
Arizona State top scorer BJ Freeman no longer with program
February 23 - BJ Freeman, Arizona State's leading scorer this season, is no longer with the program, a team spokesperson told the Arizona Republic on Sunday.
The guard had averaged 13.7 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game over 25 games (22 starts) in his first season with the Sun Devils.
He was suspended for Arizona State's 86-73 road loss to Oklahoma State on Feb. 9 because of conduct detrimental to the team before returning. The spokesperson did not clarify Sunday whether Freeman was dismissed from the team or left on his own.
The news comes as Arizona State (12-14, 3-12), second-to-last in the Big 12, prepared to play at Kansas State on Sunday afternoon.
Freeman transferred to Arizona State from Milwaukee, where he was a two-time All-Horizon League selection in his first two seasons of college basketball. He averaged a conference-high 21.1 points per game last season and has career averages of 17.8 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 84 games (70 starts).
--Field Level Media

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The Independent
6 days ago
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A $2.8 billion settlement will change college sports forever. Here's how
A federal judge has approved terms of a sprawling $2.8 billion antitrust settlement that will upend the way college sports have been run for more than a century. In short, schools can now directly pay players through licensing deals — a concept that goes against the foundation of amateurism that college sports was built upon. Some questions and answers about this monumental change for college athletics: Q: What is the House settlement and why does it matter? A: Grant House is a former Arizona State swimmer who sued the defendants (the NCAA and the five biggest athletic conferences in the nation). His lawsuit and two others were combined and over several years the dispute wound up with the settlement that ends a decades-old prohibition on schools cutting checks directly to athletes. Now, each school will be able to make payments to athletes for use of their name, image and likeness (NIL). For reference, there are nearly 200,000 athletes and 350 schools in Division I alone and 500,000 and 1,100 schools across the entire NCAA. Q: How much will the schools pay the athletes and where will the money come from? A: In Year 1, each school can share up to about $20.5 million with their athletes, a number that represents 22% of their revenue from things like media rights, ticket sales and sponsorships. Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne famously told Congress 'those are resources and revenues that don't exist.' Some of the money will come via ever-growing TV rights packages, especially for the College Football Playoff. But some schools are increasing costs to fans through 'talent fees,' concession price hikes and 'athletic fees' added to tuition costs. Q: What about scholarships? Wasn't that like paying the athletes? A: Scholarships and 'cost of attendance' have always been part of the deal for many Division I athletes and there is certainly value to that, especially if athletes get their degree. The NCAA says its member schools hand out nearly $4 billion in athletic scholarships every year. But athletes have long argued that it was hardly enough to compensate them for the millions in revenue they helped produce for the schools, which went to a lot of places, including multimillion-dollar coaches' salaries. They took those arguments to court and won. Q: Haven't players been getting paid for a while now? A: Yes, since 2021. Facing losses in court and a growing number of state laws targeting its amateurism policies, the NCAA cleared the way for athletes to receive NIL money from third parties, including so-called donor-backed collectives that support various schools. Under House, the school can pay that money directly to athletes and the collectives are still in the game. 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The so-called College Sports Commission promises to be quicker and more efficient than the NCAA. Schools are being asked to sign a contract saying they will abide by the rules of this new structure, even if it means going against laws passed in their individual states. Q: What about players who played before NIL was allowed? A: A key component of the settlement is the $2.7 billion in back pay going to athletes who competed between 2016-24 and were either fully or partially shut out from those payments under previous NCAA rules. That money will come from the NCAA and its conferences (but really from the schools, who will receive lower-than-normal payouts from things like March Madness). Q: Who will get most of the money? A: Since football and men's basketball are the primary revenue drivers at most schools, and that money helps fund all the other sports, it stands to reason that the football and basketball players will get most of the money. 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The Independent
7 days ago
- The Independent
Judge paves the way for college athletes to earn millions
A federal judge has paved the way for college athletes to earn millions after approving a settlement between an Arizona State swimmer and the National Collegiate Athletic Association on Friday. Almost five years ago, Grant House sued the NCAA and its five biggest conferences to lift restrictions on revenue sharing with college athletes. Under the newly approved settlement, each school will now share up to $20.5 million with athletes over the next year and $2.7 billion over the next 10 years to thousands of former athletes who were previously prohibited from collecting revenue, the Associated Press reported. Most of the athletes who will reap the rewards of this suit will be football and basketball players at the biggest sports schools. House said in a CBS Sports article from May 2023 that he was inspired to pursue the lawsuit by Arizona State's music students who could get paid to play at Carnegie Hall. "I always thought it was interesting that … if [those musicians] can monetize this, take it to the farthest reaches, I couldn't because I was an athlete doing my own aspirations and dreams," House said. 'That just didn't sit well with me and confused me a lot,' he added. CBS Sports reported that the NCAA had made claims that compensating athletes would cause issues in the locker room. "I know there are quarterbacks getting millions of dollars. I'm not getting that. Good for them. I want them to actualize that," House said in response. He continued: 'I can imagine [locker room issues] in maybe some places where younger athletes have egos and haven't developed as much. I blame that on the culture. I don't blame that on NIL [name, image and likeness]. If your culture is that fragile, that weak, you as a university need to fix that.'