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Washington's Great big swing
Huskies lure Osobor with $2M+ payday. They needed an impact player, but can he make the difference? Plus, the SEC conference opponents are out, a new portal entrant, Bronny's college career ends, and more.
Mike Miller
May 14, 2024
I can’t wait to see what the NIL market is like for the guys who withdraw from the NBA Draft and head back to college. There’ll be some schools willing to shell out some $$$ at that point.
Let's get to Monday’s news.
1. Huskies get their big man (for big bucks)
Danny Sprinkle watched Great Osobor do his thing this season at Utah State. And he definitely liked what he saw: 17.7 pppg, 9 rpg, 2.8 apg and the Mountain West POY.
In fact, Sprinkle liked it so much, he got Washington and its NIL collectives to break the bank for the 6-8 forward, who committed to the Huskies on Monday.
Osobor will earn at least $2 million this season as part of various NIL deals, per Jeff Goodman. That’s as much as the 30th overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, and more than Indiana gave big man Oumar Ballo. Maybe the two can compare notes when they play this season.
It’s an incredible leap of faith in Osobor, who played sparingly at Montana State during the 2021-22 season, improved as a sophomore (10.1 ppg, 4.6 rpg), then had his breakout season in the MWC. He’s not a floor stretcher (just 21.4% from 3 on 14 total attempts), but does just about everything else, including draw fouls, block shots, rebounds, guards multiple positions and plays a ton of minutes.
The money is quite meaningful for Osobor, too.
Some might be upset by players making 2 million dollars in NIL (to be clear, we reviewed documents prior to publishing), but it shows how quickly college sports are evolving. For Great Osobor, this is life altering money for him and his family, which is a beautiful thing.
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress)
1:36 PM • May 13, 2024
Will it result in Washington as a top team in the Big Ten? TBD.
The Huskies are currently slated 52nd on Barttorvik, just behind Butler and McNeese, and just ahead of Iowa and Arkansas. The roster features two players — Wilhelm Breidenbach and KC Ibekwe — who played on a power conference team last season. After that, it’s got guys from the Big West, the AAC, the WCC, the MAAC and seven freshmen.
Maybe wins are a little beside the point. For Washington to show that kind of commitment to basketball is important to Sprinkle’s future roster construction. It’s doubtful next year will be so heavy on one player, but if there are millions of NIL opportunities for multiple players? That’s a good sign for future rosters.
2. SEC schedule makers did us no favors
If you squint closely, you can clearly note the SEC game of the year during conference play.