freeze called out Finebaum by name for criticizing him for not signing every in-state receiver, given that he has already committed to time and salary for players already on the program’s […]

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Auburn head football coach Hugh Freeze doesn’t think Paul Finebaum, and similar talking heads, understand the nuances of NIL in the modern recruiting landscape.

Freeze called out Finebaum by name for criticizing him for not signing every in-state receiver, given that he has already committed to time and salary for players already on the program’s payroll. He also took issue with criticism of his golfing habits.

To Freeze, Finebaum and his ilk are assuming things are still like the old days, when in reality, college football functions more like pro sports. Freeze hammered home the point by using Jackson Arnold and Deuce Knight as an example of why he wouldn’t get another quarterback.

“The other thing that nobody talks about–and y’all may, I don’t listen to much–I’m not on social media, my daughter does it… ‘Well, Freeze is not getting this receiver in-state.’ Do y’all realize, on paper, I am not losing a single receiver? This is not like the old days where you sign 25 guys and then figure out who the 85 are. This is actually a salary cap world and I like our receiver room. How do I go and make offers to receivers at numbers that these other schools are when, come January, I kind of want to keep the one I have. I don’t think the Finebaum’s of the world or any of them think about all of that. They just say he’s playing golf and not recruiting,” Freeze told David Pollack on the “See Ball Get Ball” podcast, per On3.

“There are just a lot of dynamics into it right now. I’m confident that our staff–we have not changed a single approach with our recruiting, people love it when they come to Auburn. But, there are just a lot of dynamics that go into their decisions currently. Come August 1, everybody has to put this in writing now and we will see where everything shakes out after that. How in the world are you going to convince a third 5-star quarterback to come to you when you have Jackson Arnold and Deuce Knight? If we’re really operating under a true salary cap where we have no idea what an NIL value is until they decide that, which is our interpretation of the new rules, how do you do that?”

Freeze’s recruiting may be over-scrutinized right now, but given the number of high-level recruits he brought on that ended up elsewhere in short order, perhaps he was being overrated before.

His results on the field don’t speak for themselves. Not in a good way, anyway.

He doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt from people like Finebaum. That’s earned by not making him look like a fool for having faith in the Tigers the last two years.



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Martin Newton, son of late C.M. Newton, named chair of DI Men’s Basketball Committee in 2026-27

A familiar name and face in the Bluegrass is set to hold a massive role in college basketball this season at the national level. Samford Director of Athletics Martin Newton, the son of the late C.M. Newton and a former Kentucky men’s basketball staff member, has been named chair of the NCAA Division I Men’s […]

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A familiar name and face in the Bluegrass is set to hold a massive role in college basketball this season at the national level. Samford Director of Athletics Martin Newton, the son of the late C.M. Newton and a former Kentucky men’s basketball staff member, has been named chair of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee for the 2026-27 season.

He will serve as vice chair this season alongside Sun Belt Conference commissioner and 2025-26 chair, Keith Gill.

Newton has been at Samford since 2011, leading the Bulldogs to 87 regular-season and postseason Southern Conference championships over the past 14 years. As a student-athlete, he was an honorable mention All-Southern Conference basketball player and earned a degree from Samford in 1983. After his playing days, he spent over a quarter century in marketing with major shoe companies before joining John Calipari at Kentucky as his director of operations for men’s basketball.

In two years in Lexington, Newton managed budget, fundraising, compliance, scheduling, marketing and academic support for the men’s basketball program under Coach Cal. From there, he was hired as AD at Samford and has become one of the best in the country at his job.

”Samford University is not only bringing home one of their own, but they are getting one of the brightest and most progressive athletic administrators I have ever been around,” Calipari said of Martin’s departure at the time. “(He) has been a huge asset for the University of Kentucky basketball program over these past two years and on a personal level he has become a dear friend and trusted confidant. …

”This is the greatest part of occupying the seat I have at UK — seeing our staff members reach their dreams and further their own careers. Everyone at UK wishes Martin all the best and we thank him for all his hard work and dedication.”

His father, C.M. Newton, was a legendary college basketball player, coach and administrator, who served on the DI Men’s Basketball Committee from 1992-99 and chaired it his final two years as AD at Kentucky. He played from 1948-51 under Adolph Rupp and won the ’51 championship as a Wildcat, then served as AD from 1989-2000 where he added three sports — men’s and women’s soccer and softball — and expanded facilities and grew revenues in response to the increasing financial pressures of college athletics. Kroger Field’s playing surface is named C.M. Newton Grounds in his honor after he helped expand the stadium, along with the baseball stadium, while also acquiring a golf course, building softball and soccer complexes, a new tennis stadium and the Nutter Field House.

He was also known for hiring Rick Pitino and Tubby Smith — the latter, along with Bernadette Mattox — marked the first two African-American head coaches for UK men’s and women’s basketball, respectively.

C.M. Newton, a Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame inductee in 2000, passed away in 2018. Now, his son is continuing to follow in his footsteps well.

“It is a tremendous honor to be elected to this prestigious position by my colleagues on the committee,” Martin Newton said. “When I was appointed to the committee in 2022, I considered it one of the highlights of my professional career, not only for the opportunity it presents but because I got to follow in my father’s footsteps. To further follow those steps by taking a leadership position within this group is a bit surreal. My family and I feel an extraordinary sense of pride to have this opportunity.”

Certainly making his father and the University of Kentucky proud.



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NCAA Division I men’s basketball committee ushers in new committee chair

Sun Belt Conference Commissioner Keith Gill has officially begun his tenure as Chair of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee for the 2025-26 season, following the committee’s annual summer meeting in Savannah, the Sun Belt Conference announced on Friday. Gill’s appointment marks the culmination of a five-year term on the committee that began in […]

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Sun Belt Conference Commissioner Keith Gill has officially begun his tenure as Chair of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee for the 2025-26 season, following the committee’s annual summer meeting in Savannah, the Sun Belt Conference announced on Friday.

Gill’s appointment marks the culmination of a five-year term on the committee that began in the 2021-22 season. He previously served as Vice Chair during the 2024-25 campaign.

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The NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee is tasked with one of college sports’ most high-profile responsibilities: selecting, seeding and bracketing the field for March Madness. The 87th Division I Men’s Basketball Championship will conclude with the Men’s Final Four in Indianapolis on April 4 and 6, 2026, marking the ninth time the city has hosted the event.

This season’s Final Four weekend is set to feature an expanded slate of basketball action. The National Invitation Tournament (NIT) semifinals will be held Thursday, April 2, at Butler’s Hinkle Fieldhouse. The NIT championship game, along with the NCAA Division II and III national championships, will take place Sunday, April 5, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

Joining Gill on the 2025-26 committee are newly-elected Vice Chair Martin Newton of Samford, Mark Coyle of Minnesota, Irma Garcia of Manhattan, Stu Jackson of the West Coast Conference, Arthur Johnson of Temple, Zack Lassiter of Abilene Christian, Lee Reed of Georgetown, Chad Weiberg of Oklahoma State, John Wildhack of Syracuse, and Tom Wistrcill of the Big Sky Conference.

MORE: Duke legend Cooper Flagg proved to Mavericks’ Jason Kidd he’s ready for ‘uncomfortable’ role



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Texas Tech, Yormark Lead Big 12 Weekly Winners

Share Tweet Share Share Email As the week wraps up, I wanted to start rolling out a new weekly feature on Heartland College Sports, titled: Winners and Losers. I know, very creative. But, with so much news happening across the Big 12 Conference on a weekly basis, this gives you a quick rundown of what […]

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As the week wraps up, I wanted to start rolling out a new weekly feature on Heartland College Sports, titled: Winners and Losers. I know, very creative.

But, with so much news happening across the Big 12 Conference on a weekly basis, this gives you a quick rundown of what you may have missed, with my three biggest winners and losers from the week that was. Here you go for the week of July 11th, 2025.

 

Big 12 Winners

Brett Yormark

Brett Yormark had a strong press conference to open up Big 12 Football Media Days this week. He shared full support for a 5+11 College Football Playoff model, and stood up for the Big 12 at a critical time in the history of college football.

“I expect the Big 12 to earn multiple College Football Playoff bids this year,” Yormark said emphatically.

That isn’t a pipe dream; it’s a vote of confidence in a league stacked with competitive teams and national relevance. With nearly half the league eyeing CFP contention, Yormark is doing away with the disrespect from outlets and predicting big things on the gridiron this fall.

He didn’t stop there, either. When asked about the Big 12’s preferred playoff path going forward, he doubled down, saying, “5+11 is fair. It may not be the best solution today for the Big 12, but long term, it’s the right format for us.”

“I’ll double down on it,” Yormark continued. “I’m sure [ACC Commissioner] Jim Phillips will, and other conference commissioners will as well.”

This is exactly what the Big 12 needed.

 

Matt Campbell

Think everyone is chasing every dollar in college football? Not quite. At least not in Ames, Iowa.

Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell isn’t one to chase headlines, but at Big 12 Media Days, he dropped a line that’s sticking with everyone who heard it.

“Our top 20 guys took a pay cut to come back to Iowa State,” Campbell told ESPN’s Pete Thamel.

In a college football world built on NIL dollars and transfer offers, that’s about as rare as it gets. Campbell made it clear that his best players had bigger offers on the table, and they still chose to stay in Ames. Not for the cash, but for each other.

That says everything about what’s brewing inside the Cyclones’ locker room.

Iowa State doesn’t have a massive NIL war chest, and Campbell’s not pretending otherwise. But what he does have is buy-in. Players like Rocco Becht, Abu SamaJeremiah Cooper, and more are returning not because they couldn’t cash out elsewhere, but because they believe they’re building something that can win big.

 

Texas Tech Football

Texas Tech has been one of the most-discussed college football teams in the country this offseason after a spending blitz that has expectations very high in Lubbock.

Texas Tech athletes will earn roughly $55 million in NIL across all sports in 2025-26, including $20.5 million in direct revenue sharing under the recently approved House settlement. Most of that is going to the football team.

Big 12 football coaches were expressing jealousy at Joey McGuire’s new-found resources. The media was hounding Texas Tech during their media session this week, drawing, by far, the most attention of any team in Frisco.

Expectations are huge and Tech will get a ton of attention, but now: Can they live up to the hype?

Big 12 Losers

Scott Frost

UCF head coach Scott Frost didn’t shy away from reflecting on his misstep at Nebraska during Big 12 Media Days on Tuesday afternoon.

He put it simply: “Don’t take the wrong job.”

Frost explained the lesson behind that advice, saying, “I said I wouldn’t leave UCF unless it was someplace you could win a national championship. I got tugged in a direction to try to help my alma mater, and didn’t really want to do it. It wasn’t a good move. I’m lucky to get back to a place where I was a lot happier.”

Listen, I get he doesn’t want to take a ton of blame for what went wrong, but he can’t take no blame. Saying basically, it was all Nebraska’s fault, is ridiculous.

In his last 16 games coaching at Nebraska, he lost 10 games by a single score (8 points) or less. That’s not the fault of the University. That’s on him. And if his main takeaway from his Nebraska tenure is that he took the wrong job, I’m not convinced he can learn from his mistakes to help UCF turn around in a crowded and deep Big 12 Conference.

 

NCAA Tournament

In a Heartland College Sports exclusive, our Matthew Postins spoke with Brett Yormark about the future of the NCAA Tournament. And it sure sounds like the plan is to expand, assuming CBS and Turner Sports will make it worth their time.

“I will say from a conference perspective, access matters,” Yormark said. “More access is good for a conference like the Big 12, which is very deep when you think about our men’s basketball programs. We’ll see what happens.”

I disagree. This is what the SEC says about the College Football Playoff. Who cares if the Big 12 gets 10, 12 or 14 teams in the NCAA Tournament? There are probably 2-4 that can get to a Final Four. That’s it. Why water down the college basketball season even more? That’s all this accomplishes. Especially for the Big 12, which has the deepest conference in the country.

The whole point of a deep conference is to create an exciting regular season. This accomplishes the exact opposite.

If college basketball figured out how to make their regular season more compelling, they would get higher ratings, which would lead to bigger revenues, without having to bastardize the NCAA Tournament even further.

The Projected Bottom of the Big 12 Standings

An “unofficial” Big 12 Football Media Poll was conducted, and the bottom of the Big 12 Conference was what many of us expect it to be.

Now, the fans of Cincinnati, Oklahoma State, West Virginia, Arizona and UCF can point to last season when the Big 12 standings were largely upside down from preseason expectations. But it’s hard to see the path for these teams.

Colorado and Arizona State ended up with elite quarterback play. BYU had the top defense in the Big 12. Can any of these five teams duplicate either of those things?

That remains to be seen.





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