UCLA will experience something of a rarity Saturday at Pauley Pavilion when it faces Oregon, a former Pac-12 rival with two familiar stars. Jackson Shelstad and Nate Bittle have been with the Ducks for several years, providing the sort of stability largely lacking in college basketball.
It’s the sort of thing that Bruins coach Mick Cronin said will become increasingly infrequent barring structural changes.
A big part of the reason?
Agent greed.
There’s just too much money to be made by player representatives pushing clients into the transfer portal.
“I mean, you take a 10%, 20%, 15% of a guy’s NIL money, that’s Bernie Madoff level,” Cronin said Friday, referencing the crooked financier who was convicted in a massive Ponzi scheme. “So that shouldn’t happen anymore, and I bring that up because that needs to get illuminated because parents need to say no to that. I mean, that’s ridiculous.”
Cronin said the only way to bring stability to the game would be the federal government mandating employee contracts for athletes, leading to collective bargaining and player protections as well as multiple-year deals.
Otherwise, Cronin said, players will be subject to onerous fees from agents selling dubious agendas.
Cronin said agents describe their cut as “marketing ‘cause it’s NIL,’ but we all know it’s not. That’s pay for play. You know, if there’s any agent out there and you give him a marketing deal, I’ll give you 20% ‘cause I’ve got none. I mean, c’mon, take 20% of these guys’ stuff? Even 10%, it’s ridiculous.
“So, if you could get to collective bargaining, then the National Labor Relations Board, if they would ever allow ‘em to be employees, then you could regulate and cap agent fees to protect the players. But until then, the players and their families are the ones that need to protect themselves on this. Because why wouldn’t you tell every guy to go in the portal if you’re making 10%, making 15% off it? That’s where we’re at, so that’s the definition of instability.”
Cronin said the NCAA was powerless to intervene through no fault of its own.
“I don’t know what the NCAA does, other than put on the [basketball] tournament,” Cronin said. “I don’t know what they do, period. And in defense of them, if they go to enforce a rule, they get sued and they lose more money. They can’t — if they get sued, again, there’s gonna be no NCAA.
“So they’re like the kid that was told to sit in the corner or he’s getting kicked off the team, so he just sits there. The [College Football Playoff] runs everything, they get all the money. You know, the Power Five [conferences] have autonomous rules, and they’re sitting in the corner and they’re not getting kicked out and that’s kind of where they’re at. You know, so it’s really not their fault. They try to raise their hand and say, ‘Hey, we should have a rule,’ and they immediately get sued.”
Etc.
Sophomore guard Trent Perry practiced Friday after missing the Bruins’ victory over Washington because of an ankle injury, potentially putting him on track to play against the Ducks. … Cronin, on his team’s need to stay in perpetual must-win mode: “We were in we’re-going-to-win-anyway-because-we’re-really-good-we’re-UCLA mode, and I tried not to let them get there, but they got there and we got out it and we’ve got to stay out of it because the minute you go back you’re going to lose.”
