Portal madne$$

Good morning! Hope you had a fabulous weekend and are ready to catchup on everything that happened in the transfer portal. It’s only open for roughly another week, so the number of entrants will quiet down soon.

But the commitments? That’ll last well into summer.

1. Several rosters will surpass $10 million in NIL

Remember when Nijel Pack’s two-year, $800,000 NIL deal with Miami was a massive deal? Or when Kansas State reportedly spent $2 million on Coleman Hawkins, then millions more on the rest of its roster?

Seems quaint now.

A $10 million roster for at least eight teams? It’s not a surprise given that the market for elite talent is so hot right now that probable first-round NBA Draft picks are heading back to school. Per Matt Norlander, some players are seeing their NIL price tag triple in days. These aren’t even necessarily the top players on mid-majors programs, but players who are striking in a hot market.

And oh yeah, it’ll probably be more than eight teams. Jeff Goodman thinks it’ll be closer to 15 teams.

Here’s how a roster breakdown looks:

To be clear, this isn’t just blue bloods or basketball-centric programs driving these NIL deals. If a school spent $3 million on its roster last season, there are about 25 who are closer to or above $5 million this cycle. There are Atlantic 10 programs with a $3 million NIL budget. And that’s simply the cost to build out a roster.

Is it challenging? Yes. But it could be worse. Think if that $10 million budget wasn’t enough to secure a quarterback.

2. Is Texas Tech now the Big 12 team to beat?

Once Texas Tech convinced big man JT Toppin to return for the 2025-26 season (for a reported $4 million deal), it cemented them as a Big 12 contender. You return the league’s POY, that’s a no-brainer.

But it’s what Tech did in the ensuing days that may have made them the team to beat.

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