Talent Evaluation or NIL Limits?

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Posted by SMBruin on February 16, 2026 at 11:37:20

In Reply to: Reading down this page posted by Dr.Bruin on February 16, 2026 at 04:32:15

I seem to recall someone asking Cronin about Johnson and he answered that Johnson was not in the budget.

In my mind there is either a talent evaluation issue with Cronin, or there is simply not enough NIL to compete.

A quick ChatGPT question resulted in the following (top 10 teams today NIL vs. UCLA's results in:

Estimated NIL Spend Comparison (2025-26 approximate):

Top 10 Men’s Basketball Teams: ~$8.8M → ~$5.5M+ range per program

UCLA: ~$8M NIL backing (approximate, placing it in a second-tier group just below the most aggressive spenders)

Based on this, it probably is the blend of both issues noted above

Learn, grow and get better (second ChatGPT question) SMBruin 11:42:46 02/16/26 (12)
- If there is no talent on this team, how do we explain… Fuzzy 11:52:14 02/16/26 (7)
  - Not putting too much thought into this, ej 12:09:56 02/16/26 (6)
    - I can’t disagree, but will say this. Fuzzy 16:32:57 02/16/26 (2)
      - I believe that if you watch a guy enough you can get ej 17:09:50 02/16/26 (1)
        
        Not impossible, but even at that, true recruits are playing… Fuzzy 20:16:20 02/16/26 (0)
    - Good points and in addition,I believe the team makeup is lacking traprh 12:36:22 02/16/26 (2)
      - Yes, I can't disagree with any of what you say. ej 12:53:25 02/16/26 (1)
        
        One other comment traprh 13:30:32 02/16/26 (0)
- How do they come up with any of this, ej 11:50:57 02/16/26 (3)
  - ChatGPT - "Where did you get your NIL information?" SMBruin 12:19:38 02/16/26 (2)
    - I listened to the BRO guys ej 12:26:04 02/16/26 (1)
      - Not sure ChatGPT as a source is a guess SMBruin 13:15:25 02/16/26 (0)

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