Committing to Alabama? purely a rumor

Such moralizing nonsense. OU is the 179th ranked school in the country. There's a high probability chance that by transferring to a P5 school, he ends up at a better ranked school, and can make a little money. And maybe some of that money can help his actual family, as opposed to some arbitrary sense of family you're trying to apply so you can pretend his decision is somehow morally wrong.

Sucks for Ohio Basketball, but we don't own the dude. If he thinks this is the best thing for him, so be it. I hope he makes some money from basketball while he can. He worked really hard to get where he is, and I don't think he has an NBA future given how he played against guards with length.

Sucks but we need to deal with reality. NIL and transfer rules were going to take place. As some acknowledged at Christmas, wishing it away is like wishing a waterfall to stop.

Bottom line - as 1 year ago and 30 years ago, we do not compete with the Dukes and Michigans and NC States of the world, we compete with the other teams in the MAC. Look at the portal, all are split open - e.g., Ali Ali at Akron. Like anything in the open market, things will shake out, but it takes time...a few years and the yearly pledge week approach will subside... a bit. But for today, the teams that have an opportunity to offer recruits will find the most success. Ohio can offer today what it offered players yesterday and last month - a respected education, a solid program with a quality coach on beautiful campus with great fans and a consistent chance to win the conference and go to the Dance.

Players looking for substantial NIL opportunities will not find them here (or even an Akron) - per above, the players do not determine their value, the market does.

My take on Sears - look for him to transfer below the Mason Dixon line - his parents won'tt have to travel 10 hours to every game.

Appreciate the input from someone obviously more well versed in this new sports environment in which we find ourselves. Maybe things will improve for us over time as more and more players “test the waters” and begin to realize how good they had it. My guess is it will take several years however for that to happen and actually impact the decisions of a larger segment of athletes. Will it ever be same? Obviously no.

PG depth chart now down to Frazier, Sheldon and Estis. Combined 11 minutes of play time with Sheldon / Estis coming in. I'm slowly beginning to realize the MAC is turning into a college basketball "G League" of sorts. Sad.

It's truly bizarre to me how completely the NCAA managed to convince people that wanting to earn money is somehow wrong.

You think he's going to get a demonstrably worse education elsewhere? He either cares about it or he doesn't. If he does, he'll get a good education basically wherever. If he doesn't, it doesn't matter where he is. As for the "family" bit, you think he's not gonna be close with his teammates elsewhere?

I would rather he be a Bobcat next year. But if he's not gonna be, I'm not gonna pretend it's some immoral choice. And I'm certainly not going to criticize some kid's mom about the content of a conversation I wasn't involved in.

+100. Trying to be positive about this very talented class coming in - one dark horse in my mind is preferred walkon Ben Estis. I'd love to see that kid get a full ride with his family history here.

I think it was a very questionable move posting the content of a conversation with a player's parent. Anyway, who's to know if NIL is truly the main reason he's transferring?

Further questionable move to post comments about Sears leaving for NIL when we have no confirmation that's even a main reason.

Gotta love NIL….

That's the likely outcome.

Why do I even support this stupid sport anymore?

So a FREE 4, or 5 year ride was not enough? Although I loved him as a player, let's see how greed pans out for him.