Dallas Mavericks star big man Anthony Davis is one of the best basketball players in the world.

The accolades throughout his professional career speak for themselves. He helped the Los Angeles Lakers win the 2020 NBA Championship in the Orlando Bubble and is a 10-time All-Star who was named to the NBA 75th Anniversary team.

Selected No. 1 overall by the New Orleans Hornets in the 2012 NBA Draft, he has certainly lived up to the hype and expectations that follow being picked as a franchise cornerstone.

A future Hall of Famer, Davis’s dominance on the basketball court goes beyond even his NBA production.

When he experienced a growth spurt in college, he shot up rankings as a recruit and became the best player in the country.

He ended up with the Kentucky Wildcats for one season, helping them win the national championship as one of the most dominant college basketball players of the modern era.

During his lone campaign with Kentucky, Davis averaged 14.2 points, 10.4 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.4 steals and the most blocks in the country with 4.7 per game.

He was a one-man wrecking crew, picking up a laundry list of accolades and awards for his single season with the Wildcats.

How Does Anthony Davis Feel About NIL in College Sports?

Had Name, image and likeness deals been around at the time, he would have made a killing with how popular he was on and off the court.

As part of a collaboration with CeraVe, Davis sat down and did an interview with Sports Illustrated, where one of the topics discussed was NIL and how much it has changed college sports.

“It’s tough, because obviously they didn’t have that when I was in college,” Davis said, via Patrick Andres of SI. “It kinda takes away from the game a little bit because of — and I’m not hating — it takes away from the integrity in the sense of players are only going to certain schools because of the money.”

There is a lot of money being thrown around by schools, looking to bring the best players into their programs. It has also had an impact on the NBA Draft, with players being able to make money in college.

Not only are high school athletes being wooed by these schools, but so are established college players who hit the transfer portal looking for a payday, changing the entire recruiting dynamic from when Davis was in school.

“College basketball is still competitive, but the recruitment of it has kinda gotten a little wacky, especially when player can leave and enter the (transfer) portal and go anywhere. It just gets a little tricky,” Davis said. “The coaches either a) have to be more strategic with their recruiting, or b) if you don’t have a lot of money for NIL, that kind of takes away your school, your program, as far as being a top recruiter for some of these players.”

Likely gone are the days of a coach building something with a core group of players sticking together for multiple seasons.

The smaller programs are having their top-end talent poached by bigger schools, who are watching their regulars leave for bigger paydays elsewhere throughout the country.

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – Hailey Toney connected on a two-out solo home run and Texas Tech used another gem from NiJaree Canady in the circle to push the Red Raiders to one win from the championship series following a 3-1 victory over UCLA Saturday evening at Devon Park.

With the win, the Red Raiders, making their first trip to Oklahoma City, will await the winner of Sunday’s elimination game between No. 16 Oregon and No. 2 Oklahoma with a spot in the championship series of the Women’s College World Series on the line.

Texas Tech will face either the Sooners or Ducks at 6 p.m. Monday evening with a second game to follow 30 minutes later, if necessary.

NFL contracts have always been streamlined and at the fingertips of a coach like Bill Belichick. But the former Patriot is learning that navigating NIL is a very different challenge. For a coach who came from a league full of rules, there’s currently a noticeable lack of them when it comes to recruiting in the NCAA.

When we think of Belichick, we think of many traits and attributes. But perhaps the most noticeable of all his quirks is how meticulous he is about his ways. When you’re 73, you eventually grow accustomed to doing things a certain way.

However, a recent interview with Rece Davis suggests that Belichick hasn’t yet figured out the rules of NIL. It’s been an interesting navigation process for him, mostly filled with questions and trying to understand his parameters.

“For me, it’s really pretty simple. Tell me what the rules are, and then we’ll play by them. Right now, a lot of it’s up in the air,” Belichick shared on ESPN College Football.

“Once the house settlement’s done, once some rules are solidified, and honestly, it’ll probably take a year for this to settle in and see how things go. There’ll be some adjustments made.”

It definitely still feels like the Wild Wild West when it comes to the current state of NIL. At the moment, there’s no standardized set of rules—at least at the federal level. That’s why the NCAA has called on lawmakers to establish a uniform framework around it.

But with the amount of issues going on in the world right now, mixed with other factors like convenience and timeliness, NIL doesn’t seem like it’s going to be sorted out anytime soon. At least, not for another 2-3 years. 

Yet, Belichick doesn’t seem to care about what the rules are going to be for it. He simply wants to know what they are so that he can legally operate his UNC Tar Heels football team.

“I’d say right now, it’s a lot of ‘we’re not sure, we’ll have to wait and see.’ Some people view it one way, some people view it another way. You just have to come to an agreement on that. But I think things will settle eventually,” Belichick concluded.

It’s not exactly what fans of college football want to hear. Complaints surrounding Ohio State and Oregon’s ability to essentially pay for their football rosters drew the ire of many this past season. And with no rules on how much you can give to players, it’s become a contest of popularity, and who has the highest NIL payroll.

For Belichick, this must be tough to navigate. In the NFL, there was a free agency period, and every team had a hard salary cap they couldn’t exceed. It was a much clearer and more defined set of rules… and fairer, too.

But now in college, who knows how much NIL payroll UNC has to offer? Furthermore, who knows how much they’re allowed to spend, when they can spend it, or how much more other schools have? That’s information privy to very few. Belichick certainly has access to some of it, but it must still be difficult to fully grasp.

It’ll be interesting to continue tracking how Bill adjusts to college football. The product on the field may be similar, but off it, it’s a whole different ballgame. That’s what he’s learning day by day.