Do you really think Wade was beating out the likes of Kentucky, North Carolina, Arizona, Kansas etc because only he was paying players and they weren't? I promise you, basketball means a hell of a lot more at those schools. So if money was the ONLY factor in their recruitment they would have been able to meet/exceed anything LSU was offering.

All NIL is doing is bringing to light what was previously paid in the dark. Wade proved he was able to beat the bluebloods for high priced players. He wasn't just some bum with the biggest checkbook. Those funds from the LSU boosters go to football first.

For better or worse, the coaches who will be successful going forward have to fully adapt to the NIL/transfer game. That's why you saw guys like Roy Williams, Coach K, Jay Wright, Jim Boehiem walk away. They were too old and had accomplished so much that they didn't need to adapt. And they didn't want to.

I think Wade has fully embraced the current nature of college basketball. He knows the financial market for top prospects and he understands every season a coach is likely dealing with many one-year-rental players. In fact, I recently spoke with someone very close to him and that's more or less his pitch at McNeese to players. It's essentially "come here to MSU. I'll get you better. And if/when you get better you get attention from bigger programs...GO! I'll help you move up." The guy also has a good approach for finding overlooked guys in the transfer portal. In his final season at LSU he identified a (to be) Sophomore bench player a Cincinnati the analytical data said could be an All SEC player...even though he wasn't that in his Freshman year. That guy was Tari Eason...2022 All SEC 1st team player.

Will Wade ever get to the top of the college basketball mountain? I don't know. But I do think he's a guy suited for this era of college basketball