This is probably not the best offseason in which to be reconstructing an entire roster, given that by all accounts the cash offers flying around have gotten completely nuts. Schools and NIL collectives are throwing money around like they’re printing it themselves. (Which, uh, … make sure you’re getting that direct deposit set up, kids!)
There are at least 10 schools that are spending $10 million on players, which is basically double the largest payrolls from the season prior. Duke, UNC, and Louisville are on that list, not surprisingly. What is surprising is the lack of Big East representation, since some of those wealthy basketball-only institutions were supposedly going to be the ones to set the market. Hasn’t worked out that way.
The bigger dollar figures are in part based on what everyone expects to come from the House settlement—a $20.5 million pool of money that each school can utilize to pay players directly. Most of the estimates I’ve read suggest that men’s hoops programs at the P4 level will be working with $4-5 million, if they’re fully invested. That’s money that wasn’t there a year ago, when everybody was just relying on their private NIL collectives. Now schools have two significant sources of money to draw from.
If you read that anecdote in the above-linked piece about what a role player at a mid-major got, you get a pretty good idea that this is really not an offseason for finding good value. And clearly the schools with a bunch of money and only a spot or three to fill are not worried about it. When you have like 10 spots to fill—and you aren’t working with $10 million—the big spenders driving up prices sure don’t help.