Apologies to any teams hoping to unearth the next Draymond Green, Jalen Brunson or Nikola Jokić in the second round of this year’s NBA draft.

Overlooked gems could be unusually scarce Thursday night with so many prospects returning to college to take advantage of the skyrocketing NIL market.

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In the pre-NIL era, college basketball underclassmen routinely entered the NBA Draft even if they were projected to slip to the second round or go unselected. They earned more money chasing an NBA two-way contract or an overseas payday than they could returning to a college model where the only payouts came under the table.

The calculus began to change in 2021 when a series of court rulings forced the NCAA to allow athletes to benefit financially from their name, image and likeness without fear of penalty. This spring, underclassmen who were fringe NBA prospects returned to college in record numbers because deep-pocketed college programs were willing to pay them as much as $3 million to $4 million per year.

Only 106 players entered the 2025 NBA Draft as early entry candidates, the lowest number since 2015 and down from a peak of 353 in 2021. More than half those 106 early entrants then withdrew from the draft before the NBA’s deadline — even some who might have been selected in the 20-45 range this week.

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Texas Tech’s JT Toppin, Florida’s Thomas Haugh, UConn’s Alex Karaban, Duke’s Isaiah Evans and Purdue’s Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn were among the prominent college stars who did not even test the waters this spring. Alabama’s Labaron Philon, Kentucky’s Otega Oweh and Auburn’s Tahaad Pettiford withdrew from the draft just before the May 28 deadline for underclassmen to make their decisions. So did Houston’s Milos Uzan, Florida’s Alex Condon, Michigan’s Yaxel Lendeborg and San Diego State’s Miles Byrd.

“This year’s draft class, more than any ever, has been affected by the NIL and affected by the new pay-for-play,” Boston Celtics general manager Brad Stevens told NBC Sports Boston last month. Stevens added that the absence of the prospects who returned to college would be felt in “the back end of the draft and even into the late first.”

That much was apparent from the lists of best available players entering Thursday night’s second round. Many were college seniors, from Stanford’s Maxime Raynaud, to Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner, to Auburn’s Johni Broome. Others were international prospects like Noah Penda and Bogoljub Marković.

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Among the players listed as potential second-round picks by Yahoo Sports NBA Draft expert Kevin O’Connor are undersized guards like West Virginia’s Javon Small, catch-and-shoot specialists like Kentucky’s Koby Brea and athletically limited big men like Villanova’s Eric Dixon. Those are the types of players who likely wouldn’t be selected in previous deeper drafts.

The good news for NBA teams is that the dearth of second-round talent could be a short-term problem. Some prospects who returned to college this year will exhaust their eligibility by 2026. Others could have more incentive to chase NBA money in the future.

The House vs. NCAA settlement puts a cap on how much colleges are allowed to pay athletes via revenue sharing and calls for the establishment of a new enforcement entity responsible for stamping out the pay-for-play deals that have dominated the NIL era of college sports. Athletes are required to submit to the new NIL Go clearinghouse all third-party NIL deals that exceed $600. The clearinghouse then must determine which deals are for a valid business purpose and are within a “reasonable range of compensation” and which are simply a recruiting incentive.

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How will the clearinghouse determine which deals are circumventing NIL rules and which are legitimate? Nobody knows. Nor does anyone know whether the clearinghouse’s decisions will hold up in court against a legal challenge.

The answers to those questions will determine whether future fringe NBA prospects turn pro as quickly as possible or keep returning to college in record numbers.

That trend will only continue if the seven-figure NIL money is still available.

CONWAY, S.C. – Coastal Carolina softball head coach Kelley Green announced the addition of five transfer student-athletes to the 2025 fall roster on Thursday afternoon.
 
Joining the Chanticleers are graduate students Savannah Jones and Kaelin Cash, senior Mackenzie Childers, junior Hannah Bendle, and sophomore Reagan Troy. The group will be joined by six incoming freshmen, Bailey Huff, Leah Kendall, Georgia Moss, Izzy Ramirez, Kelsey Sawvell, and Sara Zink, who signed with Coastal during National Signing Day on Nov. 13.
 
Savannah Jones
A four-year transfer from Bucknell University, Jones made her mark in the Patriot League earning All-Conference first team honors in 2024, along with second team recognition in 2023 and 2025. The Danville, Ind., native had a stellar senior season picking up three Pitcher of the Week selections while being named to the Patriot League All-Tournament team. In addition to her dominance in the circle, she contributed at the plate with a .253 batting average, tallying 96 hits, 45 runs, and 63 RBIs, and a .310 on-base percentage.

Green on Jones: “Savannah does a great job keeping hitters off-balance with her elite level change up and ability to pepper the corners.” 

 

Hannah Bendle

Bendle joins the beach after two successful seasons at Saint Francis, where she earned All-Northeast Conference honors and was recognized as an NEC Prime Performer. A native of New Concord, Ohio, she posted a .299 batting average over 83 career games with the Hawks, collecting six home runs, 35 RBIs, and 49 hits. Prior to her collegiate career, Bendle was a highly decorated high school athlete, earning two first team all-state selections, three first team all-district nods, and two MVL Player of the Year awards.

Green on Bendle: “Hannah is an athletic middle infielder with a strong lefty bat and is always a tough out in the box.”

 

Kaelin Cash

Cash began her collegiate career at Saint Joseph’s, where she earned Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team honors in 2022, followed by first team All-Conference recognition and a Player of the Week nod in 2023. During her standout sophomore season, she ranked third in program history for single-season home runs with 12 and led the conference in both slugging percentage and OPS. The Greenwood, Ind., native transferred to Michigan State in 2024 where she was an All-Big Ten second team selection and an NFCA All-Region second team selection during her senior year.

Coach Green on Cash: “Kaelin is a big-time player with a power bat and will be a great addition to our lineup.”

 

Reagan Troy

A four-year letterman at Broad Run High School, Troy was ranked the No. 31 prospect in the Class of 2024 by Extra Innings Softball. In 2023, she earned All-Dulles District first team honors and was named to the all-region second team. She also picked up Rookie of the Year honors in 2021. Over her high school career, she recorded an impressive 173 strikeouts across 129.1 innings pitched.

Coach Green on Troy: “We are excited to have Reagan in Teal. She has all the tools and drive to be an elite pitcher in the Sun Belt and beyond.” 

 

Mackenzie Childers

A senior from North Texas University, Childers made a name for herself in the circle as a two-time American Athletic Conference (AAC) Pitcher of the Week and an ACC Weekly Honor Roll honoree during her sophomore season. The Little Rock, Ark., native tallied 12 career wins, posting a 3.82 ERA across 54 appearances and 23 starts. Over 141.0 innings of work, she struck out 164 batters and held opponents to a .203 batting average.

Coach Green on Childers: “Mackenzie is a power pitcher with a history of success against elite hitters and will be an integral part of our pitching staff.”

 

For complete coverage of CCU softball, follow the Chanticleers on social media at @CoastalSoftball (X), @GoCCUSports (Instagram), and facebook.com/CCUChanticleers (Facebook) or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina Athletics at goccusports.com.

 

According to recent reports, the number of regular-season games that college basketball programs can schedule will increase from 31 to 32. This increase is not a requirement but allows programs an additional scheduling slot and flexibility. This move is not a major change and shouldn’t greatly affect the sport, but was it a good move or a bad move?

If you’re members of a league like the Big Ten or SEC then it’s definitely good news for you and your program. Those leagues have competitive 20-game league schedules which don’t leave a ton of room in nonconference. When you throw in holiday tournaments, conference challenges, and other rivalry matchups, you may have some of those teams with only 5 or 6 games left on their schedule. This addition gives them another opportunity to build their resumes and fit other exciting games on the docket.

You can easily look at this addition with an optimistic eye for the rest of the college basketball universe. A glaring example is in the ACC, a bona fide power conference that really struggled last season. NCAA Tournament teams like Duke, Clemson, and Louisville had to play more than a dozen games each against league members who were really struggling and certainly could have used an extra game to play a stronger opponent.

However, this move seems just like another power conference power grab that will have significant downsides for mid-major programs. Consider the current state of scheduling for those leagues. Prominent mid-majors aren’t getting games against power conference teams that will actually help their resumes and adding just another open slot isn’t going to change that. Do you really think that with an extra game on the schedule that the Alabama’s or North Carolina’s of the world are really going to want to play an upstart mid-major like Chattanooga or High Point?

It’s important to remember that this 32nd game is not required. It’s very likely that if it was it would lead to a great number of games against non-D1 opponents, something that already litters the schedules of a majority of low-major programs. One hope is that this extra opportunity could help create new conference challenges or other regular matchups but agreeing to these types of things is a two-way street.

When March rolls around after this change goes into place, you’ll have those ACC, Big Ten, and SEC teams with even more meat on their resumes while the mid-majors are placed even further behind the 8-ball. You could argue whatever you wanted about how additional opportunities are great for this sport and you wouldn’t be wrong, but remember what teams like Oral Roberts, Princeton and Saint Peter’s have done in recent years.

None of those three programs are in the same shape as their recent NCAA Tournament runs but you’d be hard-pressed to find a power conference program that would have wanted to play any of them at their peak, even at home. There’s no upside in playing these great mid-majors. That 32nd game for Duke or Kentucky likely becomes part of a tournament or a neutral-site game against another major team. That 32nd game for North Carolina Central or Northern Kentucky either doesn’t happen or isn’t exactly a highlight of the season.

In the end, this extra game is a relative good but it’s not as great of news as it initially seems. It’s a reminder that building a great schedule in college basketball continues to be a losing battle for strong mid-major programs. An extra chance to see star players will be fantastic but don’t get your hopes up for your favorite school to suddenly have a trip to Durham on the docket.

The Miami Heat drafted Illinois freshman guard Kasparas Jakucionis with the No. 20 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft on Wednesday.

One of the top international prospects in the world, Jakucionis earned Third Team All-Big Ten and Big Ten All-Freshman for Illinois this season after averaging 15.0 points, 5.7 rebounds and 4.7 assists while shooting 44.0% from the field and 31.8% from three. 

Jakucionis, who just celebrated his 19th birthday in late May, started the season on a tear before a midseason wrist injury and late-season slump. 

The 6-foot-6 guard from Lithuania averaged 16.7 points on 50% shooting (41.6%) three to go along with 5.4 rebounds and 5.4 assists during his first 15 games to lead Illinois to a 12-3 start. Jakucionis then suffered a wrist injury and missed two games but had five 17+ point performances in an eight-game stretch to seemingly bounce back. But Jakucionis struggled in his final nine games at Illinois, averaging 12.2 points on 36% shooting (25% three) with more turnovers (38) than assists (26).

Still, Jakucionis had one of the most productive freshmen seasons in Illinois history. He set the Illinois freshman record for 20+ point games (10) and averaged the fourth most points (15.0) by an Illini freshman behind only Kiwane Garris (15.9), Cory Bradford (15.4) and Deon Thomas (15.1) while also averaging the fourth-most assists (4.7) by an Illini freshman and the seventh-most rebounds by an Illini freshman (5.7).