One college basketball insider blasted a rumor of Duke’s NIL deals with future NBA prospect Cooper Flagg on his podcast.

Cooper Flagg’s Alleged Deal Compared to Caitlin Clark’s Nike Deal By Aaron Torres

College basketball star Cooper Flagg’s future appears to be in the NBA as the presumptive number one draft pick. But a recent report about his NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) deals while at Duke University has caught the attention of insider Aaron Torres, who ridiculed it on the latest episode of his podcast at the 47-minute mark.

Torres cited a post on X, formerly Twitter, from Legion Hoops which claimed that Flagg reportedly made over $28 million in NIL deals. “When I saw that, I was genuinely blown away by A),” he began, “how many people don’t understand context, or two, how many believed it as factually correct. Well I’m here to tell you, it is the dumbest NIL story I’ve ever seen…it’s not factually correct, it sort of is but it isn’t factually correct.”

Torres continued, “Okay, so let’s just pretend that there’s a scenario where this Cooper Flagg thing could be real. So I went and looked it up, to see “Okay, what are realistic NIL numbers for athletes?” He soon came across former Iowa Hawkeyes basketball star guard Caitlin Clark. “Caitlin Clark signed a $28 million, eight-year deal with Nike. This is after she left college. Caitlin Clark signed for $3.5 million a year. Great money…but it ain’t $28 million.

“Zion Williamson…this was after his season at Duke, signed a five-year, $75 million deal. That’s $15 million a year. Again, not $28 million,” Torres said, adding: “Again, this is what annoyed me because nobody understood the context. And the context was very, very, very simple. The context was this…the contracts signed while you’re at Duke, the totality of them don’t mean that you made all that money while you’re at Duke.”

He would go on to illustrate his point, referencing a quote from a conversation between writer Howard Bryant and iconic sports host Bob Costas where Bryant stated that Flagg had a $13 million deal with New Balance and a $15 million deal with Fanatics. Torres asked how no one accounted for Flagg being in an AT&T commercial that ran during the NCAA Men’s Tournament or what he might’ve received from the collective at Duke.

Torres concluded by conceding that Flagg might’ve made some substantial money during his freshman season with the Blue Devils, but not that reported amount. He also stated that we could see a top prospect declare for the NBA Draft and then return back to college for the NIL deal.

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EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — J Batt said Michigan State has a top-10 athletic department in the country.

The school’s next athletic director made it clear that the football program must lead the way to make his statement ring true.

The Spartans have been shaky in recent years in the sport that pays the bills in college athletics, losing seven games last year in coach Jonathan Smith’s debut season.

“It comes down to resources and across the board, we will provide him and his staff with resources,” Batt said Wednesday when he was formally introduced.

Batt left Georgia Tech, where he was its athletic director since the fall of 2022, to take on the challenge of raising money and turning around a football program in the highly competitive Big Ten.

The university’s Board of Trustees, which approved the selection, is scheduled to vote on Batt’s hiring on June 13 and his first day on the job is June 16. Batt replaces Alan Haller, whose last day was May 11.

Batt helped Georgia Tech bounce back in football.

He hired coach Brent Key, who led the program to consecutive bowl games for the first time in a decade and earned a spot in The Associated Press Top 25 for the first time in nine years.

In Batt’s first season at Georgia Tech, 14 of 17 teams were in a postseason tournament.

Before leading Georgia Tech’s athletic department, he was executive deputy athletic director at Alabama and served as chief operating officer and chief revenue officer in the athletic department.

Basketball Hall of Fame coach Tom Izzo reached out to his friend, former Alabama and Michigan State coach Nick Saban, as part of the school’s search.

“Nick had great comments about him,” Izzo said.

Batt recalled Saban speaking so fondly about Michigan State.

“He’s always been so positive about this place,” Batt said.

Batt also worked in athletics at East Carolina, Maryland, James Madison, William & Mary and North Carolina, where he played on the 2011 national championship soccer team.

Batt is regarded as a strong fundraiser, an asset for any athletic department in this era of college athletics.

At Michigan State, his top priorities will be to raise money and help the football program win.

Universities will be allowed to share up to $20.5 million in revenue with athletes next year. Direct payments will be in addition to third-party name, image and likeness deals facilitated by school-affiliated collectives.

“We’re going to be extremely successful and competitive in that space,” Batt said.

Just last week, Georgia football missed on the No. 1 tight end in the country. That player is Mark Bowman, and he made his commitment to USC official over the Bulldogs and many other elite programs.

This news shocked the college football world because many believed Georgia was the team to beat in his recruitment. Experts also didn’t even think USC was in second place in Bowman’s recruitment either. But experts sometimes get it wrong, and that appears to be the case here.

So what led Bowman to spurn Georgia and pick USC? Sure Bowman is from California, so staying home to play for a program like the Trojans is pretty enticing. But On3’s Scott Schrader detailed the large NIL package USC offered Bowman that likely played a huge role in his decision as well.

“We are told the NIL opportunity could provide Bowman an opportunity to earn $8-10 million in a three-year deal at USC.”

We gather here today to say goodbye to the Oklahoma softball dynasty, and hello to the NIL era.

Because if Texas Tech just proved anything, it’s that you can buy a championship. Last summer, the school spent a million dollars and change to lure the best player in softball to Lubbock, Texas, in hopes of making it to its first-ever Women’s College World Series.

Naturally, NiJaree Canady upped the ante.

The junior transfer from Stanford headlined a 3-2 defeat of No. 2 Oklahoma in the Women’s College World Series semifinal on Monday, ending Oklahoma’s pursuit of a fifth straight national championship. Instead, the Red Raiders will attempt to win their first, starting with Game 1 of the championship series against Texas on Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET. Game 2 follows Thursday at 8 p.m. ET, and Game 3, if necessary, is slotted for Friday at 8 p.m. ET.