Pat Dooley, the Gainesville Sun sports columnist, is joined this week by guest Mike Bianchi, sports columnist with the Orlando Sentinel, to talk about the possible return of the NBA to play in Orlando and many other topics. Pat talks about a Zoom call with Dan Mullen, the Gators’ mental approach, two UF basketball players enter the draft, Name, Image and Likeness, NCAA decisions, the NFL draft and, of course, Three Things.
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Breakdown:
0:45 Lot’s potentially going on in Orlando
1:30 Was March and April crazy or what
3:30 Had a Zoom call with Dan Mullen
4:15 The state is about to reopen, but what does it mean
5:00 Mullen is hopeful
6:50 What helps the Gators is their mental approach
11:00 How long does it take to get ready for football season
12:45 NCAA Name, Image, Likeness
14:30 Will UF have to hire new people to deal with NIL
16:00 More about Name, Image, Likeness
17:35 Andrew Nembhard and Tre Mann test the NBA draft waters
20:45 Interview with Mike Bianchi, sports columnist with the Orlando Sentinel
31:30 Will the NBA come to play in Orlando?
32:30 How will games happen with no fans
33:15 Gators get 7 players in the NFL draft
35:00 Moves around the NFL after the draft
41:20 Let’s talk about golf coming back
44:40 Three Things
A few points.
1.) If SEC Football starts in Nov. then we (the fans) will have so much great TV to watch. Florida Basketball on say, Tues & Friday and then Florida Football on Saturday. Man, I could get into that.
2.) I don’t question the college players’ ”decisions to leave early.” But when it’s universally seen that the athlete is NOT ready, then we fans have the right to share our opinions on their ”ability.”
Example: ZERO Gator fans thought the ’04’s, the Back to Back Gator Basketball team would return after their 2nd Natty. And though it’s an ”apples & oranges” comparison for them, Mann and Nembhard aren’t there yet, in my opinion. Maybe they’d play over-seas right away, but I don’t see them contributing much in the NBA as of today.
If the NCAA is going to start allowing players to profit, they also need to take away their freedom to choose their team/school (e.g. implement a draft instead of recruiting) like the pros. Otherwise, they are just like paid ringers going to the highest bidder brought in to have an advantage over the competition. The playing field will not be level, not that it is level now but fair competition will be much more out of wack. I like to insert more fairness rather than the other way. It’s just too hard to control the boosters and the underhanded deals that will undoubtedly sprout.
Perhaps, they could create a two route system for players. One route is identical to the existing system of getting a free college education, going through the recruiting process, but no ability to profit. In the second route, the player chooses to be independent. They don’t get a free education and they can’t choose their team/school but has the ability to profit. That way, every team/school has a fair shot to draft the player. The players can choose the second route by declaring for a college draft by a certain date say by the end of their junior season in high school. The problem we have now, in my opinion, is that the NBA and NFL are not allowing players to get drafted to their leagues right out of high school. They are taking advantage of the NCAA by using them like a minor league to develop players for them at no cost. The NCAA needs to fight back. I think this is one way to do it and perhaps force the pros to change their stance on drafting high school players. It also forces the players to accept some risk if they think they are great enough and plan on profiting.