The Seminoles are ranked No. 46 in The Athletic's way-to-early 2027 College Basketball Championship prediction behind No. 1 Duke, No. 2 Michigan – the 2026 National Champions - and No. 3 Florida.
Florida State came in 45th and 8th in the ACC behind North Carolina (No. 13, Virginia (No. 20), Louisville (No. 30), Miami (No. 33), Stanford (No.41) and Clemson (No. 45).
Ten ACC schools finished behind the Seminoles including SMU (No. 52), Syracuse (No. 55), NC State (No. 57), Pitt (No. 61), Cal (No. 64), Wake Forest (No. 68,) Virginia Tech (No. 71), Boston College (No. 79), Georgia Tech (No. 82) and Notre Dame (No. 88).
Three Big 10 teams are ranked in the top 10 Michigan, Michigan State (No. 5) and Illinois (No. 10), two SEC schools (UF and Ark), two Big 12 (Kansas and Houston), one Big East (UConn) and ACC (Duke).
Michigan’s $10 million roster paid off in portal
Michigan’s men’s basketball program, which boasted a $10 million roster according to Front Office Sports, embraced the investment as it started five transfers. The five included: Yaxel Lendeborg (UAB), Morez Johnson Jr. (Illinois), Aday Mara (UCLA), Elliot Cadeau (UNC). Nimari Burnett transferred from Alabama in 2023.
Michigan, which boasts one of the nation’s largest athletics budgets, ignores transfer portal complaints from other coaches and fans.
“Complaining about the system right now is like complaining about tax loopholes,” Michigan regent Jordan Acker told Front Office Sports. “That’s the law. Those are the rules. At this point, we need to be in a place where there are rules, but until then, let’s do our thing.”
Portal is now open for 2027
Bob Ferrante reported that the portal is open and FSU is expected to be active in it again this April with a budget significantly less than Michigan’s.
College Sports Commission guidance
The College Sports Commission released updated guidance and other information about third-party NIL deals and revenue share that are in effect. Here’s a few:
Range of compensation:
“Last month, the Board of Managers of the CSC approved a new enforcement policy whereby the CSC will not subject deals valued between $600-$2,500 to range-of-compensation review unless and until a student-athlete has reached a total of $15K in Associated deals in an academic year.
“This policy will allow the CSC to focus its resources in NIL Go on higher-dollar deals. The CSC will evaluate the effect of the new policy in the coming months to determine whether further adjustments are needed. With the support of the Board, the CSC is also now providing more transparency regarding the range-of-compensation when deals are ‘not cleared’ because they exceed that range.”
Associated Entities:
“The commission reiterated that any entity not involved in the payment execution of a deal does not qualify as a facilitator and thus does not need to be identified in the deal submission process.
“Since a deal Facilitator is, by definition, providing payment to a student-athlete, deals in which the Facilitator is an Associated Entity are subject to review for range of compensation. This fact pattern occurs most commonly in deals in which the institution’s MMR partner is an Associated Entity and acts as a Facilitator.
“Pursuant to the rules, ‘Associated Entities’ include entities that exist, in significant part, to promote or support a particular Member Institution’s athletic department and those entities that create or identify NIL opportunities solely for a particular Member Institution’s athletes.
“In addition, Associated Entities include any entity that (1) has been directed or requested by an institution’s athletics department staff to assist in the recruiting or retention of prospective or current student-athletes, or (2) otherwise has assisted in the recruitment or retention of prospective or current student athletes. … As such, an entity that has been directed or requested by an institution’s athletics department to make NIL payments to student-athletes qualifies as an Associated Entity.”
Agent Fees and Contract Release Obligations:
“The CSC has received reports that institutions are directing third parties to make payments on behalf of student-athletes to cover fees owed to agents and fees owed to prior institutions (sometimes referred to as “buy-outs”) in order to circumvent the benefits cap.
“This conduct is not permitted and, if discovered, may result in discipline for both the institution and the student-athlete. The CSC will soon require that institutions provide additional information regarding payment of agent fees when submitting institutional revenue share agreements in CAPS.”
Enforcement reminders:
The commission has reached out to schools and student-athletes about cleared deals in which student-athletes never performed the stated obligations.
The commission issued a reminder on warehousing NIL rights: “Contracts in which MMRs or other partners pay student-athletes for their NIL with no information about who will ultimately use that NIL will likely run afoul.”
