1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - Former NBA draft pick playing at Baylor: December 29th, 12:45pm

Episode Date: December 29, 2025

Austin and Jake close out with a discussion regarding an NBA draft pick's unprecedented return to collegeAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Back to one-on-one with D.P. Sponsored by the Downtown Lincoln Foundation on 93-7, The Ticket. We are back to wrap up one-on-one here on 93-7. The Ticket, I'm Jake Bockerman. He's Austin, thanks again, Austin, for jumping with me on one-on-one. We did just talk about the Nebraska men's basketball program, and their weekend. head with New Hampshire tomorrow evening and then the Friday night top 15 matchup against Michigan State should be noted as well that the women are undefeated and have their own matchup this

week a big one a big week as they will take on two ranked opponents in the next couple of games one being about an hour away Nebraska and USC will play on Big Ten plus here from of course pinnacle bank arena Nebraska 12 and 0 and 1 in the Big 10 against the 9 and 3. and want to know U.S.C. Trojans. USC coming in ranked 17th, Nebraska ranked 20th. So at some point, again, our Mids and Women's programs probably will lose this year. Hopefully it is not the day for the Lady Huskers as they get going against the Trojans. This for Nebraska women's basketball, Bach feels to me kind of like the Nebraska,

Michigan State game two years ago, the tournament team for the men's side. A good team in Michigan State that came in, definitely not the peak of their powers. Certainly in a more advantageous position for Nebraska. Weird time a day for a game, long travel, off a break for both teams. And even USC has a few days between games after this as well. This feels like a moment for Nebraska women's basketball. Again, with the highest ranking they've ever received under Amy Williams, her entire tenure, this is year 10.

They've got their highest ranking against a team that is good, still plenty of talent, down maybe the headliner and in Juju Watkins, obviously. But it feels like this is a USC team that is as getable as it could be for Nebraska. Certainly last year's West Coast Road swing with USC and UCLA, as good as those two teams were, it didn't go Nebraska's way. But revenge on the mind, best player out, weird time a day. Nebraska playing pretty well. Lots of play for a lot on the line for Nebraska in this one,

certainly not crushing if this is where the storybook ride comes to an end. But this is a great opportunity for Nebraska women's basketball, I think, to push through that hill to get over it. and knock off a certainly talented USC team. Yeah, it's interesting. Again, as we kind of broke down what Michigan State has done against ranked opponents so far this year, you look at USC, they beat number nine, North Carolina State by a point in early November,

lost to South Carolina, who was number two at the time, did lose at number 24, Notre Dame, beat number 21 Washington here earlier this month on the seventh, and then lost the number one Yukon Huskies, December 13th. So they've been... They've been tested. We'll put it that way, early on in the season. And they've come back with some pretty good wins.

And, of course, a few losses there against some of the top five teams in the country. So we'll see where that lands today for the Nebraska women's basketball team. See if they can get that done. We'll certainly kind of keep track of that over here in the next hour or so. The last thing I wanted to talk to you, Austin, about before we get out of here, is a former NBA player now playing with the baseball. Baylor Bears. A sign of the times, of course,

and the changes in college sports. So Scott Drew and the Baylor staff have recently signed James Noggi. I think is how you pronounce that. And he at one time was the 31st pick of the 2023 NBA draft. But because he never played an NBA game or signed a contract in the G League or in the NBA, because he still had, was playing overseas, this is possible. We've also seen two G-League players sign this past fall with Louisville.

So it's a bit of a strange cycle now that the NCAA finds itself in. I mean, this kind of more than anything feels like the NCAA's losing their hold of what's kind of going on, roster management, their power, all that. It really does. And I've heard the theory floated out there. The NCAA wants this to happen so it can get the governmental oversight. it's craving because it clearly can't put the cat back in the bag, the toothpaste back in the tube, whatever, whatever it is you want to say.

But that's why I propose Bach, just age limits, age limits for college, right? We have those to an extent in youth sports. We have them to an extent in high school sports. Bring it to college. You know, I think it's, okay, the guy didn't sign an American contract. Whatever. That's a loophole. So be it, we've seen plenty of guys, cough, cough,

Brad Underwood, cough, Illinois, cough, cough, come over with professional experience in Europe and play. And technically that's all Naji has right now. It looks super dumb, the fact that he was drafted with the first pick of the second round in an actual honest-to-goodness NBA draft and can come over and play college basketball. But, okay, so be it.

I don't want to see college basketball turn into the draft and stash league. I think it's stupid. I don't think it's good for the sport, either one of them, either level of the sport. But, okay, sure, James Naji gets to play. He gets one year. He's a three-year for a professional.

That's my thing. Maybe you can stretch college to 24 at the best, right? But if you've played professionally anywhere, I don't care where. If you've signed a contract to play professionally anywhere, you avoid your red shirt year, you avoid your injury year. If you're a European coming over who, okay, maybe you've been in the club system but not actually played with the big, you know, parent club, whatever it is, fine, you can come over at 18 and be a freshman with your red shirt year

and your medical year available to you. But if you're 21 like Naji and you've played three years overseas, you don't get a red shirt year. You don't get a redshirt year. You get your one year of eligibility, your 22, you get out. You find what it is you can do.

It can't be that hard. It can't be, but again, it's what is. That's why, like you said, you just, we said it for years with college sports is, you know, the goal needs to be clear of what that is. and it never really is. And now we've seen money kind of take over as the primary goal. And that's fine.

Okay, business is big enough, whatever. Well, then let's put it that way. I always think the funniest thing is when players get drafted, you talk about free agency or, you know,

it's kind of this idea of like, well, they should choose where they live. I mean, this is where they're going. And morality has to come back to, yeah, but you're playing in our league.

You're playing in our system. So you have to abide by our rules. And so you don't get to just freely choose, you know, where you want to go. especially, you know, in free agency and professional leagues, obviously a little bit different in college sports. But, you know, then it kind of gets into this, like, age restriction.

What are we looking for? What, as we move from college sports into kind of more of a professional model, do we still want it to be college age sports? You know, is that the primary goal? So, like, what is it that we're doing? You want it to be a level below the NBA? Like you said, there's different things to do. And it's not, it's the other problem with this is it shouldn't be a uniform decision for every

sport altogether, and that's why I've been arguing for the breakaway from football, because basketball, especially, um, it obviously very profitable, you know, sport itself in college basketball. And there's just, they're just reacting to all these changes that are best for football and football all these years later after all these changes is one gigantic mess. It's not a whole lot better than what it was. So you're just, you're not even doing what's best for football. You're doing what's best for each entity to make more money in different. And so again, it just comes back to like, What is the goal here? And I don't know if there's a unified goal.

Well, Railroad or Matt chimes in. Would there be an age waiver for military personnel? I think that is such a small subset here that, yes, it's certainly worthy of consideration. But it goes to Box Point. What is the point? If you're doing your military service and you want to come back and play college athletics, great, cool, give it a go. You have your eligibility, right?

I mean, can it be put in the same boat as like the Mormon missions, right? for BYU, who primarily takes advantage of those. I don't love it. But if you haven't used any of your college eligibility playing a sport, number one, okay, fine, you can go for it. But why would you want to? Why would college sports want to, right? You made your choice.

Choices come with tradeoffs. You can't have everything in this world. It's impossible to do. I just wish that we as a society, we're okay with tradeoffs. We're okay with the middle ground. That's where I want college sports to get back to, is that in-between of high school to the pros. It's leading way too far one way for my liking right now.

It is definitely interesting and different changes. It certainly makes radio a little bit more intriguing and easier to do, at least, in that case, because there's plenty to talk about. So that is one benefit of factor, one trade-off for us here, us radio folks. But then I wrap it up for one-on-one, Bach in the Black shirt coming up next year with Terrell Farley and myself, don't go anywhere. You're going to find you.