Right at the buzzer, Otega Oweh came up clutch for Kentucky — just as he did for the Wildcats on multiple occasions during his debut season in Lexington. No, it wasn’t a game-winner against Oklahoma in Norman, or again against the Sooners in the SEC Tournament. This time, it was announcing his decision to return for his senior year in blue and white, pulling his name out of the draft ahead of the 11:59 p.m. ET withdrawal deadline. With workouts scheduled through May 28 beyond his time at the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago earlier this month, Oweh saw the process through, receiving all of the feedback he could get his hands on before deciding to run it back as a Wildcat.

What does that decision mean for Kentucky going into year two under Mark Pope? We know the team will be good, but how good? KSR breaks down the return of Tega-Tron.

Kentucky can win a title with this roster

As the pieces started coming together, it didn’t take long to see the vision. The Wildcats had talent last season, but lacked physicality, toughness and athleticism, and Pope quickly went out of his way to improve the roster in those areas while continuing to prioritize positional versatility with shot-making potential at every spot on the floor. Maybe no Koby Breas — generational shooters are generational for a reason — but zero non-shooters in sight.

And depth. Lots and lots of depth. Worried about a player or three losing a wheel, an unfortunate reality the team faced last year? Kentucky’s got a dozen others ready to play.

Oweh was the final piece of that puzzle and the glue ready to hold it all together. The complementary fits were all there, waiting for that star and face to anchor the lineup. It would have been a solid team without the All-SEC guard, but was it capable of making a championship run? That’s a question the Wildcats will fortunately not have to answer with his return.

Is this the most expensive team in college basketball?

Pope joked that Kentucky’s NIL budget was “close to $200 million” earlier this month, holding back a belly laugh when asked to address some of the numbers thrown around in connection with his roster. He wasn’t going to play ball there, but he did make it clear the program deserves the best of the best. The winningest program in college basketball should have the best talent and the money it takes to build championship rosters in this climate.

“This is the University of Kentucky. I never forget that. We should be the best at everything,” Pope said. “Put NIL, put the transfer portal on the list. Our job is to go be the best at everything. We’re not shying away from that. It’s important to us.”

Otega Oweh’s decision is the best example of Kentucky’s healthy NIL situation yet. He could have entered the transfer portal as a potential face of college basketball and Preseason All-American in 2025-26, going to the highest bidder as one of the sport’s top earners next season. He’s a name-your-price, blank-check talent, but didn’t even think to explore the open market. Instead, it was UK or the NBA.

Had those NIL conversations gone poorly — take Denzel Aberdeen’s unexpected move from Florida to Kentucky, for example — we’re likely talking about finding Oweh’s replacement right now, whether he had kept his name in the draft or pursued other options in the portal. Instead, the folks in Lexington made it more than worth his while to return, just as they have for the rest of this absolutely loaded roster.

Prepare for a second-year jump

Now that Oweh is back, the conversation turns toward what he can be in year two under Pope. If you ask the man in charge, this is typically when his players make the biggest jump, moving past learning the system and focusing on individual development.

“My guys in their second year take a massive leap,” Pope said. “We’re such a read-based offense, and in parts defense, where our guys are the deciders on the floor. They’re not looking over at me. We coach them to coach each other and communicate with each other.

“So, with a year under your belt now, now you’re coming in not to learn the game or do the game, but you come in actually starting to play the game and trick up the game and use all these actions and manipulate them in creative ways. And that’s where the game gets incredibly fun. So these second-year guys are going to be really key for us.”

That’s a game-changer for Kentucky and a problem for the rest of college basketball. Oweh was already the team’s leading scorer at 16.2 points per game while adding 4.7 rebounds (second-best on the team), 1.7 assists and 1.6 steals (best on the team) on 49/78/36 splits. If that’s the worst version we’ll see of Tega-Tron as a Wildcat, what does the best look like?

A clear path to first-round status

Oweh was already receiving  ‘really, really good feedback’ from NBA teams ahead of the withdrawal deadline, outperforming some of the early draft projections that had him fighting for second-round status. Most had him going undrafted, ESPN’s latest update listing the 6-4 guard as the No. 72 overall prospect in the field.

Fortunately for the Kentucky star — and part of why a return to Lexington made sense — there is an obvious path to solidifying himself as a first-round pick in 2026. His floor is already unbelievably high, Pope singling out his ‘elite’ physicality and explosiveness already, ‘as good as you’re going to find’ among current draft-eligible players.

Then you factor in the upside with ‘so much room to grow,’ as he put it.

“I think his ceiling as a playmaker, he hasn’t even begun to tap into that. I think he can become an elite, elite-level playmaker,” Pope said. “Something that he’s talked a lot about is his ability to get his shot off more quickly. He shot the ball really well last year at 36, 37 percent from three, but to get it off quicker and get more attempts, I think is a big deal for him. On the defensive end, his ability to kind of neutralize bigs on the glass and bigs on switches is a place where he can really excel. I think he has a chance to grow into one of the elite steals guys in the country.

“He’s got a ton of room to grow. He’s an unbelievable player who had a great season last year. It’s pretty fun to talk about.”

It was pretty fun to talk about those possibilities as Oweh tested the draft waters and explored the possibility of a return to Kentucky. Now that it’s official, there aren’t many things more fun to talk about than what year two of Tega-Tron looks like and just how good the Wildcats can be in 2025-26.

Welcome back, OO. Time to hang banner No. 9.

Georgia head football coach Kirby Smart is now taking on college collectives for alleged unscrupulous recruiting efforts involving high school prospects.

Smart opened up about the issue Wednesday, revealing to Yahoo! Sports that collegiate-based collectives “are striking deals with high school recruits” and paying “as much as $20,000” per month to keep their commitments, according to Yahoo! Sports‘ Ross Dellenger. Smart added that if a prep prospect de-commits from that collective’s school, they’re being asked to return their compensation, per Dellenger.

The head coach at Georgia complaining about high school recruits being held to their prior commitments is interesting given how often smaller programs with fewer resources — especially with regard to NIL — complain about major Power Four programs poaching their commitments with more favorable financial offers.

Still, collectives adding a recurring financial incentive in order to secure a high school player’s commitment — many of which come months if not years before they’re able to officially sign with a program — only highlights the free-wheeling ways many schools are taking advantage of the current unregulated NIL market prior to the finalization of the House v. NCAA settlement.

While the Power Four conferences prepare for the post-House landscape, the multi-billion-dollar settlement still needs to be formally approved by California district court Judge Claudia Ann Wilken, which could come anytime, according to On3’s Pete Nakos.

Report: NCAA to cede enforcement to new organization upon House settlement approval

If approved, the House v. NCAA settlement would pave the way for revenue-sharing between NCAA schools and student-athletes, with some programs able to share roughly $20.5 million annually, or 22-percent of the average Power Four school’s annual revenue, along with approximately $2.75 billion in back damages to former college athletes over a 10-year span. Football programs are expected to receive as much as 75-percent of each school’s revenue allotment, followed by men’s basketball (15%), women’s basketball (5%) and the remainder of sports (5%).

The settlement, which was recently revised at Wilken’s request, would also mean strict roster limits in football (105), men’s and women’s basketball (15), baseball (34), softball (25), men’s and women’s soccer (28) and volleyball (18), though the revised plan allows for grandfathering in of all current student-athletes and any that were preemptively cut before the settlement was finalized.

Last week, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported the development of the College Sports Commission, a new collegiate enforcement arm that would effectively replace the NCAA, establish and uphold new compliance rules while also doling out punishment for all violators. The CSC’s new CEO is expected to come from outside college athletics, according to ESPN, with the expectation a hire could be made soon after the House v. NCAA settlement is finalized.

“All the institutions are going to have new membership agreements that we’re all agreeing to these new rules,” an industry source told ESPN. “The CEO is going to have responsibility to make sure everything is enforced and the governance model is sound. It’s a critically important role for the future of college sports and college football.”

— On3’s Nick Schultz and Pete Nakos contributed to this report.

J. Kyle Mann is joined by Tate Frazier from One Shining Podcast as they discuss the ongoing debate over evaluating players based on their physical tools versus their game tape, NIL’s effect on the NBA draft, the upside for some of the players who decided to return to school, Michigan’s portal haul, and whether Florida can still be an elite team (02:25). Next, they dive into the Charlotte Hornets, as Tate explains why they should draft Tre Johnson, Brandon Miller’s role with the franchise, and whether it’s time to move on from LaMelo Ball (31:22).

Check out The Ringer’s 2025 NBA Draft Guide for all the latest prospect rankings, draft grades, and more!

Host: J. Kyle Mann
Guest: Tate Frazier
Producer: Jessie Lopez
Additional Production Support: Ben Cruz
Social: Keith Fujimoto

Torres is FSU’s first NFCA First Team All-American since Sydney Sherrill in 2019. Torres and Harp become FSU’s 38th and 39th players to earn an All-American honor. FSU now holds 59 total All-America honors in its history, 26 of them coming under Head Coach Lonni Alameda. 

Both Torres and Harp helped FSU break the school record for batting average (.346), hit the third most home runs in school history (83), score the fourth most runs in school history (452) and record the fourth most hits in school history (566). 

Torres had one of the best offensive seasons in school history for the Garnet and Gold to help her become a consensus First Team All-American as she was named a First Team All-American by Softball America, D1Softball and the NFCA. Torres broke the single season batting average record (.436), finished third in FSU history for most hits in a single season and was tied for fourth for most runs scored in a single season (70). Torres finished the year with nine home runs and 45 RBI on her way to a First Team All-ACC and First Team NFCA All-Region season. Torres recorded a hit in 51 out of FSU’s 61 games this season and reached base in 54 out of FSU’s 61 games.

Harp was a breakout star for the Seminoles in 2025 and became an instant threat in the Seminoles’ lineup. Harp finished the year with a .412 average with 10 home runs and 49 RBI in 49 games. More impressively, Harp hit 10 triples which was one triple shy of tying the school record. Harp led the team with a .765 slugging percentage and was second on the team with 15 stolen bases on 18 attempts. Harp started her year by recording a RBI in the first 10 games of the season which was the longest streak in school history. 

For updates and exclusive content, follow the Seminoles on X (FSU_Softball), Instagram (fsusoftball) and Facebook (Florida State Seminoles Softball). 

With Arch Manning moving into his first season as the starting quarterback in burnt orange and white, how much are the Texas Longhorns spending on NIL?

Coming off back-to-back appearances in the College Football Playoff semifinals, the Longhorns are back in the national spotlight, increasing speculation about the roster spend for Texas as the program moves into the top five nationally in blue-chip ratio.

According to a report from the Houston Chronicle based on an anonymous source, the Horns will spend $35 to $40 million on their 2025 roster if revenue sharing with athletes as a result of the anticipated House vs. NCAA settlement.

In Destin, Florida for the SEC spring meetings, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian pushed back against that report in an appearance on Sirius XM’s SEC radio channel.

“What’s frustrating on that is that it was a little bit of irresponsible reporting,” Sarkisian said. “One anonymous source said that’s what our roster was. I wish we had $40 million on our roster, we’d probably be a little bit better team than we are.”

The report spread quickly.

“What’s crazy about this day and age in which you guys operate in — and I’ve watched this for 25 years now, the evolution of Twitter and social media and podcasts — one guy writes an article from an anonymous source that says, that’s what our roster is, and everybody ran it,” Sarkisian said.

“I’m talking real publications ran with it, and it was like, that’s what’s going on in Texas. Nobody asked me one question. Like, okay, sure, but if that’s what you think, that’s fine. If that’s the narrative you want to paint for our team. That’s fine, whatever.”

Sarkisian didn’t provide a specific number that Texas expects to spend on its roster if revenue sharing goes into place this year, but he did hint at it.

“I wish I had about another 15 million or so, though, we might have a little better roster,” Sarkisian said.

That would put the roster spend between $20 and $25 million, a number that deserves some context because Sarkisian revealed last month that three-year starting quarterback Quinn Ewers never took NIL money from the school collective, instead becoming a multi-millionaire by signing outside endorsement deals like Manning inked with Red Bull, Panini America, Uber, and Vouri this offseason.

So whatever money Texas will spend on its football roster this year, the total team income from NIL is much higher.