Miami’s run to the Sweet 16 reflects college basketball’s new reality

ALBANY, NEW YORK - MARCH 17: The Miami Hurricanes huddle in the second half against the Drake Bulldogs during the first round of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at MVP Arena on March 17, 2023 in Albany, New York. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
By Dana O'Neil
Mar 21, 2023

ALBANY, N.Y. — Tucked in the far corner of a locker room inside MVP Arena sits a 21-year-old college basketball player worth a reported $800,000. Across the room is his teammate, the one whose agent threatened to send him packing if he didn’t get a pseudo-salary increase.

This is maybe a bit simplistic — even slightly unfair — summation of the Miami men’s basketball team, but it is not inaccurate, either. Nowhere in the Sweet 16 is the new world order of college athletics more well represented than within the Hurricanes locker room. While the NCAA dithers with how to regulate NIL and other coaches wring their hands with worry about its impact, Miami has unapologetically jumped in with both feet.

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Backed by a brazen billionaire booster who has no qualms about sharing his financial investments, the No. 5 seed Hurricanes head to Kansas City for a regional semifinal date with top-seed Houston. They are led by Nijel Pack, the pint-sized point guard transfer from Kansas State who supposedly pocketed the northside of three-quarters of a million dollars, and Isaiah Wong, the aggressive leading scorer, who used Pack’s good fortune to improve his own situation.

There is nothing wrong with what Miami is doing. While the NCAA sanctioned the women’s team for improper contact with John Ruiz, the booster/owner of LifeWallet, and his very public courting of the TikTok-starring Cavinder twins, the men’s team was not even part of the investigation.

And so it comes down to, really, a simple question: is Miami a renegade, or simply ahead of the curve? “I use this analogy,’’ head coach Jim Larranaga says. “I asked our players if they’ve ever seen Steph Curry in a Subway commercial, and everybody has. I said, ‘OK. That’s NIL.’ You can make some additional money. That’s what NIL was made to do, and that’s what they’re doing.’’


The child of Cuban immigrants who arrived in Florida just before he was born, Ruiz grew up near the dog track in northwest Miami and three years ago dropped $49 million on a house in Coral Gables, the second most expensive single home purchase in affluent Miami-Dade County history. In between, he spent four years at the U, during the Jimmy Johnson football heydays, graduated from nearby Nova Southeastern University law school, founded a company that recovers Medicare mispayments and became a very wealthy man.

His bank account may have swelled, but Ruiz also remained, at his core, the same devoted Miami Hurricane who arrived on campus at 17. He sent his three kids to his alma mater — the two boys played baseball and his daughter was a Sunsation — and even now, at 56, his social media feed is peppered with videos of celebratory Canes and promises to raffle NCAA Tournament tickets. He was at the games in Albany, and though work will keep him away from Kansas City for Friday’s regional semifinal, he’ll be in place on Sunday if Miami pulls off the upset.

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All of that serves as the explanatory backdrop to Ruiz’s hobby, for lack of a better word, and why, when states began to break down the last walls separating college athletes and payment, he found a new way to spend his money. He earmarked $10 million for Miami athletes in the first year of NIL. “Obviously the University of Miami was good for me, but it’s been great for a lot of kids,’’ he says. “You want to do good in your community. This is my community.’’

Nijel Pack transferred to Miami from Kansas State, with news of a NIL deal happening simultaneously. (Patrick Smith / Getty Images)

Ruiz’s NIL bankrolling isn’t entirely different from the various collectives sponsored by alums at schools across the country; it just so happens to be funded by one man. It’s more the very public way he broadcast his investments and the implications of his methods that raised people’s hackles. Per the NCAA language, “While opening name, image and likeness opportunities for student-athletes, the policy in all three divisions preserves the commitment to avoid pay-for-play and improper inducements tied to choosing to attend a particular school. Those rules remain in effect.’’ Which is where it all gets messy. The language is nebulous at best, and wildly subject to interpretation, but there seems to be at least consensus: Actively and publicly wooing players with deals is not done.

And yet there was Ruiz, perceived at least to be running right up to — and in one case perhaps crossing over — the line in the span of a rather busy three weeks at the start of the 2022-23 preseason. On April 13, 2022, Ruiz posted a picture outside his home with Haley and Hanna Cavinder, the social media-famous basketball twins who were transferring from Fresno State. Ten days later, on the same day Miami announced Pack (a first-team All-Big 12 guard) had transferred in, Ruiz tweeted his own “breaking news,” announcing not only his company’s NIL partnership but the terms of the deal.

One week after that, Wong’s agent, Adam Papas, threatened a transfer if Wong’s comparatively low $100,000 NIL pot wasn’t sweetened (Wong later distanced himself from the threat). Ruiz initially played hardball, telling ESPN that he “did not renegotiate” but later tweeted that he looked forward to helping Wong, who led the Hurricanes to the Elite Eight a year ago, find more deals.

It all eventually landed in the crosshairs of the NCAA, but only the dinner with the Cavinder twins was deemed impermissible conduct and the chef-prepared dinner Ruiz served that night as an inducement. “NIL adjacent,’’ is how the national governing body termed the whole case.

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Ruiz insisted then and reaffirmed Monday in a conversation with The Athletic that the NCAA was wrong on two fronts — that the dinner happened after the twins were under contract, and so it was not an inducement, and that he should not be considered a booster, since he was acting as a business person, not a school donor. He also pointed out that Florida law does not prohibit a person who contributes to the school from discussing NIL. “We are just ahead of the curve,’’ he says. “This always happens in any industry when things change. There are bumps along the road and then ultimately things settle down.’’

Ruiz considers himself both a smart businessman for partnering with the athletes, and something of a beneficiary. He talks at length about exposing college kids to necessary experiences — from managing finances to interfacing with adult professionals — and believes that helping them understand and realize their market value will prepare them for their own futures. He’s since promised to up the pledge from his initial $10 million that already has been spread to some 150 Miami athletes.


This has all happened at Miami, a school whose athletics history has always been as a renegade program unafraid of the NCAA. From Catholics versus Convicts to Nevin Shapiro, the school has not exactly softened the edges on its historical images. Usually, the scandals lived on the football gridiron, but that’s largely because the basketball team barely counted. The university dropped the program in 1971 after relocating it to a host of “home” venues, including, at one point, the gym at Coral Gables High School. The resurrection in 1985 was an exceptionally soft launch, the Hurricanes going 13 years without reaching the NCAA Tournament. Leonard Hamilton and Frank Haith enjoyed blips of success but nothing like the consistency Larranaga has brought to campus since arriving in 2013. The Hurricanes, under the ever-pleasant Larranaga, have earned six NCAA Tournament bids, including three Sweet 16 runs and one trip to the Elite Eight.

But six years ago, Miami got looped in on the FBI investigation — where Adidas reps went to jail for essentially doing the same thing as Ruiz — and the gild faded a bit on the lily. The school’s name was eventually redacted from the NCAA case but Dewan Hernandez wound up withdrawing from school, after being benched for the rest of the 2018-19 season and 40 percent of the next. Mix in the effrontery of Ruiz’s NIL deals, and it all didn’t sit well with some traditionalists in the game. Before he retired, Jim Boeheim went on a mini tirade about it all. “Pittsburgh bought a team. … Wake Forest bought a team. Miami bought a team,’’ he said. “It’s like, ‘Really, this is where we are?’ That’s really where we are, and it’s only going to get worse.’’

Boeheim caught all sorts of flack for it, and later apologized. The truth? Boeheim only said what lots of his peers whisper beneath their breath, viewing Miami more rules skirting than forward thinking.

Like Ruiz, however, Larranga has no plans on changing. “No one is going to tell me how to run my basketball program,’’ he says. “When you’re coming into the gym, you’re going to play the Miami way. When you work with someone else that’s willing to sponsor you, great. That’s like college basketball coaches who have shoe contracts.’’


Veteran coach Jim Larranaga has Miami back to the Sweet 16. (Rob Carr / Getty Images)

They did not walk down the hall. They skipped, even danced a little bit. Their 85-69 thorough dismantling of Indiana over for mere minutes, the Miami players came sprinting out of their celebratory locker room, liberated for a few minutes before interviews to go visit their families. Arms slung around each other’s shoulders, phones poised to take selfies or check text messages, they ran down the hallway, sliding past the pep band for eager high fives before welcoming bear hugs from administrators, parents and really anyone happy to offer some love.

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The postgame celebration mirrored how the Hurricanes played in their second-round game: actual joy. While Indiana played flat, seemingly overwhelmed by the moment, the Canes played freely. They had swagger. Miami swished 3s and posed to the crowd; the Canes corralled rebounds and flexed. They actually smiled during the game — full-out grins spread across their face as one player after another made an easy bucket. “I would say we’re a team with great energy,’’ Wong says as he walks down the hallway, having summarily dumped 27 points on Indiana. “We’re always having fun. That’s what we’re about. We love playing with each other, and it shows on the court.’’

So where is the dissension and the fizzled chemistry? That’s supposed to happen when locker rooms are divided by sliding-scale salaries. At least that’s what people thought, that by inviting very public finances into the very private team sanctuary Miami would crack from within. The demands of Wong’s agent, many opined, only gave voice to the animosity and jealousy that NIL deals would bring. “Nah, it wasn’t like that,’’ says Wong, who used some of his money to rent a nice, convenient apartment near campus. “It was never like that.’’

If it has been, the Hurricanes have done a good job hiding it. They won a share of the ACC regular-season title this year, for only the second time in program history, and finished 15-5 in the league, their best ACC run since 2013. Their 27 wins this season set a school record.

Rather than cave under the pressure to perform, both have reached higher. Wong is the ACC Player of the Year, averaging 16.1 points, and Pack, now surrounded by better teammates, has packed efficiency into his game bag. He’s averaging less shots yet still shooting plus-40 percent from the floor. Neither have devolved into ball hogs, either. Wong is dishing out 3.3 assists a game and Pack 2.4.

Neither lives in fear of a performance-based pay cut, nor does Ruiz operate that way. “They have good days and bad days like anyone else,’’ he says. “The important thing to me is they stay clean, do what they’re supposed to do and act as role models to other kids.’’ The Canes also don’t think the expectations from fans are any different than it ever was. Long before NIL, plenty of angry bettors dropped into Pack’s mentions to voice their displeasure if he didn’t play up to snuff. “At the next level, which is where I want to be, people are going to know your contract,’’ Pack says. “You’re going to make triple the amount in the NBA, so to me, this is like a stepping stone. It helps you develop that thick skin you need to succeed, and that mental toughness.”

Some might say why? Pack is only 21; Wong is 22. There is plenty of time to chase money, and get paid. To which Ruiz says, isn’t that what college is for? “It’s important for youngsters to understand the value of a dollar,’’ he says. “They need to learn how to market themselves and understand what value they have. It’s just different. People always have something to say when they don’t understand something. They’ll catch up.’’

Until they do, Miami will be in the money … all the way to the Sweet 16.

(Top photo: Rob Carr / Getty Images)

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Dana O'Neil

Dana O’Neil, a senior writer for The Athletic, has worked for more than 25 years as a sports writer, covering the Final Four, the Super Bowl, World Series, NBA Finals and NHL playoffs. She has worked previously at ESPN and the Philadelphia Daily News. She is the author of three books, including "The Big East: Inside the Most Entertaining and Influential Conference in College Basketball History." Follow Dana on Twitter @DanaONeilWriter