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The problem starts with Wisconsin ...
They Allege Miami's tampering with Lucas, after they ended up with egg on their face when they attempted to prevent Lucas from leaving, legitimately.
As per NCAA bylaws, once an athlete requests his or her name to be entered into the Transfer Portal, they have 48 hours to comply with said request.
Lucas made such a request, and Wisconsin refused to file the paperwork, with the intent of withholding his name from the Portal, until the Portal window for that cycled had closed.
Wisconsin tried to intimidate Lucas, by saying his NIL deal was a Binding Contract.
Xavier Lucas hired legal representation.
Turns out, that not only is it against Federal Law to lock in a Player to a Binding Contract, it is also against Wisconsin state Law.
On top of that, Lucas had a MOU
{Memorandum of Understanding} with Wisconsin, which is Non-Binding.
Then, the words, "This is a Restraint of Trait. This is Wisconsin saying, 'You are our Indentured Servant'." were used by Lucas' lawyer, and suddenly, the legal action against Lucas shifted to the University of Miami.
Wisconsin, claiming they had "Credible Information" about Miami allegedly Tampering with Lucas.
Note: that is "Information", not "Credible Evidence" for.
To me, this smells all of the NIL Collective and Wisconsin Boosters Association, pressuring the Institution to get their money back that they did not publicly declare.
The Big 10 is so adamant about their support of Wisconsin, here, because other schools in the conference are signing these agreements with athletes before the House Settlement Committee's passing of the Bill that allows for schools to pay player's directly, which doesn't even go into effect on July 1
rst.
This could all blowup on the Big Ten, who spearheaded this model of contractional agreement prior to its legalization, would then render all contracts of this sort with athletes signed before the 1
rst of July 2025 Illegitimate.
Meaning every player assumed to be bound by said contract type, could either break free of their current program or renegotiate their terms for service of play; including back pay if they felt they were misled by a university.
--- by the way ---
All of this is coming on the heels of Wisconsin getting Probation and Fined for impermissible calls with Recruits.
A Division I Committee on Infractions hearing panel determined that a total of 139 impermissible phone calls were made to 48 prospects. Sixty of the calls lasted one minute or less.
https://sports.yahoo.com/article/wiscon ... 39531.htmlWisconsin is treading water with this. It could go really badly for them.
What I'm betting is they want an Out of Court settlement, where Miami pays some nominal fee for recompense to their lost NIL revenue.
I don't know that Miami will comply, because Wisconsin doesn't actually have any real precedence. There was never any official payment transfer to Lucas
{at least not Public}, for Wisconsin to seek as damages. And, no payment from Wisconsin is going to occur. What then is their argument ..?
"
Miami did us wrong by taking a player from us who no longer wanted to be here, so they should pay, grrrr."
The only way I see it settling, is if Miami simply doesn't want to go into litigation over this, during the upcoming season, which would undoubtedly require testimony by Lucas and alleged Miami personnel involved.
Though, I suspect these days, such testimony can be done so over remote RealTime Internet Cast.
Generally, I have liked Wisconsin, as one of my best friends is from there, and root for them. I was happy for them when they hired Fickell, thinking this might be just what they need to turn things around.
But, I gotta admit. Those uppity b.astards in the school administration are making it difficult for me to shed a favored eye in their direction.
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