Houston completed an improbable comeback against Duke in the second game of the Final Four. The Cougars will now have an opportunity to win their program’s first-ever national championship when they face off against Florida, a team that got red-hot down the stretch to win the SEC Tournament and stave off some upset bids during […]
Houston completed an improbable comeback against Duke in the second game of the Final Four.
The Cougars will now have an opportunity to win their program’s first-ever national championship when they face off against Florida, a team that got red-hot down the stretch to win the SEC Tournament and stave off some upset bids during March Madness.
A lot of the conversation about this year’s NCAA Tournament has been about the lack of upsets, resulting in a chalky Sweet Sixteen and eventual Final Four that featured all No. 1 seeds for only the second time ever.
The quick judgement about why this year’s tournament wasn’t filled with Cinderella stories resulted in NIL being blamed, with transfers throughout the sport being touted as “money chasers.”
However, that wasn’t the case for two star transfers on Duke and Houston.
“My goals in the portal weren’t necessarily financial. When I came into college it was before NIL so I knew that I signed up to play for zero dollars and I didn’t mind playing for nothing, I knew what I signed up for. When I was in the portal it was really about preparing myself for the next level and being able to play in the NBA and I felt like this gave me the best chance,” Blue Devils guard Sion James said, per Eric Bossi of CBS Sports.
James spent the first four years of his career at Tulane, the program that recruited him out of high school. And once he was able to go somewhere else as a grad transfer, he turned down money from other programs and chose the right fit.
Same with Cougars star Milos Uzan.
When asked if he could have gotten more money from another schools besides Houston, he responded, “For sure. Some of the numbers that are out there are crazy.”
Uzan left Oklahoma after two years, searching for an opportunity to compete at the highest level.
He got that with Houston, and he turned down more money from other programs so he could be exactly where he’s going to be on Monday; on the floor competing for a national championship.
NIL might be getting blamed for what has transpired during the NCAA Tournament, but many of the impact players who are on the teams that made these deep runs landed with their new programs for reasons other than strictly money.
