A Final Four Trip, Not NIL, Top Of Mind For Sweet 16 Stars Markquis Nowell, Johnell Davis

NEW YORK — As Markquis Nowell soaked in the adulation from a record-setting performance at Madison Square Garden, the irony of the moment was not lost on the diminutive guard from Harlem.

Moments earlier, Nowell clinched a thrilling win over Michigan State with a critical steal in the waning seconds of overtime. He joined his Kansas State teammates in a raucous celebration, then bumped into childhood hero Carmelo Anthony on his way to the locker room.

On the short walk from the floor to the locker area, Anthony gave Nowell a shout-out punctuated with a winner’s salute. Nowell set an NCAA tournament single-game record for assists, with 19 dimes in the Wildcats’ 98-93 victory over the Spartans.

“He’s been supporting me since I’ve been in middle school, Carmelo is my big brother,” Nowell exclaimed from Anthony’s old locker of all places.

Nowell, a cat-quick guard from the City, gutted out the victory on a sore ankle, suffered when he took an awkward step at the 12-minute mark of the second half. Nowell, a Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award finalist, still managed to bank in an acrobatic shot off one leg on the play.

“I’m New York tough,” Nowell told a packed media scrum outside his locker.

On Saturday, Kansas State will face Florida Atlantic, a 62-55 victor over Tennessee in the other East Regional semifinals. FAU, the No. 9 seed in the East, is coached by Dusty May, a former manager for Bob Knight at Indiana.

“I’m feeling calm right now,” Owls guard Johnell Davis told me on Thursday, inside the FAU locker room. “Coach May always tells me don’t put a lot of pressure on yourself, no one expected us to be here.”

Through three NCAA tournament games, Davis averages a team-high 18.7 points per game, including 29 in a second-round win over Fairleigh Dickinson. While upstart players such as Davis and Nowell may be in line for a litany of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals for their play this month, the Owls’ guard insists that he is not concerned with such endorsements.

“We’re just focused on the team, NIL will come,” Davis added.

The lucrative endorsements, however, are challenging to ignore. Across from Kansas State on Thursday, the opposing sideline featured a who’s who of former Spartans. The contingent included 2000 Final Four Most Outstanding Player Mateen Cleaves, NBA All-Star Steve Smith, and Mat Ishbia, the new owner of the Phoenix Suns.

Ishbia, a former walk-on at Michigan State, expanded an NIL initiative with the university last September, weeks before the start of the college hoops’ season. Under the program, Ishbia’s company, United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM) provides stipends of up to $700 a month to participating athletes. More importantly, the program helps educate participating athletes on potential career opportunities at UWM and the benefits of working with an independent mortgage broker, Ishbia wrote in a Sept. 2022 press release.

As of Friday, Ishbia ranked No. 421 on Forbes’ list of world billionaires, with a real-time net worth of approximately $6 billion.

“They get an opportunity to learn from a guy who walked in their shoes,” Smith told me outside of Michigan State’s locker room. “He patterns a lot of the Michigan State camaraderie and culture for his own company. He’s not only giving the money, but teaching about the money.”

Smith’s son Davis, a junior guard, received an NIL deal from UWM, the Turner analyst confirmed.

“It’s great, I’m looking for him to pay me back for all the years,” the elder Smith joked.

Anthony, meanwhile, is a co-founder and partner of Melo7 Tech Partners, a venture capital firm that specializes in seed, early, and later-stage investments. When Anthony starred with the Knicks, he forged a relationship with Nowell when the two worked out at JORDAN Brand, Terminal 23 in New York, a former 1920s ballroom that was transformed into a full-size basketball court.

“The fact there is player empowerment and the way the NIL deals work, they have support,” Anthony told me outside the media interview room at The Garden. “I think it should have happened long ago, but now that it is happening, guys are going to take advantage of it.”

“I also want guys to be smart and take advantage of it in a respectful way.”

Although players are able to receive endorsements from Name, Image, and Likeness branding, universities are prohibited from using NIL deals as an inducement in the recruiting process.

When FOX Bet released national championship odds last October, neither Kansas State, nor FAU ranked among the top 30 selections. At the start of the tournament, Kansas State had odds of 50/1 at BetMGM to cut down the nets in Houston, with FAU installed as a considerable sleeper (200/1).

After Saturday’s showdown at The Garden, one of those teams will be two games away from an improbable title. Ahead of the matchup, Kansas State has odds of 12/1 at FanDuel to win the national championship, while FAU still remains a longshot at 20/1.

“We’re where we’re supposed to be,” FAU guard Nick Boyd said after the Tennessee win. “We’re going to stay humble and hungry. We’re going to keep fighting no matter who we play.”