ATLANTA — Brian Burg finally got a spare moment in the hallway of State Farm Arena on Thursday morning.
The Ole Miss assistant coach, one of the key cogs in the rebuilding effort that has landed the Rebels in the Sweet 16 just two years into Chris Beard’s tenure in Oxford, was torn.
On one hand, he wanted to dedicate every ounce of his attention to this year’s Ole Miss team, one that will face Michigan State in the South Regional semifinal on Friday night in Atlanta. Before we get to the other hand, think about that a minute. Ole Miss (24-11) can move within one win of the Final Four on Friday night with a win over Tom Izzo and Michigan State. The Spartans are a 3.5-point favorite, so the Rebels aren’t exactly wearing Cinderella’s slipper to the floor.
On that aforementioned other hand, Burg knows his phone is blowing up with important calls and text messages. During Friday’s shoot-around at State Farm Arena, he missed at least 30 calls. He had more than double that amount of texts.
Burg will have to sort through those, and he can’t wait until Friday night or — if things go well — Sunday evening. Ole Miss has a roster to build for the 2025-26 season, and that really can’t wait.
But we can all admit this calendar is stupid. It’s absurd. It’s unfair. Think about it. Ole Miss is in its second Sweet 16 ever. This team came together in June, has been through ups and downs since starting the season in November and just came off a weekend in Milwaukee where it beat North Carolina and Iowa State to get to this point.
The sole focus should be on winning twice in Atlanta and getting to the Final Four in San Antonio. The fact that it simply can’t be is fundamentally wrong, and everyone knows it.
Izzo was asked a question about NIL and the transfer portal on Thursday. The legendary coach punted.
“There will be no talk of NIL or transfer portal here,” Izzo said. "This is going to be about Jaden Akins, the seniors, all the players I had before, and the opportunity to try to do something that the memory will last -- winning a championship, going to Final Fours is a memory like no other if you're an athlete.
“So if you want to take my number and call me when everything is said and done, I'll give you a different opinion than maybe what most people think. But I apologize. I’m not going to talk about that the day before the opportunity to play a game that could lead to another game that could lead to going to a Final Four, which is better than any NIL, it's better than my contract, it's better than the money I make, it's better than anything I do.”
Burg had heard Izzo discuss the same topic in a similar fashion earlier this week. The former Georgia Southern head coach loved what he heard. He agreed completely.
Of course, in modern college sports, coaches adapt or die. So Burg and the Rebels will adapt. They’re certainly not alone. The portal opened on Monday. Alabama assistant Preston Murphy told al.com that he had received 73 calls by late afternoon Wednesday. Alabama plays Brigham Young in the Sweet 16 Thursday night.
“Every team that is playing now is dealing with the same thing,” Murphy told al.com. “I guess you can look at it as a gift and a curse. It’s a blessing to be one of the 16 teams still playing.”
Common sense could fix this. On Monday, only four teams will still be alive. A week from Monday, it’ll all be over, one way or the other. Pushing the calendar back one week would make entirely too much sense.
After all, it’s about more than recruiting. No one is going to talk about it, but college basketball insiders in Nashville for the Southeastern Conference, in Milwaukee last week for the first and second rounds and in Atlanta Thursday all say the same thing — the portal is crazier than ever before and prices for talent procurement continue to soar.
Former Marquette, Indiana and Georgia coach Tom Crean was on NBA Radio on Sirius/XM Wednesday afternoon. He said top post players and impact point guards are demanding $1.5 million per season in the portal. There is informed speculation that nationally competitive rosters next season will cost $8-10 million.
In other words, these are big decisions coaches are making these days, and they should be able to make them without distraction.
And needless to say, current teams full of players who have done everything coaches have asked to get to the Sweet 16 shouldn’t be distractions. Those players have earned their coaches’ undivided attention, and coaches desperately want to give that level of focus to the young men in the locker rooms in Atlanta, Newark, San Francisco and Indianapolis.
They just can’t. And that sucks. And it’s stupid.
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