Zion Stanford is the latest basketball player from the Big 5 to transfer to Villanova:

 

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Does this piss off the administrations of the teams that are getting their talent poached? Has anyone come out and publicly said anything? Last year Nova nabbed graduate transfer Jhamir Brickus from La Salle and freshman Tyler Perkins from Penn. Both were the best players from each program. Imagine investing all that time in recruiting and development just for your best player to drive down 76 for a bigger bag and you get nothing. It’s not like the EPL where players from smaller teams are loaned or bought and they see a little kick back. Not in the Wild West of college basketball right now. You just get left with the jersey and nameplate above the locker while the thousands of dollars you spent on resources are wasted. And I can’t even hate Villanova for that. They’ve got the horses. While the rest of the Big 5 scratches their head and wonders how they’re going to compete in the NIL landscape Nova has done a good job building up their “Friends of Nova” collective even while they’ve stunk. For comparison’s sake Temple just moved their NIL in house LAST MONTH and set up a collective. That’s two teams playing on totally different fields right now. While there seems to be a plan at Nova it feels like there is zero plan at a place like Temple – just speaking from experience from people I’ve talked to behind the scenes. The AAC just mandated each team spend a minimum of $10 mil in revenue share on their teams over a three year period. Temple on a call with donors last week said they plan on going over that, but wouldn’t specify how much. That’s spread through all sports programs btw. FWIW I’ve heard rumors Nova will be spending close to that number A YEAR on basketball.

Now don’t get me wrong I’m not going to sit here like Temple basketball has shown they deserve $10 mil a year themselves. But it just goes to show you that if you aren’t creative and utilize your resources you’re going to be left in the dust.  Today’s player doesn’t feel the loyalty to programs.  Temple, St. Joes, La Salle, Penn, and Drexel can’t become successful replacing guys who are good enough to play in the Big East or SEC every year. That’s what worries me for the future of basketball on North Broad and in this city. Sure it might make the Big 5 Classic a little spicier, but that’s the last thing on my mind right now. Hopefully these AD’s see what’s happening before it’s too late.