Reporters covering this team need to be really focusing on NIL, getting more info about where the resources are being allocated and how, and exactly what happened this past offseason. That's the real story behind the story of this team and its struggles, but Jake Diebler is going to take all the flack for it. Did OSU's hesitance to use collectives hold back this team with NIL? I think that there may be some truth to OSU having one hand behind their back compared to other programs, but we don't get much info on that.
Whatever they spent, it would make no sense if there was not a major decrease in the amount allocated on this team overall. They lost four guys that they had to commit significant NIL funds to (Meechie, Bradshaw, Stewart and Parrish) and added guys who mostly would not command much NIL (Cupps, Noel ... Tilly I believe as a non-American-born player was not eligible for substantial NIL anywhere). Ojianwuna had a season-ending injury and was obviously going to have a delayed start to this season, so it's doubtful there was any kind of bidding war for him. Bynum is the only guy that they brought in that might be getting some decent NIL, but even he was not a super high profile recruit. Where is the money? Is it all going to football? Did the impending Commission cause OSU to go overboard and prevent substantial NIL from being used? Clearly if they are investing in this team, it does not appear to be managed well at all. IMO, only Bruce Thornton and Devin Royal are worthy of high NIL deals, and everyone else should be getting near the minimum or not very much above it.
We may have to wait until next year to see if OSU is actually committed to using substantial NIL in basketball.
