Nate Oats says he’s talked with Aden Holloway every day since his arrest:
“If you disappear on a guy when he makes a mistake, I’m not so sure that’s a genuine relationship you built”
Dabo Swinney had a lot to say on the criticism about Clemson's 1-2 start to the season:
"If Clemson's tired of winning, they can send me on my way. But I'm gonna go somewhere else and coach. I ain't going to the beach. Hell, I'm 55. I've got a long way to go."
I liked Sam Alexis and thought he could’ve grown into a frontcourt role at Florida, but I can’t say I’m stunned by his decision to hit the portal.
Aberdeen stunned me. I’m still stunned hours later. I mean, I knew this was a possibility— because it’s a possibility for literally anybody in college sports— but I guess I just never thought he’d go through with it.
And yet on the other hand— I’m not stunned at all, because that’s how this new era of college sports goes. The last guy you ever expect to hit the portal actually hitting the portal is just the norm now. The moves that make the least sense and/or come with the most shock value being made is par for the course.
I mean… a presumed 2025-26 starter for the defending national champion… who grew up two hours away from Gainesville… you know, the guy who waited two years to step up into that larger role and patiently paid his dues in the meantime… decides to bolt RIGHT as his long wait is over and he’s set to get the keys. The “he wants to play for a winning program” and “he wants more playing time” talking points are eliminated. The only possible explanation left is that he wants more money.
This is the new normal. First Jack Pyburn bailed on the football program— you know, the kid who grew up a Gator, the supposed “glue guy” who bled orange and blue— for an rival, and now Aberdeen is bailing on the basketball program right as he’s being handed everything he waited two years for. It’s time to accept that college athletics is complete and total anarchy, with chaos being the status quo and the default expectation.
And for what it’s worth, I don’t blame either player. They simply did what they were allowed to do. Don’t hate the player, hate the game.
I always believed athletes should be compensated for their name, image and likeness. I never wanted the inmates to run the asylum. But no, nobody understands moderation or middle ground solutions, so instead of profiting off of the labor of the athletes, we’ve wildly overcorrected and now we’ve thoroughly and lastingly fucked up college athletics by destroying the very fabric of what it was built on.
By the way, Florida will be fine out of all this. Golden will simply poach another guard in the portal. He imported an entire national championship winning backcourt from the portal the past two years and he can do it again.
I’m mourning the death of college athletics as a whole. To say “college sports is dead” is a gross understatement. Not only is it dead, it died an extra violent and emphatic death. College sports didn’t die of natural causes; it was vaporized in the fireball of a thermonuclear weapon that we decided to drop on ourselves just for fun.
But, we’ve got what we got here, so of course we just have to cheer for the guys who do choose to play for Florida— whoever they may be.