00:00I never thought I would say these words, but after Saturday, it is apparent that load management
00:09has officially arrived in the NCAA. If you tuned in Saturday, the first Saturday, mind you,
00:17without football, you thought you were getting maybe one of the best games of the year. Kansas
00:21taking on BYU. Why? Well, Darren Peterson versus A.J. DeBansta, the number one and 1A picks in the
00:29upcoming NBA draft going head-to-head. It was supposed to be a legacy game. It was going to
00:34be Jimmer versus Kawhi all over again. And for one half, Donnie, it was amazing. Kansas was up at 20
00:42at the break, and Darren Peterson looked every bit like a future superstar. He was putting on a clinic.
00:50But then the second half started, and the best player on the floor? Nowhere to be found. He set
00:57out the final 16 and a half minutes of a marquee matchup. And the excuse? Well, Bill Self came to
01:03the podium after the game and told us, well, it was cramps. Cramps? You're kidding me, right, Donnie?
01:10You're telling me an 18-year-old elite athlete couldn't find a banana or some sort of pickle juice
01:15in one of the finest athletic facilities in the country? No IVs, no nothing? Let's call it what it
01:21is, Donnie. This wasn't cramps. This was a business decision. This is what happens when you pay
01:27teenagers and their families millions of dollars in NIL money. They stop being hungry for college
01:34athletes fighting for their school, and they become assets protecting their stock. Why risk an ankle
01:40sprain in the second half when you've already secured the bag, Donnie? It is a conspiracy of
01:45caution. The camp, the coaches, the agents, they all seem to be in it together here, Donnie. And
01:52guess who loses? We do. The fans. Because we got robbed of what could have been a classic in that
01:58game. BYU did come back, in fact, and AJ DeBasta went off, and we should have had an epic finish. But
02:04instead, we got 16 and a half minutes of where's Waldo with the best player on the team? Welcome to the
02:11NIL era, folks. College basketball is slowly turning into the G League. The players make more
02:18money here. They'll take fewer risks. And the fans, well, they're left holding the ticket stub, wondering
02:24where are all the stars and why aren't they playing? So great job, NCAA. You finally ruined the one thing
02:30the NBA hadn't been able to touch yet, and that's load management. It is here and it is alive. So enjoy
02:37yourself on this Monday, and maybe you can find a banana so you don't cramp up at work today, Donnie.
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