Some of the reports last year about Cupps were crazy - I know Dan Dakich said he was getting $600K from OSU. Who knows what the truth is, but I think every single guy OSU has seen enter the portal aside from Royal weren't really good candidates for OSU to give NIL to, and I think some or all of them are entering the portal because they wanted more money from OSU. Without unlimited funds, you have to make some tough choices, if that means cutting the NIL that a player like Cupps was getting in order to help replace Bruce Thornton with a premier guard, you have to do it. If a player like Cupps stays for the scholarship plus COA, great, if he leaves, well that frees up money for someone else who might contribute more. I am OK with all of those guys in the portal transferring aside from Royal, who has significant value & you have to add a good player in the portal to replace his production.
The truth is even the best teams generally only play 7-8 really good players at the end of the year, and no one is playing the guys that are 10-15 on the depth chart. Right now they have 4 guys that figure in the regular playing group - Mobley (assuming he comes back), Thompson, Bynum, Ojianwuna. As I said, I think you want to have 8 really good players, so with 6-7 open spots on the roster not every guy OSU is going to add via the portal now is going to be someone that fans should be expecting production from.