5 thoughts on Michigan Basketball and Big Ten Media Days

Michigan is getting better at NIL

The Wolverines’ star center would probably be playing in the NBA or the G-League this season if it wasn’t for NIL and who knows, maybe he would come back for a fourth season because of it.

Dickinson did warn about NIL and how if the University of Michigan didn’t do more to get with the times, it was going to miss out on top talent in football and basketball. We have seen that a little with the 2023 recruiting class in football, which doesn’t look like a typical class, despite the fact that Michigan is ranked No. 5, is fresh off a Big Ten title, and has won 18 of 20 games.

Recruiting should be going crazy but landing elite players still seems to be a struggle for the Wolverines. Everyone knows NIL needs to get better. Juwan Howard complained about it in the spring too.

But Dickinson said Wednesday it was getting better, although improvement is needed.

"“I’d say we’ve grown a lot from the University of Michigan with NIL. At first, they weren’t trying to embrace it. Now that we’re a year into it, I think Michigan now knows that they have to embrace it more because it’s what college basketball and college athletics is at this point. So I think we’re doing a better job of adapting. I think there’s still a lot of room to grow.”"

Michigan needs more work and it helps to have guys like Dickinson being vocal about it. But at least the university has taken a step in the right direction.