🏅Ranking the Top Ten basketball school situations post-House (Part 1)

Hey there,

College basketball is entering a new era – in fact, we basically already have. Teams have been prepping for the House Settlement all year, which allows programs to rev-share directly with their players. That settlement, subsequently, adds hundreds of millions of dollars into the college basketball earnings market overnight. 

College basketball won’t ever look the same, so I wanted to zoom out for a moment here and ask an important question: What exactly makes a basketball program good in the rev-share era? Then, which teams seem best prepared to attack that era?

That’s what we’re looking at in today’s edition, where we’re ranking the ten college basketball programs best equipped to tackle the rev-share era. It’ll be a two-parter, so this is just part one. Hopefully you’ll join us for part two after. Ready? Let’s get into it.

— Cole and Collin

We wanted to start off the list with a few honorable mentions — these teams actually didn’t make the cut, but they certainly have a claim to one of the top ten spots. There’s going to be names on this list that you may have thought are for sure in the top ten. So just be warned.

Texas Tech:

They’re an ascending juggernaut thanks to huge NIL investments, but the school care too much about football to be included in this list. Without a storied history, they don’t get the benefit of the doubt.

Michigan State:

Tom Izzo will always stay competitive, but Michigan State’s NIL infrastructure has been downright poor since the policy was introduced. They need a front-office retool before sniffing this list.

Louisville:

This is another ascending program thanks to NIL investment and a really strong coaching hire. They could squeeze their way into the top ten soon if the trajectory holds, but they’re at least a year away right now. 

Kentucky:

Spicy, right? It’s an incredible program, but the Wildcats just lost a legendary coach to the Arkansas because they gave him more NIL assurances, and they ended up settling for their fourth option in Mark Pope (still, not a bad consolation prize). They’re hovering around the top ten, but not in the top ten.

North Carolina:

One of the most storied programs ever, I’m mostly concerned with the fact that Bill Belichick is now the school’s head football coach, and rumor has it he’s sapping resources away from basketball.

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