Thanks to a little social media wisdom, some Arizona basketball players picked up potential hooks just as the NIL floodgates opened Thursday.
Anyone care for a Dalen Terry Berry at Eegees? Or some Eggs Bennedict Mathurin at the Baja CafΓ©?
Those were two of the suggestions thrown out on Twitter before the NCAA adopted a temporary name-image-and-likeness policy allowing college athletes to start profiting Thursday from outside sponsorships β and Terry couldnβt help but notice how he was tagged.
βIn that case, somebody tell Eegees to get in contact with me!β Terry tweeted, adding a laughing emoji.
Terry was still chuckling about the possibilities on Thursday, when a handful of Arizona basketball players were made available for interviews following an offseason workout at McKale Center.
βEggs Bennedict Mathurin? That was funny,β Terry said.
On a serious note, though, Terry said he was just listening to officials discussing the NIL situation and trying to βfigure out the best way to capitalize on this experiment.β The NCAA is temporarily allowing all schools and conferences to adopt their own policies β since seven states had legislation go into effect Thursday β as long as there are no recruiting inducements or pay-for-play deals involved.
UA spoke to its athletes this week about NIL and released details of its βArizona Edgeβ plan on Thursday. It issued a statement Thursday saying it is partnering with the Eller College of Management and the Rogers College of Law to help athletes with βpersonal brand management, business development, financial literacy, networking as well as aspects of business lawβ in order to help them make decisions and enhance NIL opportunities.
βThis is just the beginning,β UA athletic director Dave Heeke said in a statement. βWe are committed to providing student-athletes with an outstanding experience and achieving excellence in their academic, athletic and personal endeavors.β
But among the boundaries, at this point, are that Mathurin and all international athletes at UA actually may not be able to profit from NIL while inside the United States because their student visas prohibit them from working more than 20 hours per month.
Another complication is that Arizonaβs NIL law wonβt go into effect until July 23, though the NCAA ruled this week that athletes in states without laws can pursue NIL opportunities starting Thursday.
There are a lot other things to figure out, which is why transfer guard Justin Kier of Virginia is taking it all in carefully at the same time as he is adjusting to his first week on UAβs campus, after spending his earlier college seasons at George Mason and Georgia.
βIβm mostly gaining knowledge because I donβt want to jump into anything and then it hurts me,β Kier said. βAnother thing is Iβm not very much known here. A lot of guys here donβt know me, a lot of community doesnβt know me. Iβm sure itβll get a little better during the season but Iβm just doing my research right now.β
Still, Kier made it clear he was open to the idea. On Wednesday night he tweeted a note saying βany companies at all that want to use my social media as a platform to promote, do commercials, etc, to brand themselves, my DMs are open for business.β
Not surprisingly, athletes in other sports are doing the same. UA football wide receiver Jamarye Joiner tweeted out Thursday afternoon that “For All Business Inquiries contact: Joinerbusiness10@gmail.com.”
How it all plays out, UA coach Tommy Lloyd said, nobody really knows. But whatever the case, he said heβs 100% in support.
βI think itβs great,β Lloyd said. βThe best analogy Iβve heard is that years ago an Olympic athlete couldnβt be on the box of Wheaties until after the Olympics, and so you had these world-class athletes who were basically training and living off peanuts. Then they were able to get their name, image and likeness and itβs really helped their livelihoods and careers.
βThatβs how Iβm equating it for us: Our student-athletes are going to be able to take advantage of their ability to promote products or things of that nature if companies are willing to ask. I think thatβs a great thing.β
No matter in what form: A TikTok video, an Instagram photo endorsement ... or maybe even a frozen drink.
βI donβt even want to guess,β Lloyd said. βAll those things seem like options, or showing up on a billboard. Iβm gonna let the experts handle that.β
Rim shots
With several of their players out of town or preparing for the FIBA U19 World Cup in Latvia, the Wildcats held two partial-team workouts this week as they continues to work out together in shifts during the offseason. βItβs been a ton of fun the past month or so getting to consistently work out with the guys,β Lloyd said. βWeβve been wrapping our arms around developing individually, getting better and slowly putting in some team concepts. The guys seem to be picking up on things pretty quick.β
While Kier said heβs only been through two team workouts since arriving earlier this week, Utah transfer Pelle Larsson is leaving this weekend to return to his native Sweden and join his national team in August. The two joined Christian Koloko, Shane Nowell, Kerr Kriisa, Terry and Will Menaugh for a workout Thursday.
Former UA associate head coach Mark Phelps will lead a post-grad team at Glendale Dream City next season. Dream Cityβs undergraduate prep program includes 2022 guard Shaedon Sharpe, an Arizona target from Canada who took an unofficial visit to Tucson last month. A former head coach at Drake, Phelps served as Sean Millerβs associate head coach from 2015-16 until he was removed from the staff during the 2018-19 season in the wake of academic misconduct allegations.
