Eli Boettger | @boettger_eli | 04/29/20
Welcome back to Three Things!
The intention of Three Things is simple: Keeping you informed. The offseason can be a busy time and college basketball isn’t always on everyone’s radars from April to October.
Here’s how it will work: Every morning, Monday through Friday, we will provide you with three things that you need to know from the previous day. Pretty simple, right? You’ll be amazed by your new college basketball wisdom!
Here are the three things you need to know for April 29.
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UCLA sees five-star go pro
The Bruins saw their top incoming freshman leave the program Tuesday. The G League Select program added another star prospect in Daishen Nix, one of the nation’s best point guards out of the 2020 class. Nix announced he will decommit from UCLA and reportedly earn upwards of $300,000 as a pro.
Nix becomes the third player to join the G League’s program. Combo guard Jalen Green and Michigan decommit Isaiah Todd also chose to spurn college this month and join the G League. Nix, a 6-4 point guard, was expected to start at point guard next season for the Bruins and team up with distributor Tyger Campbell, who averaged five assists per game this past season.
Valpo scorer in the portal
Javon Freeman-Liberty had a change of heart on Tuesday, electing to remove his name from the NBA Draft pool and transfer instead. The 6-3 guard out of Chicago was one of the top scorers at the mid-major level last season, averaging 19 points per game while also tallying 6.1 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.2 steals an outing.
Freeman-Liberty has been a workhorse for Valparaiso the past two seasons, starting in each of his 66 appearances while playing 32.2 minutes per game. The sophomore is already picking up significant interest in the transfer portal and has a great chance at landing with a power-conference program looking for a backcourt starter.
NCAA NIL update
The NCAA will hold a conference call to further discuss name, image and likeness for athletes, according to several reports on Tuesday. The NCAA Board of Governors appointed a working group to discover possible solutions towards advancing student athletes’ ability to make money while still maintaining the fundamental aspects of college sports.
The working group proposed the following changes: allow student athletes to make money by modeling apparel as long as it doesn’t include school logos; allow athletes to make money from advertisements; prohibit athletes from marketing inappropriate products like gambling or banned substances; allow athletes to hire an agent for marketing opportunities; require athletes to disclose details of all endorsements to their athletic department.
Eli Boettger is a college basketball writer and founder of HeatCheckCBB.com. He has previously worked for Sporting News, DAZN and USA TODAY SMG.
Boettger’s content has been featured by Bleacher Report, NBC Sports, FiveThirtyEight, Yahoo Sports, Athletic Director University, Washington Post, Illinois Law Review and Notre Dame Law Review, among other publications. Boettger is also a current USBWA member and Rockin’ 25 voter.