The five-for-five model is here. For student-athletes, parents, and coaches, the old rulebook is gone. Here is what you need to know about the new landscape—and how to survive it.
The End of the Redshirt as We Know It
For decades, the rhythm of college athletics was dictated by a simple, if often baffling, formula: five years to play four. It was a system rife with nuance, loopholes, and the occasional waiver wizardry that allowed star players to extend their collegiate careers into their mid-twenties. That era, for better or worse, is officially coming to an end. In a landmark move, the Division I Cabinet has unanimously approved a sweeping overhaul, ushering in an age-based eligibility model that fundamentally rewrites the rules of the game .
The new model is stark and simple: student-athletes are now permitted up to five years of eligibility, but those five years must be completed within a five-year window. This “five-for-five” model replaces the old system entirely . For the incoming class of fall 2027, the clock starts ticking based on a specific date: the beginning of the academic year immediately following an athlete’s 19th birthday, or their first full-time enrollment in college, whichever comes first . This is a seismic shift designed to align athletic eligibility with the standard enrollment patterns of the general student body .
The New Rules: Simplicity and Finality
The primary motivation behind this change is the elimination of complexity. In recent years, the NCAA’s waiver system became a source of frustration, legal challenges, and perceived inequity. Athletes in their mid-20s competing against 18-year-olds became a flashpoint for critics . The Cabinet’s decision, championed by Illinois Athletic Director Josh Whitman, aims to provide “rules that are simpler to administer and easier to predict for roster management decisions” .
Key changes include:
No More Redshirts: The traditional redshirt—whether for physical development or a season-ending injury—is eliminated. Unless an athlete falls under the specific exceptions listed below, there is no way to pause the five-year clock.
The End of Waivers: The days of petitioning the NCAA for a medical hardship waiver or a clock extension are over . The new rules specifically state that waivers will not be available under the age-based model, ending the practice of athletes seeking additional time for injuries or delayed enrollment .
Limited Exceptions: The Cabinet has defined only three narrow exceptions that can delay or pause the eligibility clock: pregnancy, active-duty military service, and official religious missions. Crucially, the athlete cannot participate in organized competition during the exception period .
The Transition: A Two-Track System for Current Athletes
The most critical detail for those currently in the system is the implementation timeline. The new rules are not a sudden cut-off. For the next two years, we will operate under a unique dual system.
The Hard Deadline: The new age-based model will be fully implemented for all prospects initially enrolling in college in fall 2027 or later.
The Transition Class (Fall 2026): For students enrolling in fall 2026, and for current student-athletes who have eligibility remaining after the 2025-26 academic year, a “most favorable outcome” rule applies. Schools will apply either the previous rules (five years to play four) or the new age-based model, whichever results in more eligibility for the individual athlete. This creates a critical strategic opportunity for those who might benefit from the old rules.
A Stark Warning: The July 31, 2026, Deadline
For those who have been relying on the old system, time is of the essence. The NCAA has set a hard deadline of July 31, 2026, for schools to submit any season-of-competition or eligibility clock extension waiver requests based on circumstances that occurred during or before the 2025-26 academic year . After this date, waivers under the previous rules will no longer be available. This is a final window of opportunity that must not be ignored.
Guidance: How to Proceed in the New Landscape
For Prospective Athletes (High School Classes of 2027 and Beyond)
Your timeline is now defined by your age. You have five years to play five. There is no safety net. You must plan your academic and athletic career with the understanding that your clock will start no later than the year after you turn 19. A gap year or a postgraduate year is now a luxury that could cost you a season of eligibility. Treat your academic progress and athletic development as equally urgent priorities from day one.
For Parents and High School Coaches
Advocacy is key. The days of “redshirting” a freshman to preserve a year of eligibility are over. As NCAA President Charlie Baker noted, 98% of student-athletes will “go pro in something other than sports” . This rule forces a pivot back to the student model. Encourage athletes to focus on enrolling promptly and maintaining steady academic progress. For high school coaches, this means preparing athletes for immediate college-level competition, as a developmental year is no longer a strategic option.
For Grassroots and Club Coaches
The elimination of the age-based waiver loophole is a significant development. You will need to advise families that an athlete’s value is now tied to their age and their ability to produce immediately at the collegiate level. Players who are older for their grade (19 before enrolling) will have a shorter window to make an impact. This should influence your advice on recruitment and the choice of a post-graduate year.
The Future of College Sports
This is not merely an administrative change; it is a philosophical one. The era of the perpetual student-athlete, sustained by a web of medical and hardship waivers, is over. While the shift brings clarity and uniformity, it also carries immense weight. Athletes who are injured will now face the grim reality that their playing careers could end without the possibility of a fifth-year waiver. The “litigious environment” mentioned by Charlie Baker is likely to respond to this new reality, as attorneys have already threatened legal action on behalf of athletes who feel they are being unfairly denied a fifth year .
Yet, for all its finality, this new rule provides a roadmap. It requires focus, discipline, and a clear-eyed view of the future. For the student-athlete stepping onto campus in 2027, the message is clear: the clock is ticking. Use your time wisely.
EAGLEVILLE, PA – In the hyper-ventilated ecosystem of Philadelphia-area high school basketball, we have become addicted to the neon lights. We obsess over the national rankings, the shoe-circuit mixtapes, and the prep-school behemoths. We have trained our eyes on the marquee names of the 2028 class—Colton Hiller, Mason Collins, Logan Chwastyk, Rowan Phillips, and Carter Smith—and rightly so. They are brilliant. They are worthy of the hype.
But in our relentless pursuit of the obvious, we are committing a cardinal sin of scouting: we are confusing fame with ability.
John Leet of Methacton High School is the most underappreciated guard in the Greater Philadelphia region, and if we are not careful, the Ivy League and Patriot League are going to steal him out from under our noses while we are busy fawning over the consensus lists. He is not just a “good player in a tough league.” He is a certified Division 1 difference-maker, and the evidence is no longer anecdotal—it is statistical tyranny.
Let us begin with the raw testimony of the court. During the opening salvo of Philly Live, while the college coaches packed the bleachers to see the five-star headliners, Leet delivered a performance that should have caused a seismic shift in recruiting boards. In a heartbreaking 66-64 loss to Arts High School from Newark, Leet poured in 41 points. Forty-one. In a region drowning in talent, he was the singular, unstoppable force on the floor. He followed that act by dropping over 20 in a blowout victory against Burlington City. This was not a fluke; it was a declaration.
But to understand Leet, one must look beyond the showcase stage and examine the bedrock of his production. As an unheralded sophomore—a player who entered the season as a ghost on the recruiting radar—he dragged Methacton to a 23-5 record, a District 1 Final Four, and a Sweet 16 berth in the PIAA 6A Tournament. He didn’t just lead; he carried. He amassed 538 points, the third-highest single-season total in school history, and drained 94 three-pointers, also third-best. He averaged 19 points per game on a stratospheric 46.8% shooting from beyond the arc and 80% from the line.
Those are not the numbers of a “system player.” Those are the numbers of a closer.
If there is any doubt that his high school heroics were a product of a weak schedule, his summer performance with Team Final Red has silenced that critique. In the crucible of the Nike EYBL—the most competitive proving ground in amateur basketball—Leet is the leading scorer on an undefeated 8-0 team that is knocking on the door of the Peach Jam. He is currently tied for third in the league in three-pointers made (23) at a scorching 42.6% clip. He is shooting 100% from the free-throw line. He is averaging nearly two steals a game, proving he is not just a stationary shooter but a cerebral, two-way competitor.
At roughly 6-foot-1, Leet does not possess the freakish length that makes scouts drool in warmups. He does not have the prep-school pedigree that guarantees a scholarship offer by junior year. Instead, he has something far more dangerous: a dead-eye shot, a high basketball IQ, and a chip on his shoulder.
This region has seen this movie before. We watched Collin Gillespie, a similarly undervalued guard, climb from a secondary recruit to a national champion and NBA player. We saw Kevair Kennedy and Jake West ascend through the ranks not because they were the biggest or the fastest, but because they were the most efficient and the most determined. John Leet is the heir to that lineage. He is a “Hidden Gem” in the truest sense—possessing exceptional value and quality, yet overlooked by the glitter of the national circuit.
To the coaches in the Patriot League and the Ivy League: stop sleeping. This is the player who will win you games in March. He is not a project; he is a plug-and-play piece who will stretch defenses and command respect from the moment he steps on campus. If he continues this trajectory for another two years, the Atlantic 10 will come calling.
John Leet does not need the hype. He has the production. It is time we gave him the recognition.
For years, college basketball recruiting was dominated by those affiliated with shoe company circuits. Then the NCAA and some prominent college coaches fought back, and nowhere is that victory more evident than in a couple Philadelphia gyms in June.
PHILADELPHIA, PA – The cathedral of modern basketball is not a gleaming NBA arena. It is often a cavernous, sweltering convention center or a suburban high school gym in July, filled with the cacophony of squeaking sneakers, blaring horns, and the unmistakable hum of a transactional culture. For decades, the primary sacred text in this cathedral was not a playbook, but a ledger. The high priests were not exclusively the college coaches sitting in the bleachers, but the “grassroots” middlemen whose summer teams were underwritten by a trinity of multinational corporations: Nike, Adidas, and Under Armour. To recruit an elite American teenager, a college coach had to make a pilgrimage through the shoe company circuits—the EYBL, the 3SSB, and the UAA—a journey that often had less to do with a prospect’s fit in a university’s academic environment than with the logo on his travel uniform.
John Mosco, Philly Live Co-Fouder, Dino Presley, Rider Assistant and Bino Ranson, St. Joseph’s Assistant
This was the reality that Rick Pitino, then the head coach at the University of Louisville, railed against in a moment of startling candor twelve years ago. It was October 2014, and Pitino, whose own program was handsomely funded by a $39 million Adidas extension, stood before the media and diagnosed a sickness in his sport. He lamented a world where a recruit’s destiny was pre-arranged by his apparel sponsor. “What I personally don’t like is I can’t recruit a kid because he wears Nike on the AAU circuit,” Pitino said, his voice cutting through the typical coach-speak of preseason press conferences. “I had never heard of such a thing and it’s happening in our world. Or, he’s on the Adidas circuit, so the Nike schools don’t want him.”
His complaint was not the naivete of a newcomer, but the confession of an insider who had grown weary of the game’s architecture. He spoke of shoe companies recruiting prospects with the same ferocity as universities, battling to stock their summer stables. His proposed solution was radical in its simplicity: the NCAA should run its own summer camps, a neutral ground where coaches could evaluate talent outside the shadow of the sneaker wars, and where the rules of amateurism could be clearly explained. Pitino’s cri de coeur was a powerful admission that the collegiate establishment had ceded its authority over the very lifeblood of the sport—the identification and cultivation of young talent—to a network of unaccountable corporate interests.
Philly Live Co-Founder, Andre Noble (center)
Seven years ago, the NCAA took a significant, if imperfect, step to reclaim that authority. It created the June Scholastic period, a designated window where Division I coaches can evaluate prospects exclusively in a high school environment. The premise is a profound course correction. For too long, the high school coach, the educator most intimately involved in a student-athlete’s daily development, was a spectator in his own player’s recruitment. The summer belonged to the shoe circuits, where a coach’s access to a player was often mediated by an agent-runner or a sponsor-driven team director. The June Scholastic period was architected to dismantle this dynamic, explicitly designed to occur without competition from nonscholastic events, thereby “increasing the scholastic coach’s influence in the recruiting process,” as the NCAA guidelines state. It was a legislative attempt to re-center the educational mission in a process that had drifted dangerously into a commercial free-for-all.
A Philadelphia Renaissance: Where High School Pride Trumps Grassroots Agendas
Nowhere has the promise of this reform been realized more vividly than in Philadelphia, where the “Philly Live” scholastic events have become the gold standard of this new order. Entering its seventh year, Philly Live is not merely a showcase; it is a statement. Organized with meticulous care by Archbishop Wood coach John Mosco and Imhotep Charter coach Andre Noble, the event has transformed the city into the summer capital of college basketball’s integrity movement.
The sheer gravitational pull of Philly Live is a testament to its quality and a rebuke to the old model. Over the course of two June weekends, the event regularly draws between 200 and 250 college coaches and well over 200 high school teams from across the country. The spectacle is a return to a purer form of the game. The bench decorum, the school pride, the tactical adjustments made by high school coaches like Mosco and Noble—these are the centerpiece, not a footnote to a corporate branding exercise. When a coach from a major Division I program sits in a Philly gym, he or she is not watching a hastily assembled all-star team running through a disjointed offense for a shoe company boss; they are watching a player execute a system, respond to a familiar coaching voice, and compete for the name on the front of the jersey alongside classmates he has known for years.
The Power of the Scholastic Lens
This context provides a depth of evaluation that the grassroots circuit often obscures. As Coach Mosco explains, the benefits are developmental and multifaceted, creating a proving ground that serves the entire program. “I get to see if my young rising freshmen and sophomores are ready to truly compete at the varsity level,” he said. “I also get to test the leadership ability of my rising juniors and seniors in a really competitive setting.”
These are precisely the intangible qualities—leadership, resilience, coachability—that are often invisible in the mixtape culture of summer ball but are essential to collegiate success. The setting also democratizes opportunity. At Philly Live, a player from a smaller program who shines against elite competition is not dependent on a shoe company’s sponsorship for visibility. His performance is his résumé, and it is on display for a universe of college coaches, from high-major assistants to Division III head coaches, creating a genuine meritocracy. “Most importantly,” Mosco concluded, “my guys get to play in front of coaches representing all levels of college basketball. It’s a real opportunity for high school players to earn scholarships and opportunities commensurate with their abilities.”
This is the ultimate vindication of the scholastic movement. It does not naively pretend the shoe companies do not exist or that their financial power isn’t still a factor. Rather, it provides an alternative, a structural counterweight that places the agency back where it belongs: with the student, the family, and the high school coach. Philly Live, and events like it, demonstrate that the college basketball establishment no longer has to passively accept a system where, as Pitino lamented, “our pockets are lined with their money.” By building a vibrant, fiercely competitive, and education-centric stage in June, coaches like Mosco and Noble have not just organized a tournament; they have helped excavate the scholastic roots of a game that was in danger of being paved over by the sneaker empire. The squeak of shoes in Philadelphia gyms in June is now a sound of liberation.
PHILADELPHIA, PA – In the chaotic theater of college athletics governance, the NCAA Division I Cabinet rarely deserves a standing ovation. Its recent history is a highlight reel of botched reforms, antitrust losses, and a grudging retreat from amateurism’s ruins. But last Friday, in a move that has gone almost entirely unnoticed outside the niche world of postgraduate basketball factories, the men and women in Indianapolis may have thrown a lifeline to an entire endangered business model.
They saved prep school basketball.
Rocktop Academy
Let that sink in. The same organization that spent decades clinging to an archaic one-and-done loophole, that watched its transfer portal become a Wild West, and that seems constitutionally incapable of keeping pace with reality, just made a decision so shrewd, so quietly counterintuitive, that it deserves a second look.
Here is the backstory that matters. For months, the NCAA has been wrestling with a new age-based eligibility model, colloquially known as the “five years to play five seasons” proposal. Under the original draft, the eligibility clock was set to start at high school graduation. On its face, that seemed reasonable. But for the prep school ecosystem—those expensive, yearlong finishing schools in New England, Florida, and the Midwest that churn out Division I prospects—it was an extinction-level event.
Under that old rule, a promising but academically raw 18-year-old who chose a fifth year of prep school would have been committing a kind of athletic seppuku. He would lose a full year of his precious five-year NCAA eligibility clock before ever stepping foot on a college campus. He would earn zero college credits. And he would pay $10,000 to $20,000 for the privilege. The rational economic choice was obvious: go to junior college, Division II, or Division III. Play immediately. Earn credits. Preserve your clock.
But then, the Cabinet pivoted. And in that pivot, an industry was spared.
The Clock Starts Later, Not Sooner
On Friday, the Cabinet announced a critical modification. The eligibility clock for student-athletes will now start upon “initial full-time enrollment in college or at the beginning of the academic year following their 19th birthday, whichever occurs earlier.” Read that again. Whichever occurs earlier.
What this means in plain English: If you are a prep school prospect who reclassifies or takes a postgraduate year, your clock does not start ticking the moment your high school principal hands you a diploma. It starts when you actually show up for college, or the fall after you turn 19. In practical terms, that gap—the year between turning 18 as a high school graduate and turning 19 as a prep school alum—has become a free square on the bingo card.
Covenant College Prep
Consider a typical prospect: born in July 2008. He graduates high school in June 2026, turns 18 that summer. Under the original proposal, his five-year eligibility clock would have started that June 2026. If he went to prep school for the 2026-27 academic year, he would arrive on a college campus in 2027 having already burned one of his five years. He would be a 19-year-old freshman with four years left. That is a terrible deal.
Under the new rule, his clock does not start until the fall after his 19th birthday—which would be the fall of 2026, exactly when he enrolls in college. He loses nothing. His five years to play four seasons begin the day he moves into the dorm.
The prep school year, in other words, has been transformed from a liability into a tax-free option. It is no longer a hole into which you throw a year of eligibility. It is now a holding pattern that costs you nothing but time—and given the maturation and recruitment advantages of being 19 versus 18, time is exactly what you are buying.
Why Junior College Just Lost Its Edge
When the original graduation-based clock was circulating among athletic directors and compliance officers, the smart money was on a mass migration to the junior college ranks. And for good reason. A JUCO offers what a prep school cannot: transferable credits, immediate playing time, and, crucially, an eligibility clock that remains mercifully paused until you sign a National Letter of Intent at a four-year school.
But the new rule narrows that advantage. The JUCO route still offers credits, which is not nothing. But consider the lifestyle. At a JUCO, you are one of dozens of mercenaries grinding through a two-year proving ground. The coaching turnover is high. The facilities are often spartan. And the academic rigor, while improving, is rarely mistaken for Choate Rosemary Hall.
Prep schools, by contrast, offer something that JUCOs cannot: relationships. They offer a handcrafted year of strength training, film study, and—let us be honest—transcript management. They offer a network of coaches who have direct lines to high-major programs. And now, they offer this without sacrificing a single year of NCAA eligibility.
For a family with $15,000 to $40,000 to invest in their son’s basketball future, the calculus has flipped. The prep school is no longer the sentimental choice. It is the rational one.
The Irony of the Service Academies
Perhaps the most delicious irony in all of this comes from the unlikely coalition that pushed for the change. According to the NCAA’s announcement, the adjustment “follows recommendations from stakeholders in men’s ice hockey, men’s basketball and the U.S. national service academies.”
Think about that. The service academies—West Point, Navy, Air Force—which typically recruit older, more mature prospects who have done postgraduate years at prep schools or military junior colleges, were instrumental in saving the very prep schools that feed them players. The same academies that produce future officers also produce the political cover for a rule that benefits elite basketball factories.
It is a strange bedfellows story worthy of a John le Carré novel. But it works. The service academies argued, correctly, that a graduation-based clock would penalize students who take a gap year for military prep. The NCAA, desperate for allies in its ongoing war against federal antitrust scrutiny, listened. And in listening, they extended that same grace to every fifth-year senior at Brewster Academy and IMG Academy.
Mt. Zion Prep
The Financial Reality: No One Is Paying to Lose
We must speak plainly about money. The prep school business model rests on a simple proposition: families will pay tuition in exchange for an improved athletic scholarship opportunity. That proposition collapses instantly if the cost includes a year of lost eligibility. No parent with a calculator is going to write a $20,000 check to reduce their child’s window for a free education. Under the old graduation-clock model, the expected value of a prep school year went negative. You would have been better off red-shirting as a true freshman, at least then you get a meal plan. But under the new age-based clock, the expected value is positive again. You get the physical development, the recruiting exposure, the academic reclassification, and you still arrive on campus with a full five-year clock. The only cost is the tuition itself—and for families betting on a high-major scholarship, that is a risk they are willing to take.
The NCAA did not just tweak a bylaw. It recalibrated an entire market.
What Happens Next
The Cabinet plans to consider the age-based eligibility model for a formal vote at its June 23-24 meeting. The implementation details for prospects who turned 19 before 2026 are still being ironed out. And the July 31 deadline for waiver submissions is looming for current student-athletes impacted by existing rules.
But make no mistake: the substantive work has been done. The NCAA has signaled, in its lumbering, bureaucratic way, that the eligibility clock is no longer a weapon against postgraduate development. It is a neutral arbiter. And for the prep school basketball industry—which has survived the one-and-done era, the G League Ignite, and the rise of Overtime Elite—that is the only victory that matters.
The prep schools will not be sending the NCAA a thank-you bouquet. They are too savvy for that. But they should. Because in a world where every other institution seems determined to tear down the traditional pathways to college basketball, the NCAA just built a fence around one of the last remaining ones.
Say what you will about the Association’s competence. On this one Friday in May, it got the math right. And an entire cottage industry breathed a sigh of relief.
PHILADELPHIA, PA – We have spent the better part of a decade diagnosing the MAGA movement as a psychological affliction. We have called it a fever, a sickness, a carnival of grievance fueled by economic anxiety, racial resentment, or plain ignorance. We have assured ourselves that the white men who form its emotional and electoral core are voting against their own interests, seduced by a demagogue who exploits their fears while delivering nothing of material value. This diagnosis is comforting. It is also wrong. The most underappreciated feature of the MAGA movement is not its rage or its demagoguery. It is its strategic rationality. From a white male perspective, measured against the actual historical record of American political life, support for Donald Trump and the contemporary Republican Party is not a tantrum. It is a meticulously calculated portfolio allocation, a prudent defense of tangible assets in a marketplace that has always rewarded the ruthless pursuit of group interest.
To dismiss the MAGA coalition as a fever swamp of irrationality is to fundamentally misunderstand both its durability and its danger. The movement has, with considerable sophistication, built upon a long-standing, firmly entrenched American tradition and constructed a modern political decision-making framework that presents support for President Trump as a calculated allocation of political and social capital. This allocation is based not on fantasy but on a clear-eyed assessment of the anticipated actions, reactions, and preferences of non-white immigrants, Black and brown citizens, women, Muslims, and other constituencies whose ascendance threatens to reorder the hierarchy that has governed American life since its founding. We must confront an uncomfortable truth: within the logic of American history as it has actually been practiced, not as it has been mythologized, the MAGA investor is behaving with impeccable rationality.
The Democracy That Never Was
Before we can assess the MAGA portfolio, we must acknowledge the market in which it operates. American democracy has never been the egalitarian enterprise of our civic textbooks. It has, from its inception, allowed for the brutal suppression and oppression of non-white, non-male inhabitants while somehow retaining its status as a democratic society in the eyes of historians, political scientists, and legacy media outlets. This is not a radical critique; it is a plain reading of the historical record. The Constitution was a slaveholder’s compact. The three-fifths clause inscribed Black personhood as a fraction. Indigenous nations were subjected to ethnic cleansing dressed as federal policy. Women of all races were excluded from the franchise until the 20th century. Chinese immigrants were banned by name. Japanese Americans were interned. Jim Crow governed half the country for a century with the explicit blessing of the Supreme Court.
Throughout all of this, the United States was celebrated—and continues to be celebrated—as the world’s preeminent democracy. This is the essential context for understanding white male political behavior. The American political tradition has been defined more consistently by an inegalitarian tradition that justifies the unequal status and political exclusion of groups based on race, gender, ethnicity, and religion than it has been defined by the liberal tradition of individual rights and egalitarian ideals. The liberal tradition is real. It has inspired movements of extraordinary moral courage. But it has almost always been the challenger, not the incumbent. The incumbent, the default setting, the reliable yield across centuries, has been ascriptive hierarchy. The MAGA movement is not a departure from this tradition. It is its contemporary manifestation, its latest and most transparent expression.
The Asset Allocation of a Threatened Class
Within this historical marketplace, the white male MAGA investor is making choices that are legible, logical, and in many respects shrewd. The political decision is framed not as a single vote but as a diversified portfolio designed to hedge against multiple, cascading risks. The immediate returns are tangible and communicated with market-like clarity.
The elimination of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs is presented as the removal of a structural tax on whiteness, an immediate correction to a labor and education market allegedly distorted by artificial preferences that disadvantage white men. Whether or not one accepts this characterization, the logic is internally coherent: if you believe the playing field has been tilted against you, eliminating the mechanism of tilting constitutes a direct material gain. The promise of mass deportation addresses a perceived depreciation of cultural and economic assets—neighborhood cohesion, wage floors in certain sectors, linguistic and cultural dominance—that unrestricted immigration allegedly erodes. The rollback of reproductive rights, while framed in the language of moral conviction, serves a dual function within the portfolio. It is perceived as a means to increase declining white birth rates, a demographic hedge against the “tanning” of America. And it represents a restoration of traditional gender dividends, re-securing the patriarchal returns that feminism had systematically devalued.
These are the blue-chip holdings, the steady and reliable yields.
Then there are the speculative assets, the high-risk, high-reward investments that reveal the portfolio’s ultimate ambition. The January 6 pardons, the attempted creation of a nearly $1.8 billion compensation fund for Trump allies who claim unjust prosecution, and the open discussion of retribution against political enemies represent a wager that the legal and normative constraints on executive power can be permanently rewritten. They are, in portfolio terms, a form of political catastrophe insurance. If the demographic clock is indeed ticking toward a majority-minority nation by 2045, these instruments are designed to lock in structural advantages—judicial appointments, administrative control, legal immunities—that can survive the loss of numerical dominance. The explicit hope is not subtle. It is that white male political dominance and cultural supremacy can be explicitly re-established, insulated from the vicissitudes of democratic competition. The “stop the steal” movement and the cascade of voting restrictions are not merely sour grapes about a lost election. They are a calculated effort to de-risk the electoral marketplace itself, limiting participation by constituencies that threaten the portfolio’s long-term viability.
The Rational Actor Frame
This framing of political choice as rational portfolio management serves a crucial ideological function: it launders the moral content of the decisions being made. The language of interests, returns, and risk management provides a technocratic gloss over what is, at its core, an allocation of power to a movement defined by its ascriptive hierarchy. It allows the white male voter to see himself not as a beneficiary of a resurgent white supremacy but as a prudent investor responding to market signals. He is not making a moral choice to subordinate others. He is making a rational choice to protect his own.
This is the modern iteration of the relentlessly applied and rigorously enforced inegalitarian tradition that has always justified the unequal status and political exclusion of groups based on race, gender, ethnicity, and religion. The MAGA framework is not merely prejudiced. It is a sophisticated, elite-driven political movement supported by a scaffolding of pseudo-scientific racial theory, religious nationalism, and revisionist history, all deployed to defend white male supremacy. The frame is powerful precisely because it leverages the core American mythology of the calculating, self-interested individual, the homo economicus of the free market, and applies it to the democratic sphere. It transforms civic participation into a personal investment strategy, with all the moral weight of a 401(k) allocation. You may despise how a man invests, but you cannot easily argue he is irrational for seeking the highest return.
The Moral Costs Excluded from the Balance Sheet
The portfolio also excludes the human costs borne by those outside the investment class. The demonization of immigrants as “poisoning the blood of our country” is not an externality. It is a deliberate strategy that inflicts real terror on real families, that separates children from parents, that turns communities into battlegrounds. The assault on women’s bodily autonomy is not a restoration of traditional values. It is a state-mandated appropriation of female biology with measurable consequences in maternal mortality, economic freedom, and human dignity. The “war on woke” is not a defense of intellectual freedom. It is a concerted campaign to suppress the very knowledge traditions that could name and critique the hierarchy being constructed. These are not side effects. These are the product being purchased. The investor simply declines to list them on his balance sheet.
The Asymmetry of Fear
What the portfolio frame most aggressively suppresses is the historical asymmetry of the risk it claims to be hedging. The fear that animates the MAGA coalition—the fear that a “tanning” America will subject white men to the same oppression and suppression they have historically imposed for more than 250 years—is a fear of losing a dominant position, not a fear of experiencing subjugation. It is a category error dressed as a symmetry, and it is essential to the portfolio’s emotional logic. To have occupied the presidency, the Senate, the House, the governor’s mansions, and the Supreme Court for nearly the entirety of the nation’s history—and then to witness the ascension of a Black president, Barack Obama, and frame that single eight-year interruption as evidence of impending white subjugation—is a remarkable act of historical revisionism. It confuses the loss of unearned privilege with the imposition of tyranny. After the Obama presidency, white male voters have responded by installing an unabashed white supremacist in office, a president who encourages insurrection, pardons its perpetrators, and governs explicitly in the interest of his core demographic. This confusion of equality with oppression is not a bug in the portfolio logic. It is the foundational assumption that makes the entire investment thesis cohere. The MAGA investor is not protecting himself from tyranny. He is protecting himself from democracy.
The Architects and the Investors
It is crucial, and it is a matter of intellectual honesty, to distinguish between the architects of this portfolio and its investors. The strategists, the think-tank intellectuals, the Federalist Society alumni, and the media figures who construct and market the MAGA framework are operating with full informational awareness. They know, as Rogers Smith demonstrated, that they are wielding an ascriptive ideology with deep American roots. They are, in effect, asset managers of grievance, packaging and selling a diversified fund of resentments to a base that experiences those resentments as authentic and existential.
The investors—the voters—are operating under conditions of incomplete information and considerable time pressure. They are bombarded with an information ecosystem that systematically exaggerates threats, broadcasting immigrant crime waves and anti-white discrimination while suppressing contrary data: actual crime statistics, the persistent racial wealth gap that still advantages white families by orders of magnitude, the continued and dramatic overrepresentation of white men in virtually every lever of economic and political power. Their rationality is bounded by the information environment in which they operate. They are making what they believe to be prudent decisions based on the data they receive. That the data is manipulated, curated, and weaponized does not make the decision-making process irrational. It makes it manipulated. This distinction matters. To call the investor a fool is to misunderstand the sophistication of the fund managers. To call him evil is to foreclose the possibility of competition.
The Way Forward
This is the strategic genius and the moral horror of the MAGA portfolio: it exploits the legitimate cognitive architecture of rational choice to advance a political project that is destructive to the democratic experiment and profoundly damaging to millions of human beings. It cannot be defeated simply by insisting that its investors are bigots or fools. That approach has failed consistently for a decade. It has failed because it misunderstands the nature of the transaction. The MAGA investor is not making a moral error. He is making a rational bet on the continuity of American history. And American history, frankly, is on his s The only viable response is a competing offer: a political portfolio that addresses the genuine economic and social anxieties of struggling Americans without requiring them to purchase, as a bundled and non-negotiable asset, the subordination of their fellow citizens. This is the hardest work of democratic politics, and there is no guarantee of success. The forces arrayed against it are deeply embedded, lavishly funded, and ruthlessly strategic. The architects of ascriptive rage have built a machine that runs on the most reliable fuel in American history: the fear of losing what you have, coupled with the promise that someone else will pay the price. Opposing that machine requires an offer as clear-eyed about power, interests, and material returns as the one it seeks to defeat. Sentiment will not suffice. Moral exhortation will not suffice. Only a better deal, honestly priced and broadly offered, has any hope of competing in a marketplace so thoroughly rigged by the long, dark genius of the American inegalitarian tradition.
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Delgreco Wilson Wilson formerly taught Comparative Politics and International Relations at Lincoln University. He is a leading political analyst, educator, and advocate whose work centers on empowering Black Americans through a deeper understanding of political strategy and its historical roots in the fight against systemic racism and white supremacy. A prominent voice in the Greater Philadelphia Region, Wilson brings a wealth of academic rigor and real-world insight to his analysis of Black political thought and action. Wilson’s expertise extends beyond the classroom. His incisive columns and articles have been featured in prominent publications such as the Philadelphia Tribune and Delaware County Daily Times. A sought-after commentator, he regularly contributes to radio programs and podcasts across the Mid-Atlantic region, offering sharp analysis and actionable strategies for advancing racial justice and equity.
Eight Marquee Matchups from the Small-College Showcase to Be Broadcast Worldwide on Groundbreaking Sports Social Media Platform Founded by Lancaster Basketball Legend Jerry Johnson
ALLENTOWN, PA — June 2, 2026 — The Black Cager Live Period Invitational, the East Coast’s premier scholastic showcase dedicated exclusively to Division II, Division III, NAIA, and JUCO recruitment, today announced a landmark broadcast partnership with iUNGO World, the revolutionary sports social media and technology platform. Eight games from the June 20 event at the Executive Fieldhouse in Allentown, Pennsylvania, will be livestreamed globally, ensuring that unsigned Mid-Atlantic prospects and the small-college coaches who recruit them receive an international stage.
The partnership marries two organizations built on the principle of connection — the Black Cager Invitational’s mission to bridge overlooked talent with opportunity, and iUNGO World’s foundational vision of uniting the global sports community on a single, dynamic platform.
A PLATFORM BORN TO CONNECT Founded in 2020 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, by revered basketball figure Jerry Johnson, iUNGO World derives its name from the Latin word iungo — meaning “to connect.” Johnson, a Lancaster basketball legend whose career and relationships span the grassroots, collegiate, and professional ranks, conceived the platform to transform how the sports world interacts.
“iUNGO World was built to solve the fragmentation that has plagued sports for decades,” said Johnson. “Athletes, coaches, fans, and brands all inhabit the same ecosystem, yet no single platform truly served them all — until now. The Black Cager Invitational embodies exactly the kind of connective tissue this sport needs. These are high-level prospects and dedicated coaches who deserve a global window. We are proud to provide it.”
iUNGO World redefines the landscape of global sports social media by amalgamating community, opportunity, and a worldwide network on a first-of-its-kind platform. The technology accommodates every stakeholder in the sports realm, offering a comprehensive suite of features including:
Traditional social posts and community engagement tools
Exclusive job and opportunity boards spanning the global sports industry
Promotion and marketing channels for teams, athletes, and products
Positioned as the evolution of sports social media, iUNGO World serves as a game-changer by providing a singular hub for community building, unlocking cross-border opportunities, and fostering connections that extend far beyond the final buzzer.
A GLOBAL STAGE FOR SMALL COLLEGE BASKETBALL The eight-game livestream package will feature the Black Cager Invitational’s most compelling matchups, showcasing unsigned seniors and post-graduates from the talent-rich Philadelphia, New Jersey, and Delaware corridors. For the Division II, Division III, NAIA, and JUCO coaches in attendance — who remain the exclusive recruiting audience at the event — the iUNGO World broadcast adds a powerful dimension: the ability to clip, share, and revisit player performances within the platform’s integrated ecosystem.
“The Black Cager Invitational was created to give small college coaches the respect and access they deserve,” said Delgreco Wilson, Founder of the Black Cager Invitational. “Partnering with Jerry Johnson and iUNGO World elevates that mission exponentially. Our prospects are no longer hidden gems — they are global content. The coach at a Division III program in Pennsylvania can evaluate a player live, and an international scout or professional team can simultaneously discover that same prospect on iUNGO World. That is connection in action.”
LIVESTREAM DETAILS:
Event: Black Cager Live Period Invitational
Date: Saturday, June 20, 2026
Venue: Executive Fieldhouse, Allentown, PA
Coverage: Eight full games, livestreamed in high definition
Platform: iUNGO World — available via web and mobile application
Access: Viewers can tune in globally by creating a free iUNGO World account at [iUNGO World URL] or via the iUNGO World mobile app
About iUNGO World: Established in 2020 and headquartered in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA, iUNGO World is a groundbreaking sports social media platform, aptly named after the Latin word iungo, meaning “to connect.” The platform redefines the landscape of global sports social media, amalgamating community, opportunity, and a global network on a first-of-its-kind platform. Accommodating everyone in the sports realm, iUNGO World offers features including posts, livestream events, exclusive job opportunities, and promotion possibilities for teams and products. Positioned as the evolution of sports social media, iUNGO World serves as a game-changer by providing a comprehensive hub for community building, unlocking opportunities globally, and fostering connections. For more information, visit [iUNGO World URL].
About the Black Cager Invitational: The Black Cager Invitational is the nation’s premier competitive platform dedicated exclusively to bridging the gap between high school basketball talent and small college recruiting. Founded on the principle that opportunity should not be stratified by the economics of Division I, the Invitational champions the student-athlete seeking competitive excellence and academic achievement at the Division II, Division III, NAIA, and JUCO levels.
For media credentials, livestream access, and interview requests, please contact:
PHILADELPHIA, PA – The transfer portal is often framed as a story of money and minutes—players chasing NIL deals or featured roles, often at the expense of their long-term development. But Joshua Wyche’s journey from Lafayette to VCU is a different kind of story. It is a story of a player who thought beyond basketball, who weighed his options with the precision of a business analyst, and who chose a path that balanced athletic ambition with intellectual growth.
Wyche is not a typical transfer. He is a highly intelligent Philadelphia kid who graduated from Lafayette College—home to one of America’s top business departments—in just three years. With an impeccable academic profile and two years of eligibility remaining, he was recruited by a wide range of programs, from Division III to high-major Division I. He could have been a featured player at a lower level, scoring 20 points per night and dominating lesser competition. He could have chased a larger NIL package at a program with more resources but less fit.
Instead, he chose VCU—a consensus top-25 program, widely considered the finest in the Atlantic 10—and Coach Phil Martelli Jr., one of the youngest and most respected coaches in college basketball. And he chose to pursue an MBA with a focus on business analytics, a degree that will allow him to bridge the gap between technical data science and corporate strategy. This is not a story about a player who transferred to maximize his basketball exposure, though that is part of it. It is a story about a player who used the transfer portal to build a career—on and off the court.
The Portfolio Problem: Weighed Against Uncertainty
Wyche’s decision to enter the transfer portal and commit to VCU must be understood as a strategic choice made under conditions of incomplete information, asymmetric power, and time pressure. He was not simply choosing a team. He was weighing short-term financial incentives, projected on-court opportunity, developmental infrastructure, exposure to professional pathways, and personal fit against long-term career risk.
His portfolio looked like this:
Immediate Returns: The opportunity to earn a Master’s degree in Business Analytics from VCU, a program with real-world applications Guaranteed NIL compensation (modest by high-major standards, but meaningful) A promised opportunity to compete for minutes—not a guaranteed role, but a chance
Speculative Assets: Brand growth from playing at a nationally ranked program that defeated ACC powerhouse North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament Skill development under Coach Phil Martelli Jr., one of the top young coaches in college basketball Competitive success in the Atlantic 10, a conference that regularly sends teams to the NCAA Tournament Professional pathway—not just in basketball, but in business analytics
Wyche could have chosen a different path. He could have transferred down to Division II or Division III, where he would have been a featured player, scoring 20 points per night, dominating lesser competition, and chasing a different kind of glory. That path would have offered immediate returns—playing time, scoring titles, the ego boost of being the man.
But it would have offered limited speculative assets. Division III does not attract NBA scouts. Division III does not provide the platform that VCU offers. And Division III would not have allowed him to pursue an MBA in Business Analytics from a nationally respected program.
Wyche chose the path of higher risk and higher reward. He chose to compete for minutes at a top-25 program rather than coast at a lower level. He chose to develop his analytical skills alongside his basketball skills. He chose to think beyond basketball.
GREENVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA – MARCH 18: Head coach Phil Martelli Jr. of the VCU Rams looks on during practice ahead of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Bon Secours Wellness Arena on March 18, 2026 in Greenville, South Carolina. (Photo by Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images)
The Philly Connection: Martelli and Wyche
Phil Martelli Jr. is a Philadelphia guy. He grew up in the city’s basketball culture, the son of legendary St. Joseph’s coach Phil Martelli Sr. He learned the game in the Catholic League, on the playgrounds, in the gyms where toughness is currency and intelligence is underestimated.
Wyche is also a Philadelphia guy. He understands the same culture. He speaks the same language.
When Martelli recruited Wyche, he did not promise him a starting job. He did not promise him 30 minutes per night. He did not promise him a specific NIL number. He promised him two things: an opportunity to earn a Master’s degree in a highly valued field of study, and an opportunity to compete for minutes in one of the finest basketball programs in America.
That honesty—that refusal to make false promises—is increasingly rare in the portal era. And it is exactly what Wyche needed to hear.
Martelli is adding a mature, highly intelligent, and talented player to a program that just defeated ACC powerhouse North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament. Wyche is adding a coach who will develop him, a program that will challenge him, and a degree that will serve him long after his playing days are over.
The Data-Driven Decision
Wyche’s choice of academic program is not incidental. He is pursuing an MBA with a focus on business analytics—a field that examines and applies analytics to real-world decision contexts, emphasizing the use of data-driven methods to support, inform, and improve organizational decision-making.
In other words, Wyche is studying the very skills that will allow him to analyze his own career decisions. He is learning to weigh probabilities, assess risk, and optimize outcomes. He is practicing on himself.
This is the kind of player that Martelli wants in his program: someone who thinks critically, who understands that basketball is not an end in itself but a means to a larger goal, who will be a leader in the locker room and in the classroom.
A Win-Win Situation
This is truly a win-win.
VCU adds a mature, high-quality athlete to its roster. Wyche is not a project. He is not a one-and-done rental. He is a player who has earned a degree from one of America’s top business departments, who has battled through injuries, who has learned to contribute without a featured role. He will be a positive influence in the locker room, a player who understands that winning is more important than individual stats.
Wyche gets an opportunity to learn and play for one of the top young coaches in college basketball. He gets to compete at the highest level of the Atlantic 10, in a program that just defeated North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament. He gets to pursue a Master’s degree in Business Analytics from a nationally respected program. And he gets to do it all in his home region, close to family and friends.
And together, Martelli and Wyche are demonstrating that there is still more than NIL compensation driving smart college recruiting decisions. Fit matters. Development matters. Education matters. The pursuit of a career beyond basketball matters.
The Final Verdict: A Blueprint for the Student-Athlete
Joshua Wyche’s transfer to VCU is not the splashiest portal move of the offseason. He is not a five-star recruit. He is not chasing a seven-figure NIL deal. He is not guaranteed a starting job.
But it may be one of the smartest transfers of the year.
Wyche understood that his basketball career has a shelf life. He understood that the skills he develops in the classroom will serve him long after his playing days are over. He understood that competing at the highest level—even if it means competing for minutes—is worth more than dominating at a lower level.
He made a strategic choice, weighing his options with the precision of a business analyst. He chose VCU. He chose Martelli. He chose the MBA.
And in doing so, he demonstrated that the transfer portal can be used for more than chasing money or minutes. It can be used to build a life.
I know your reality. I know you spend countless hours on the road, in gyms, and on the phone, competing not just against the programs in your conference but against the perception that bigger is always better. I know how hard you work to get talented high school prospects and their families to truly see your program—to look past the division label and recognize the opportunity you’re offering: a quality education, a chance to play meaningful minutes, and a coaching staff that will develop them as players and people.
I’m writing to tell you that the recruiting landscape has shifted beneath everyone’s feet, and that shift is creating an unprecedented opportunity for programs like yours. I want to invite you to capitalize on it at the 2026 Black Cager Live Period Invitational.
The Portal Is Pushing Talent Downstream
The emergence of the NIL and Transfer Portal era hasn’t just changed Division I recruiting—it has turned it upside down. Division I staffs are now building their rosters primarily through the portal, reserving their high school recruiting efforts almost exclusively for the top 100-150 nationally ranked prospects. The talented high school senior who would have been a mid-major lock three years ago? He’s now a player the D-I staffs are passing over in favor of a 22-year-old transfer with college experience.
Here’s what that means for you: prospects who previously would have never been accessible to Division II, Division III, NAIA, or Junior College programs are now very much in play. The talent pool available to you has deepened considerably.
The 5-in-5 Model Will Accelerate This Trend
And it’s about to deepen further. The proposed “5 in 5” eligibility model will grant athletes five years of eligibility beginning after high school graduation or after turning 19, whichever comes first. With NIL compensation providing financial incentive to stay in school, older, physically mature players will absolutely use that extra year. They’ll occupy roster spots longer, clog the pipeline, and further shrink the number of D-I scholarships available to high school seniors.
The downstream effect on your programs will be significant—and positive. More quality high school prospects will be looking for homes. More families will need to be educated on the value of small-college basketball. Your opportunity to land difference-makers straight out of high school is growing in real time.
We’re Doing Something About It
Black Cager Sports, in partnership with Game Plan Intelligence Group, is inviting over 100 coaching staffs from Division II, Division III, NAIA, and Junior College programs to the 2026 Black Cager Live Period Invitational. This is not a showcase where you’ll be watching from the margins while the D-I staffs work the room. This event is built for you.
We are bringing together area prospects, their families, and high school coaching staffs who understand that the recruiting game has changed. These are players actively seeking opportunities at the levels you coach. These are families ready to have honest conversations about fit, playing time, development, and education—the conversations where your program shines.
We want to connect you directly with the prospects who can help you win games and graduate leaders. We want to help you identify the players who have been overlooked by a D-I system that is increasingly looking past high school talent.
We look forward to having you attend, evaluate, and build relationships with prospects who are ready to become the foundation of your next championship run.
Details on dates, venue, and registration will follow shortly. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please reach out directly.
The talent is there. The opportunity is now. Let’s go find your next program-changer together.
With respect and purpose,
Delgreco K. Wilson Founder, Black Cager Sports 856-366-0992
Jason Boggs Event Director, Black Cager Sports 484-522-2750
Howard’s Kenny Blakeney, Villanova’s Ashley Howard, Temple’s Bobby Jordan, and Rider’s Geoff Arnold to Equip Parents and Prospects with a Strategic Roadmap Through the NIL, Revenue-Sharing, and Roster Restructuring Revolution
PHILADELPHIA, PA – May 27, 2026 – The collegiate sports landscape has undergone a seismic, structural metamorphosis over the past decade, leaving even the most diligent parents and high school prospects disoriented. In a critical new episode, the Black Cager Sports Podcast is cutting through the noise to deliver an unflinching, insider’s guide to the new rules of engagement. The episode features a distinguished panel of Division I coaching royalty: Howard University Head Coach Kenny Blakeney, Villanova University Assistant Coach Ashley Howard, Temple University Assistant Coach Bobby Jordan, and Rider University Assistant Coach Geoff Arnold.
This is not a conversation about X’s and O’s. It is a masterclass in the political economy of modern college athletics, specifically designed to inform and empower high school athletes, parents, mentors, and advisors navigating a terrain defined by direct revenue-sharing, professional free agency tactics, and the extinction of the traditional walk-on.
“We are witnessing the death of amateurism in real-time, but with that comes a level of financial empowerment for our communities that we’ve never seen,” said Black Cager Sports Podcast host and founder Delgreco Wilson. “However, empowerment without information is chaos. We brought together four of the sharpest minds in the game—coaches who live in the living rooms, who sit at the negotiation tables, and who build rosters under these new mandates—to give our listeners a competitive advantage.”
The podcast unpacks the five structural pillars rewriting the recruiting rulebook, demanding a new level of sophistication from families:
The NIL Economy & Direct Revenue-Sharing: With landmark court rulings allowing schools to bypass collectives and make direct payments to athletes, recruitment has transformed into a pre-enrollment negotiation. The coaches detail how agents are securing complex, front-loaded financial packages months before a letter of intent is signed, treating high school commitment windows like professional free-agency periods. They will also decode the new 2026 NCAA rules allowing prospects to retain professional agents and accept prize money while still in high school without sacrificing eligibility.
Roster Architecture & The Death of Walk-Ons: The NCAA’s elimination of scholarship caps in favor of strict “hard roster caps” has turned roster construction on its head. While programs can now theoretically pay every athlete, the squeeze on spots has become brutal. The panel will discuss how bubble players and traditional walk-ons are being pushed out, making every roster decision a high-stakes financial calculation.
The Transfer Portal’s Infinite Loop: With unlimited immediate eligibility for transfers, the coaching relationship has fundamentally changed. The coaches will explain the brutal truth about how the portal now competes directly with high school recruiting, offering a pool of immediately eligible, proven collegiate talent that drastically shortens the timeline and narrows the window for prep prospects.
The 2026 “5-for-5” Eligibility Clock: The new age-based model—granting athletes a continuous five-year window to play five seasons beginning the academic year after they turn 19 or graduate high school—has eliminated strategic redshirting and delayed enrollment. The panel emphasizes why this “automatic clock” compels college staffs to bet heavily on prospects ready to contribute immediately.
Modernized Rules of Engagement: With the National Letter of Intent (NLI) abolished and commitment streamlined into financial aid agreements, and new rules delaying contact windows to junior year, the map for how to be seen and when to commit has changed entirely. The coaches will break down the new etiquette regarding unlimited official visits and the ban on early verbal offers during camps.
In an era where misinformation can cost a family a life-changing scholarship or a six-figure revenue-sharing agreement, this episode of the Black Cager Sports Podcast serves as the essential playbook. The four coaches provide not only a diagnosis of the chaos but a clear-eyed strategy for survival and success in the high-stakes world of modern college basketball. The episode drops June 24, 2026 on major podcast platforms, including Spotify, YouTube and Black Cager TV.
About Black Cager Sports Podcast: The Black Cager Sports Podcast is the premier destination for unfiltered, intelligent dialogue on the intersection of grassroots basketball, college athletics, and the culture that drives them. Hosted by Delgreco Wilson, the platform provides a vital voice for families striving to navigate the business of amateur sports.
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MEDIA INQUIRIES:
Delgreco K. Wilson, M.A. , Managing Director, Black Cager Sports Media
The Black Cager 