However the NIL situation plays out, Arizona may be poised to stay competitive

PHOENIX — While checking out UCLA’s idyllic campus, athletic facilities and the historical Pauley Pavilion during an unofficial recruiting visit to Westwood earlier this month, Corona (Calif.) Centennial guard Kylan Boswell was awakened to another aspect of his future college experience.

“Coach (Mick) Cronin gave me a whole packet about how we could make money off our name and stuff,” Boswell said during the Section 7 high school showcase. “But I haven’t even really thought about it.”

As a four-star prospect in the class of 2023 who has also received scholarship offers from Arizona and several other high-major programs, Boswell might want to now. Just like so many coaches, administrators, NCAA officials, lawyers, judges and politicians all over the nation are doing as an impending wave of name-image-and-likeness laws are set to go into effect this week.

Except nobody knows what, exactly, will happen. Six state laws and a Kentucky executive order are scheduled to go into effect Thursday, while a total of 20 states overall have already passed NIL laws, with Arizona’s set to phase in on July 23.

All of them essentially prohibit the NCAA from penalizing an athlete from profiting off his or her name, image or likeness while playing collegiately.

But what forms could NIL activity take? Will it become a recruiting inducement, with player somehow assured or convinced appearance fees will result in the months or years after they sign on? Will businesses overpay an athlete’s market value simply because they are playing for the school they support? And how will a fair market value be determined anyway?

Nobody really knows.

“I was talking to an NCAA guy about it last week here at Section 7 and we were like `This is gonna be crazy,’ “ said Etop Udo-Ema, head of the influential Adidas-sponsored Compton Magic club program in Los Angeles. “I was asking him, ‘What does that mean? What’s gonna happen?’ And he was like `We’re just trying to figure it out.’ “

An effort to reach Arizona AD Dave Heeke last week was unsuccessful, but UA basketball coach Tommy Lloyd indicated at the Section 7 Finals at Phoenix Brophy Prep on Friday that he’s keeping his eyes open as he tries to move ahead.

“There’s so many unknowns from the NCAA side, from the institutional side, from the families-that-are-getting-recruited side, that it’s really hard to pin anything down,” Lloyd said. “So I think everybody’s just kind of proceeding forward, business as usual, with an understanding though things might change soon.”

Really soon.

In some ways, they already have. Colorado coach Tad Boyle said NIL started to become a topic this spring, with players and/or their families sometimes asking about it, but he said he doesn’t know how it will evolve, either.

“I don’t think anybody does,” Boyle said.

Things are so unsettled that an ad-hoc National Association of Basketball Coaches committee, of which Boyle is one of 11 members, issued a statement Friday seeking help from college athletics leadership as NIL laws near enactment dates.

“Regrettably, the current climate of disparate state legislation, federal intervention and uncertainty surrounding NCAA NIL policy has led to marked confusion among coaches, administrators and, most importantly, student-athletes and their families,” the NABC statement said. “In order to prepare student-athletes to navigate and ultimately succeed in this space, we must first have the ability to equip them with timely, accurate information and guidance.”

A temporary solution is possible this week. Multiple national reports said the NCAA is working toward a policy change that would yield to any NIL state laws in effect and, in states that don’t have laws enacted, allow schools to create their own NIL policies as long as there are no recruiting inducements or pay for work not performed.

But, again, how’s that gonna work? Who’s to stop an athlete from signing with somebody because it was made clear through whatever means that NIL opportunities might be good? Who’s to police the fair amount a player should be paid for an hour-long appearance?

“Oh, it’ll be a recruiting advantage,” said Pepperdine coach Lorenzo Romar, the former UA associate head coach and Washington head coach. “It’ll separate the haves and have-nots, for sure.’

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Even Joseph Hunter, a four-star guard in the class of 2022 at San Joaquin Memorial High School of Fresno, California, said he’s already considering potential NIL opportunities into his college decision.

“It’s definitely on my mind,” said Hunter, a recruiting target of former UA coach Sean Miller. “Right now, I’m focusing on building a brand, building up my name, so that’s definitely affected it a lot.”

Hunter said he could see there being advantages both in playing for schools in big markets or for schools in smaller markets where they are the dominant sports team.

The Los Angeles-based Udo-Ema said schools in the South might have more of an NIL advantage because “their boosters are active,” expressing doubts that big cities, especially within the Pac-12 footprint, might generate much NIL opportunity.

“Do they care about a college athlete when they’ve got all these movie stars?” Udo-Ema said of L.A.

Still, it’s true that Adidas pays Udo-Ema’s Magic club to have its shoes worn by top youth players, those who haven’t even reached college yet.

So even they have some established market value.

“Yeah, and there’s some value to it being cool, to have those shoes on,” Udo-Ema said. “It’s culture, which is what we are. But I don’t know. It’s a crazy space.”

So maybe the best way to deal with the uncertainty ahead is just chill a bit and wait until it all plays out. That’s the way Lloyd and San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher appear to be looking at it.

“It’s like anything else in college basketball,” Dutcher said. “Someone will get it going and we’ll see what the bar is and once the bar is set, then we’ll all aspire to whatever that bar is. If it’s a power five school that gets a name, image or likeness deal set up for a bunch of their athletes, then that will be the standard that we all aspire to.

“But right now, nobody knows what that’s going to be.”

Whatever it is, at least, Lloyd expressed confidence that Arizona will be able to hold up well. Unlike most college athletics programs within the Pac-12, Arizona is the dominant sports entity in its market.

That means eyeballs, interest and maybe even NIL opportunities that exceed most of the Wildcats’ peers.

“All I know is this: The city of Tucson and the University of Arizona is going to be well-positioned moving forward with name image and likeness because it’s a tremendous community that supports a tremendous program,” Lloyd said. “I’m just banking on that and I feel good about it.”

Rim shots

Arizona is expected to host four-star class of 2022 guard Collin Chandler of Farmington, Utah, on Sunday after offering him a scholarship last week.

Transferring 6-foot-11 Marquette forward Dawson Garcia is again considering Arizona along with North Carolina, Texas, Illinois, Oklahoma State, Minnesota and George Mason, according to ESPN. A unanimous Big East all-freshman pick who averaged 13.2 points and 6.7 rebounds last season, Garcia listed UA as one of seven finalists out of Prior Lake (Minn.) High School.