If his future is overseas at best, there's nothing greedy about trying to position himself to earn whatever money he can on his talents in the meantime. He's worked very hard to be very good at basketball. He's likely not good enough to make a career of it, and there's an outside chance he can get a free degree and make some NIL cash. What's greedy about that?

You, on the other hand, are viewing this solely through a lens of your own self-interest. You would rather take money out of somebody's pocket then see him leave a basketball team you root for.

Who is the greedy one here, exactly?

The way everything collapsed the last couple weeks makes you wonder if Sears’ and BVP’s departures weren’t widely-known within the locker room.

I can't imagine that's true. If it was, even LESS reason to accept that ridiculous CBI invite.

It’s funny how people online/social media keep calling Mark Sears a PG. We know that Sears is not a PG. Jason Preston was a PG.

I crack up how everyone online is raving about his PG skills. Averaged 4 assists. At Kent State? 0 assists. Vs Kent in MAC tourney…1 assist. At LSU 1 assist. His best was 9 assists vs a crappy Miami D. Oh and he averaged 3 turnovers a game too to match those 4 assists. Including 7 in the loss to Toledo at home. He disappeared in just about every big game.

Mark Sears is a 6-foot shooting guard. Sorry, those don’t last very long at the next level. BLove compared this move to Mr. Dribble out the clock J Smooth J Simmons. I can see that.

I'm not surprised. Hopefully we can get an impact transfer. I don't like the prospects of relying on freshmen.

Absolutely terrible news. Yes, we haven't heard details on his decision and motivation in making the move. But I would be surprised if I hear anything that would change my mind on this - I am very disappointed in Mark's decision.

B-Love said it best...what the hell happened to loyalty? School pride? Bonds with teammates and coaches? Coach Martin brought him to Hargrave, then got him the offer at Ohio. Coach Boals entrusted him as a freshman and handed him the keys to the offense as a Sophomore. The student body and fan base got behind him and sang his praises. I'm certain he has many teammates who have stuck their necks out for him and had his back. We all spent 4+ years in Athens, how do you not fall in love with it? I just really struggle to understand how it is so easy to just walk away from all of that.

And for what? If there was a clear and obvious path to significant NIL dollars and/or a better route for his professional career, I'd understand. Personally, I do not see it. This move is more risky than beneficial. We all had hoped that Jaaron's struggles and Preston's success and getting drafted made it obvious for future Bobcat stars to want to stick around, but I guess not.

Yeah, I'm not acting like that at all. In fact, my point is that in this scenario the education is static. He's going to get one wherever he goes. It's not as if he's leaving solely for the NIL money. It's NIL money and a full scholarship.

I just find the moral grandstanding here to be pretty ridiculous. In this thread we've got people insulting Mark Sears' Mom for being greedy and evoking the importance of an education and "family" (while referring to a basketball team). The anti-NIL folks try awfully hard to stake some moral high ground, but the reality is that their opposition stems from self-interest and the desire to maintain competitive balance in college athletics. You're arguing for taking money out of the pockets of people who worked very hard to develop a talent because you worry that putting money in their pockets will limit your own enjoyment of a hobby of yours.

There's no moral highground there, and your attempts to pretend there is by evoking the importance of education is a strawman that ignores the very obvious. I understand your view. I understand this could be bad for college athletics as a product. I simply think it's immoral to limit the earning ability of people in pursuit of a better entertainment product for the NCAA.

This is exactly what the power 5/6 wanted from the beginning. Treat the mid majors as the minor leagues, then pillage them when needed.

What does help the mid majors though are all those recruited to big name schools that weren't playing or will lose playing time due to the transfers and then transfer out to a mid major. Difference is, they are untested to an extent.

We are all very very familiar with your story. However, we are discussing 100% (100%+ with "full cost of attendance monies") scholarships, not equivalency sports.

Who lobbied the politicians for this legislation to be passed? P5 assets. Mid-majors need to combine lobbying resources to get our own corrupt politicians elected to push our agenda.

Funny how y'all couldn't wait for Grainger to portal out...

Swords got two sides.

BLS, for the record, I am not anti-NIL. I did though from the beginning understand that NIL was going to be a bad thing for OHIO athletics due to our demographics.