On3 ranks Gonzaga with the No. 17 best NIL valuation among college basketball programs.
Personally, the Name, Image, Likeness or NIL space is a bit of an unknown. As it is for many.
A small Jesuit University in Spokane, Washington with an undergraduate population of 5,000+ doesn’t seem like a place that could raise a large amount of money while competing against the high-major programs from the power conferences (SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, ACC, Big East).
I was wrong as it looks like the Zags Collective (a fan-driven and alumni-led NIL group) is bringing in a solid amount of change for their players. The collective for Gonzaga basketball was founded by two former Gonzaga basketball players, Matt Santangelo and Shaniqua Nilles, and is powered by parent company Blueprint Sports.
After coming across On3’s team rankings, it’s broken down pretty well. Everyone should be aware that this is a subjective assumption and the amount is not all the way accurate. The recruiting site has Gonzaga ranked as the No. 17 college basketball program with a $322K NIL valuation.
Here are the other programs in the country that are ahead of the Zags:
No. 1 BYU Cougars – $3.8M
No. 2 Louisville Cardinals – $1.1M
No. 3 Duke Blue Devils – $985K
No. 4 Arizona Wildcats – $927K
No. 5 Houston Cougars – $912K
No. 6 Baylor Bears – $813K
No. 7 North Carolina Tar Heels – $736K
No. 8 Kansas Jayhawks – $711K
No. 9 Arkansas Razorbacks – $702K
No. 10 UConn Huskies – $654K
No. 11 Notre Dame Fighting Irish – $564K
No. 12 Kentucky Wildcats – $513K
No. 13 Syracuse Orange – $505K
No. 14 Michigan Wolverines – $445K
No. 15 USC Trojans – $437K
No. 16 Florida Gators – $378K
Within the Top 50, three other programs from the West Coast Conference were listed (No. 38 Santa Clara Broncos – $12.6K, No. 42 Pepperdine Waves – $10.3K, No. 50 Pacific Tigers – $8.6K).
Again, this list isn’t 100 percent correct since programs like the Kansas State Wildcats, Oregon Ducks, Wisconsin Badgers, NC State Wolfpack, Texas A&M Aggies, Texas Tech Red Raiders, San Diego State Aztecs aren’t even listed. Especially when the Washington Huskies’ NIL valuation is said to be at $198K, yet senior forward Great Osobor reportedly received a $2 million dollar deal to come play in Seattle.
It’s nice to just have something on the matter to refer to because a lot of what is going with the NIL across the nation is undisclosed.
Arden Cravalho is a Gonzaga University graduate from the Bay Area… Follow him on Twitter @a_cravalho