This is why I don’t watch the pros, and why I suspect I’ll be less likely to care about ND athletics in the future. My fandom is running on the vapors of the past.

Or maybe I’ll pivot to non revenue sports.

caught the team by surprise?

but not surprising. It’s essentially free agency now for players. For a player who hasn’t really shown much yet and has a lot of growth needed it’s a bit puzzling. I am also not sure I’d be behind allowing him to stay at this point if he doesn’t like what he finds out there. At a minimum It would be hard to fully trust him and his buy in as a teammate. Maybe players and coaches don’t care about that stuff these days though.

Do we offer a transfer big to take his spot now or do we wait?

going to return. I doubt he comes back now that he’s in the portal.

Alabama, Texas, Wisconsin, OSU, etc to name a few.

It would be surprising if he came back

a school where he flourishes on the court and in the classroom.

I would also note that none of those schools are in the Top 20 when it comes to producing NBA draft picks in the last decade.

must be a good student.

Add to that he was set to go to PSU and then went to ND. Maybe ND was something he never considered until Micah went there and really wasn't what he wanted school wise.

Colorado is clearing out, maybe losing top 6-7 players. Maybe headed home.

here.

Using NIL as some sort of proxy for being "appreciated" or "shown love" is, at least in this case, bonkers.

I like the kid and want him to stay and think his potential is off the charts ... but this entire situation is an indictment on the ridiculousness of the new "every player is a free agent every year" status quo.

The idea of roster continuity is a quaint notion. You lose role players and bench/depth guys who don't quite pan out because they don't play enough. You lose emergine players for more $ or a better platform or whatever. And then there is the opportunity to pick through other teams' churn for upgrades.

Add it all up, and any team is going to look pretty different from one season to the next. It's exhausting, and makes for a much less compelling product to follow IMO.

Which is antithetical to the concept of amateurism that, for many, made the sport appealing as an alternative to the pros.

A few kids will get paid but for the most part the NIL market is not in their favor.

experience overall. For fans that really follow the program especially. I bet there are many player that regret leaving their first commitment as well. Grass isn't always greener.

People like to rag on the NCAA a lot here and rightfully so on many instances. However, too many times the Lawyers have changed the rules for them and it makes what we have now.

I hope the schools aren't too damaged making millions off these student-athletes...

Sorry for the sarcasm, and I hate what the NIL world has done to rosters at the collegiate level, but the colleges and universities own this problem more than any other group...

Simple rules like you get one free transfer. Not move anytime you want bullshit. These guys ain't the pros. It's sad what it's become in a short period of time.

Leave it the NBA and the NBAPA to come up with the worst possible rule that they could. It would have been so much simpler, and better, to either eliminate the requirement to wait one year or adopt the MLB rule that you could go straight to the pros or have to wait three years.

Instead, they came up with the worst possible solution. Now the NBA wants to apply the same logic that started the downward spiral to youth basketball.

It’s enough to make you think that they’re trying to intentionally ruin American basketball.

As far as NIL money being “love”.

I think this is a case of a kid not seeing his place in the program right now.

I'm not in his head, obviously, but as a guy who everyone said had to fill out his frame to compete in major college basketball, starting quite a bit and otherwise being first forward off the bench seems to be a solid place in the program, no?

season went on as he increasingly earned minutes over JR. If I were him, I'd feel pretty good about where I fit on the team. Given his improvement shooting from the outside, I'd probably say he had the third most secure position on the team at this point behind Burton and Shrewsberry. Davis should feel okay about his position. But he isn't a shooter so his upside might be limited if he doesn't vastly improve that aspect of his game. Whereas Booth was becoming a more reliable shooter and becoming more aggressive on the boards to broaden his game as he adjusted to the level of competition.

I’d like to think he’ll decide to come back. But maybe he’s looking for a different system. Maybe he’s looking for clarification on his role within our system. Maybe he wants to be closer to his parents.

Time will tell.

...then stayed? It seems as if typically there are anywhere from 1-3 schools already considering taking a player of Booth's caliber before he even enters the portal (I know, the rules don't allow schools to contact players before they enter the portal - I'm sure NO school would DARE do that!).

And I agree with another poster - it'd be hard to fully trust Booth is bought into this program after entering the portal. I wouldn't blame Coach Shrews for not taking Booth back if he changes his mind and wants to stay.

This one really hurts. I was expecting a big jump in his game next season, and we needed to add a talented big without his departure. Now it looks like we really could use 2 bigs in the portal.

It's reasonable to assume that Shrews is making plans without him
and his spot will be filled from the portal.

No idea if true of him specifically but guessing since he’s leaving option open to returning, likely just wants to see what options are available.

Rumors we will see a Duke guard or two too.

Kids will enter the portal just to see what the market is but with the hope that their current school will step up to match the best offer.