To each their own. I don’t find made up numbers to be useful. Fiction is fiction. Some people enjoy reading it, I’m not one of them especially when people circulate it like it’s real. I’d rather watch nonsense on tv.
I’m not sure I would say Miyakawa is well respected. He’s a quant from Baylor who has been very active on social media amongst the analytics crowd. His stuff is interesting, but I’m not sure he is well-sourced, he doesn’t do any actual hoops analysis whatsoever, and his formulas have produced some really weird results (just pertaining to us, he had way underrated our transfers by not projecting increased minutes or opportunities, he had us insanely lower than everyone else to start the season, and he also rated Martin and Aberdeen as average to bad defenders). He does a pretty interesting job with lineup data and with his offensive rating (probably the guy who began touting Haugh’s contributions on that end before the rest), but I would not put him anywhere near the better analytics guys (Torvik, KP, Pauga, or the new WAB guy), let alone actual hoops insiders or legit “eye test” guys.
Not really portal, but: Ziegler is suing the NCAA for another year. Expected to return to UTk if granted.
He's arguing that the NCAA's rule limiting players to four seasons within a five-year window is an unlawful restraint of trade. He claims this rule prevents him from earning a potential of $4 million in NIL money in his fifth year.
Im not a lawyer, but as an amateur economist, I am not moved by his argument. The Sherman Act bans certain monopolistic actions, but the NCAA is not a proper monopoly in my opinion. Ziegler can go to the development league or the Euro league or even the globetrotters. I can’t predict how courts will rule, but I’d be disappointed if they decided that the NCAA cannot determine its own rules of eligibility. Hell, why not sue Tennessee’s high school athletics association to get another year there while he’s at it?
Is it possible that I have eligibility left? If so, USC (the University of Senior Citizens) might come knocking at my door.
He should have challenged the rule years ago. He played under the rule for four years without voicing a legitimate complaint about it till his eligibility was finished. He is not good enough to make it in any professional league that would pay more than he could get in NIL. Hopefully he has a good degree that will get him a decent job in the real world.
The courts are wild now. They’ve already waded in on scholarship limits and NIL and transfers - basically overriding the NCAA rulebook as well as rules of amateurism. Why not let kids be “student athletes” for 15 years.
My lasting happy memory of this person will be him sulking off the court, showing poor sportsmanship and professionalism, and pouting his way down a long corridor to the Vol locker room after he was summarily dismissed by the 2025 SECT/NCAAT champion Florida Gators. There are players on that Vol team for whom I have respect and admiration. Ziegler is not among those.
My favorite memory of Ziegler was at the SEC tournament. Chinyelu had to pick up Ziegler above the foul line. Ziegler thought... hey no problem I am going to blow past him. Chinyelu then drove Ziegler away from the basket towards the baseline. Chinyelu engulfs him. Ziegler panics, falls on his ass, and Chinyelu takes the ball from Ziegler like he is a 10 year old boy. Seeing it in person was actually a bit scary... but in a good way.
...it was at that moment that Ziegler realized that, in fact, the hokey-pokey WAS, indeed, what it was all about.
Chins plays with authority down in the blocks, is very physical and WILL knock people senseless at times. Remember when he scored against Houston and turned and flattened the Houston kid in the final?
Welp. Things aren't going well for ZZ in his case against the NCAA “[If he] had a viable path to the NBA, given his resume, he would already be a viable prospect. After all, NBA scouts would have seen him play in 138 collegiate contests. … There is no evidence that one more season of participation in college basketball is necessary (for Zeigler to play professionally)" Ouch.
I think that's the point. He ain't going to the NBA anytime soon, and he knows it. So his options are: A) Play on some dirt court in Central America with chickens and pigs running around, or B) Return to Tennessee and make millions for one season.
Totes. And the NCAA is saying he's just taking opportunity from someone else. Gotta be a bit painful for a random judge to lay that wood on you though.
