NIL and the transfer portal has changed everything about college athletics, but there are still moments that make you question whether or not you’ve seen it all. And when it comes to Kansas big man Paul Mbiya‘s return to the Jayhawks, his statement was beyond bizarre, and read like Chat GPT at its finest.
Mbiya was a 7′ freshman who averaged 1.2 points per game. However, there were multiple reports in recent weeks that he was in the transfer portal and exploring a big payday.
Upon his return to Kansas, Mbiya said in part, “No pressure can break me. No obstacle can stop me. And no amount of money will ever define me or buy my values. You can’t buy heart. You can’t buy loyalty. You can’t buy what’s inside me.”
Good grief.
What an exhausting bunch of BS.
This comes one week after a report by the Lawrence Journal-World reveals that Mbiya’s management, Yacine Fylla, is hopeful the Kongo native would stay at Kansas should they strike “the deal he deserves.” Fylla mentioned in the same report that Mbiya, a native of Kinshasa, Congo, needs help to “understand it’s also a business.”
It’s great for Kansas that Mbiya is returning. His upside is tremendous, but the idea that it’s all about loyalty and not about money? Can we just save ourselves from the platitudes at this point in college athletics? Everyone is looking for the payday. That’s fine. But I’ll be done pretending that most of the players see any value in being developed by a Hall of Fame head coach and play in a legendary building like Allen Fieldhouse.
It saddens me, but it’s the reality of the landscape today. I can accept it, though. What I can’t and won’t accept is being hoodwinked by players, agents and perceived AI-generated statements.
