You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from KFI AM six forty.
Yes Later with Mo Kelly, We are live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app Let's go be on the box Score with Jackie Ray, who joins me.
Good evening, Jackie Ray.
Good evening, Good to be here.
I saw this story and I forwarded on to you, talking about how cal matters wanted to reach out to the public universities here in California and get a sense of the nil name, image and likeness that Division one athletes, the amount of money that they were receiving at these various universities, and to make a long story short, not only were the universities not forthcoming, there was almost no
information made available at all. For example, three hundred and ninety thousand dollars to Jalen Tyson, a former basketball guard at UC Berkeley, a non sports school.
For the most part, right, I.
Don't even know who Jalen Tyson is was as a basketball player, no disrespect. Three thousand dollars to UCLA gymnast and Olympic gold medal winner Jordan Childs. I'm guessing she probably got more than three thousand dollars three hundred and ninety dollars to Makai May's, a former cal State long
beach sprinter. Probably not on my radar. I say all this to say, if the universities are this not forthcoming with the information about NIL deals, I have to imagine that Jordan Childs made more than three thousand dollars, is Olympic gold medalist and the UCLA gymnast. I have to imagine that someone on the UCLA men's basketball team got something from an NIL deal.
What did you make of the non disclosures?
When I saw Jordan Childs and three thousand dollars, that instantly sent up the somebody is lying flag because there's just no way, especially you can't win, but two time gold medal winner and then she's been in the World Champion, she's beautiful. She definitely can promote your brand. I think
sometimes people forget that's what NIL can do. We're seeing a lot of there's an LSU gymnast, forgive me, I can't remember her name right now, but there's an ls yes, and she's constantly on her Instagram doing a cartwheel and somebody's apparel, So she's getting a deal from that.
Jordan child's is very beautiful.
She can flip, she's she can do some makeup, so there's no way that I'm buying that she didn't have any other endorsements. And for you to your point, I had to look up Jalen Like and he was drafted in the first round to the Cleveland Cavaliers and he's doing okay, you know, but that's not the nature of NCAA sports right now. We don't really know the guys like that, we really because they just they're kind of
won and done, so it's not a thing. So I definitely and shout out to cow Matters because they definitely kind of buried the lead in that story. But they did they were forthcoming and saying they were not transparent. They answered questions, but they were not transparent about the amounts,
and I'm not sure why that is. You know, in my head, I can see there's going to be certain sports that are going to do great, you know, men's basketball, women's basketball, that's going to do great as far as endorsement, and then it's going to trickle down from there. Are they trying to protect the kids, maybe not have kids' feelings?
Get why aren't they forthcoming? This is California.
This is California then, one of the entertainment capitals of the world.
These kids are making some money off of nil deal.
And not only that.
And part of the reason why the nil deals matter is because with this what I call open free agency, in which the transfer portal, you can have students athletes transferring to a different university every single year. You kind of know if someone's going to stay at a university, it is financially worthwhile for them to stay at a university. Don't tell me that Jordan Child's is only worth three thousand dollars to the University of California, Los Angeles.
I'm not buying that.
So it says to me, if you're not forthcoming over something which is legal, right, what we're not talking about, you know, the one hundred dollars handshakes. We're talking about the stuff that is legal about board And I know USC private university. But someone like Caleb Williams, who is the number one overall draft pick and Heisman Trophy winner, he was making more than two million a year, right, I know. These other athletes got to be making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.
Yeah, and that was the confusing part to me because I could almost see if the school was was getting their boosters to raise the money. But they could do that, that's happened in other schools. I'm like, there's no reason to not be forthcoming about how much it only benefits
your school. If cal Mathers calls you and says how much of your kids making and you could say, our kids are getting paid over here, that's only going to help your stockpile right with other kids looking So I have no idea why the transparency didn't happen.
What this Also, these are just questions which the article in cal matter. It's just inspired me. This makes me wonder what under the table dealings are going on even still, which are outside the boundaries of what is supposed to be just you know, open season. As far as paying money. You can have boosters paying money. Yes, you're supposed to document it, but boosters can do it. You can have actual businesses approaching athletes and doing sponsorship deals.
There's not too much you can't do, right, So what is it that you're afraid of?
And that was my entire thing because at first I was like, well, I could see them being fearful and saying the boosters. But then I was like, oh again, they can do that. So unless to your point, because I can't think of an illegal situation when you are literally given this free for all to raise money for your kids in any way, I can't think of anything.
Illegal that they would be doing.
But this, if I was an investigator, this would peauk my interest and now I would have to do a deep dive into every school that was not transparent because what.
Are you hiding is tax evasion? Like what is happening?
See that's a great point.
That's a great point because if you list that Jordan Childs only made three thousand dollars, and I'm assuming that's what the university is reporting, that's the logical leap I'm going to make. Then Jordan Childs only has to, in theory pay taxes on three thousand dollars. But if all this is not above board and you have athletes like a Caleb Williams, I'm not trying to sully his name.
I'm just saying someone who we all kind of know from southern California made millions of dollars in college and they're not paying taxes on that money or it's not being declared to the university.
Yes, then you have a different type of problem, And that.
Would make more sense than not being forthright, because evidently they're telling the university saying one thing to the irs, and obviously the general public knows better.
Right and listen, I would tell the universities to be very careful, tread very lightly, because there's going to be that one kid that has parents like mine, and the university is telling them, hey, you only made three thousand when you know you made one point five million.
Meanwhile, my mom and dad are over.
My soldier saying, don't you let them tell that lie on you. You better file this right before the government comes and gets you, right, and that's just going to expose you. So if that's what's happening, which is the only thing I could think of, that is going to get really muddy very quickly.
When we come back, I have to talk about my favorite player in not just college basketball, women's college basketball, but college basketball more broadly. Juju Watkins still is a thriller. Over the weekend between USC and UCLA. UCLA women came out on top after coming from behind, but I think it makes it even better for the tournament. You have two teams from Southern California, probably both being number one seeds probably, and then you have just the rivalry renewed
in Southern California which is going to hit the Nationals stage. Now, got to talk about that when we come back. It's Later with mo Kelly, Beyond the box Score with Jackie Ray.
You're listening to Later with Moe Kelly on demand from KFI AM six forty.
It is Later with Mo Kelly.
We are live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app as we continue to go Beyond the box Score with our regular commentator Jackie Ray. Jackie Ray, I know, I know that you saw that game between USC and UCLA for the Big Ten Championship, which was kind of ironic because this is the first year that both USC and UCLA played in the Big Ten and none of the heritage legacy Big Ten teams were in the championship UCLA and USC, and UCLA came out on top. Let me recap very quickly.
This is the third time they've met this season. USC won the first two USC blew out UCLA in the second matchup. USC was leading handily in this third matchup but couldn't make a shot in the fourth courter, and UCLA came back.
I think it sets the stage for a.
Thrilling yes tournament where both of them could be number one seeds.
What do you think I have to admit them? When they went up by like thirteen points, and they were up by thirteen points for a while, I kind of stopped paying so much attention. You know, you hear the commentators and you know when to look up.
But then all of a sudden, I was like, Okay, they haven't scored in a minute. What is happening?
And then the bottom fell out and this is exactly what you love. When I first moved to California, one of the things people asked me there was like, hey, do you go to see women's basketball? Because they knew I was into hoops and stuff. And I was like, yeah, I go to UCLA all the time, depending who I would say that to. If I said it to somebody from USC they would clutch their pearls and gasp right away, like how dare you?
How dare you? Lady? I don't even know you, but you know.
It was just one of those things that that rivalry was not only good for the fan base, it was good for the ticket sales. It makes basketball fun. And now you throw Juju in there, and Juju is an entity in herself just to go see her specifically, but this renewed rivalry and everyone is still talking about that game, wondering what happened in the fourth quarter, how did they
go score? You know, there was all these things. And I love this for the women's game, because the women's game we have a very I gush about it sometime because we get to know these players. These players are not one and done. We get to watch their careers evolve, and so that makes us a fan of that player, a fan of that school, and so it really builds up the fan base. This is fantastic. I cannot wait for this next move for them.
Speaking of players and storylines and four year careers, Juju Watkins did surpass Kaitlyn Clark on the list of most points scored in the first two seasons of a player's college career in women's basketball. Now, point of clarity, Kaitlyn Clark really upped her game scoring wise in the final two years of her career, but Juju Watkins is on pace at this point to exceed and surpass Caitlyn Clark for the all time leading scorer.
I wonder if Juju's gonna stay four years.
Man, listen, I will tell you this when she comes to the La Sparks game, if anybody's putting a bug in her ear, it is to come on, come on, come on over here. You see how we're investing. Now, let me just put it on record. La Sparks have been a dumpster fire since for a while, even when Candas Parker was here, as far as the investment in players and making sure that they have a place to
work out, gyms and things of that nature. But the times have changed, and I think we can really really give that to the Aces because the Aces kind of set the tone of giving a practice facility, their own arena, things of that nature, and then other teams took notice, and so now the La Sparks have to keep up. And so they are literally creating a market where it's not only good for the player, it's good for the fans,
and it's going to attract young people. So I can tell you I've seen her on the sideline a couple of times, and I have seen some people, Hey, like how you liking it?
Like you know you wouldn't just here in LA. So I don't know how that would work.
With the draft because if they do decent, obviously they won't be in contention for that. But I know, and I'm sure the Sparks are not the only team in the WNBA that have said, hey, Juju, how you doing?
Like you want to come see how we're doing over here.
Look, I will say this, and I'm a student of basketball history, there are times where you can look at someone and see that they are a generational talent. Caitlyn Clark generational talent. What I mean is you only see one or two every generation. Juju Watkins is another generational talent. This might be No, I know, this is the beginning of the golden age of the WNBA. If you know history and you know the evolution of the NBA, this
is it. And here's what I mean. Let's say three years from now, you will have an Angel Reece, Caitlin Clark, Paige Becker's, Juju Watkins, and five other names that the general public doesn't really know about yet who will be stars in the NBA. And the fact that everyone knows that they will all be household names, not w NBA names.
Household names.
You go to see a fundamental change in the perception of the w NBA and I cannot wait. And a large part of that is going to be Juju Watkins. Hear me out, And this is why Angel Reese is a forward. She's not really in direct competition with Caitlin Clark as a guard. Juju Watkins is guard who can play.
Say that again for people who don't understand this comparison between Kitlin Clark and Angel Reese's a but go ahead.
I'm just saying Juju Watkins is the more comparable comparison, even though Juju can play guard and forward. When you have Juju Watkins possibly d ing up Caitlin Clark or Paige Becker's okay, that's going to be scintillating. You don't have that wonder one face off between angew Reese and Caitlin Clark. They're only tied together because they came up together. They played against each other in the National Championship, but
they're not really playing against each other. Juju and Caitlyn could face off for ten years in a row.
Yeah, And I'm gonna tell you right now, like you said, respect to Caitlyn Clark, Shout out to Kelsey Mitchell too, though, because she always gets overlooking Mets and she set that record for the two years, long time ago. I don't see anybody breaking it anytime soon, so shout out to her. But to your point, this is what we want, This is what we want to see. Juju is going to be locked in with everybody that she plays against in
the league. She's already got the State Farm commercials, so we're already getting used to seeing her face and advertising. She's also gorgeous, she shows up at events. She does everything right now as a college basketball player that you want your star or the face of your league to do once they make it to the pros. So she's not gonna have the learning curve or getting all the attention, which I think both Angel and Caitlyn kind of struggled
with their first season. It was very negative. So hopefully we've remedied that and we can all move forward talk about basketball. But I think that for Juju, she kind of got to watch that from Afar and she already knows how she's gonna deal with that if that happens to her, So she's going to be seamless. In my opinion, and every rookie struggles first couple of games, no problem,
even the first season, no problem. But I just think her learning curve is going to be so exponentially lower than most rookies just because of her basketball IQ, the way that she sees the floor, how comparable she is two players right now in the league. I think her learning curve is going to be very, very low, and she's going to come out the gate transforming teams.
Assuming Juju Watkins does not come out this year. Is Page Becker's number one pick?
Oh? Absolutely, okay, to make sure, Yeah, absolutely, I would actually encourage Juju not to come out this year, kind of let Page do her thing, keep building her star power, and then just blow up the spot when she comes out.
So if I was close to Juju, I would tell her for sure to stay for another year.
I hope she does, and I think she will. But you know, the money's gonna start getting good in the WNBA.
It is, it is, but.
But she, you know what, with her endorsement, she's still gonna make more than her WNBA contract in college. So it's there's nothing hurting you to stay another year. And as the NBA has shown us this one and done is kind of starting to dumb down the league. Go in there and get that extra experience so you can come out all guns blazing when you get to the w Stay that extra year.
Jackie Ray always good to talk to you, Great to talk to you as well.
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