Jayhawks are ranked number one in Associated Press poll
Posted Mar 09, 2020 8:18 PM
Kansas maintained its grip on the No. 1 ranking in The Associated Press men's college basketball poll. The Jayhawks received all 65 first-place votes to remain at the top for a third straight week. The past two weeks they have been the unanimous choice ahead of Gonzaga and Dayton.
Florida State climbed three spots to No. 4 after winning its first Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title. This is FSU's highest ranking since sitting at No. 2 in December 1972. West Virginia and Butler were the week's new additions. Michigan and Penn State fell out of the poll.
The Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team is currently ranked No. 1 in the nation. The school's athletics director says that if other schools have laws about endorsement deals and Kansas does not, KU would be "at a disadvantage." Erica Hunzinger / Kansas News Service
TOPEKA, Kansas — If Kansas lawmakers pass a bill
allowing student-athletes to make money off endorsements, you might see
the next five-star KU or K-State basketball recruits selling cars, shoes
or soda.
Dozens of states, including Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma, are thinking about changing the rules since the NCAA said
in October that it will eventually allow student-athletes to be paid
for their name, image and likeness. These bills are stopgaps, aimed at
putting rules in place should there be a period of time before national
rules are approved by the NCAA or Congress.
It’s a question that’s been problematic for the NCAA for years; in 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up an antitrust suit filed by a former UCLA basketball player. California took matters into its own hands last year with a law to let students profit off their likeness, though it doesn't take effect until 2023.
Currently,
student-athletes are ruled ineligible if they make money on
endorsements. Missouri U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver has proposed a national rule
that would have colleges directly pay athletes. The Kansas plan doesn’t
go as far, instead allowing money from outside endorsement contracts.
Emporia
State University President Allison Garrett urged Kansas lawmakers to
approve the bill, but ultimately hopes it never has to take effect.
“This
legislation in Kansas makes sense at this time,” Garrett said, “but the
hope would be that there is that federal legislation.”
It’s a
sort of begrudging endorsement from the schools. Kansas State University
Athletic Director Gene Taylor wants to keep up the current system, in
which student-athletes aren’t allowed outside endorsements deals.
“We
would prefer no rules, honestly,” Taylor said. “Just let us continue
that this scholarship is valuable enough. But that’s not the direction
this is going, so we have to move forward.”
The colleges don’t
want to be on the cutting edge, where they might run afoul of NCAA rules
and trigger punishments from the league. But they also don’t want to be
left behind if other states allow endorsement deals.
To walk that tightrope, Kansas’ bill
includes a trigger: It would only legalize outside endorsement deals
for student-athletes after 15 other states have similar laws.
Emporia State University President Allison Garrett (left), KU Director of Athletics Jeff Long (center) and Kansas State Athletics Director Gene Taylor testified in support of a bill that would allow student-athletes to be paid for endorsements. Credit Stephen Koranda / Kansas News Service
For schools in Kansas, the concern is that recruiting won’t be easy
if other states allow athletes to make money but Kansas doesn’t.
“I
think it gets very tough,” University of Kansas Director of Athletics
Jeff Long said. “Without this bill passing, we would be placed at a
disadvantage.”
The discussion comes at a time when KU is being investigated
for potential NCAA recruiting violations. It’s based on federal court
testimony in which Adidas representatives said they made payments to
recruits. The school didn’t address the allegations during a legislative
hearing in Topeka, but told the NCAA that the agents weren’t working on behalf of KU.
Garrett wants to see enough controls in a Kansas law so the endorsement deals aren’t used as part of recruiting.
Lawmakers
could take action on the bill later this session or continue work next
year, according to Republican Sen. Julia Lynn, who chairs the Senate
Commerce Committee.
Lynn said there are still a variety of details to work out, including how the endorsement deals would be taxed.
“Collegiate athletics is very complex. There are multiple layers there,” she said. “The money is really big in this issue.”
Republican
Sen. Molly Baumgarnder wants to make sure there are enough protections
in the bill, so athletes and their families know what they’re getting
into with endorsement deals, especially when it comes to high school
recruits.
“Agents are going to be flocking to high schools to try
and enter into that contract,” Baumgarnder said. “How do the high
school counselors, how do the high school coaches help that student that
might be embarking on that next step?”
Smaller private schools,
who aren’t major players in the recruiting game like KU, K-State and
Wichita State are, are concerned about the types of endorsements that
might be made available.
Some of the 20 schools in the Kansas
Independent College Association have faith traditions that disapprove of
alcohol and don’t allow it on campus.
But under the bill, the schools wouldn’t have any say in outside endorsement deals.
“A
student-athlete could share his or her likeness with a beer company and
the institution would have no power to limit such a contract,” KICA
President Matt Lindsey told lawmakers.
Stephen Koranda is the Statehouse reporter for Kansas Public Radio and the Kansas News Service. You can follow him on Twitter @kprkoranda.
