West Liberty transfer gets $9 million in lawsuit against NY Times

[WVSU1995]

Kai Spears won a defamation lawsuit against the NY Times dating back to his time at Alabama.

Looks like he won't need a NIL deal. West Lib basketball probably gets a nice donation after this season as if they needed it. LOL

[bballfan03]

How does a kid start at Alabama and end up in D2? That's nothing against West Liberty, I'd ask the same thing if that kind of player came to Gannon..

Like were Alabamas scouts that far off on this kid? Or did this kid totally not meet the hype?

[IUPHawks24]

How does a kid start at Alabama and end up in D2? That's nothing against West Liberty, I'd ask the same thing if that kind of player came to Gannon..

Like were Alabamas scouts that far off on this kid? Or did this kid totally not meet the hype?

He wasn't on scholarship

[boatcapt]

Start as in began his basketball journey, not as in he started games at.

While he was a walk-on at Alabama he did ultimately get on scholarship and played in 11 games. Transfered to Marshall where he was a bench reserve who saw occasional playing time.

A senior transferring down used to be a thing (one last shot at starting before going out into the real world). Why WLU? Well he is from Pittsburgh and played two years at Marshall so he probably knew of them and that they were a DII powerhouse. So when coach came calling, he was more than happy to listen to their pitch!

[Columbuseer]

Kai spears is an impressive young man.
all academic sec.
Very high motor.
Very fast in open court.
Good 3 point shooter.
His finishing around the rim reflects his experience against very athletic d1 opponents.
has gotten much more comfortable since open gym in june.

[bballfan03]

He wasn't on scholarship

Regardless... if you can walk on at Alabama...he should be able to get a scholarship and play at a low D1 school. Unless he was a charity walk on.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Regardless... if you can walk on at Alabama...he should be able to get a scholarship and play at a low D1 school. Unless he was a charity walk on.

P4 deep benches are full of these guys.

In other words Pitt, WVU, etc., all have deep bench guys who could probably be very good D2 guys but they aren't good enough for that level.

Rather than being a D2 star most of them prefer their Twitter handle to say North Carolina Basketball. The highlight is (in theory) the education and getting to dress for warmups. It also helps with the ladies in Lawrence to say you're on the Kansas basketball team. Not to mention many of these schools are in amazing locations and incredible college towns (unlike D2 locations).

Obviously there are some success stories but the vast majority end with a transfer (or multiple) and eventually finding somewhere they can actually play.

[boatcapt]

Regardless... if you can walk on at Alabama...he should be able to get a scholarship and play at a low D1 school. Unless he was a charity walk on.

What I read, he ultimately did get on scholarship at Alabama before transferring to Marshall (where he presumably was on a scholly).

[bballfan03]

What I read, he ultimately did get on scholarship at Alabama before transferring to Marshall (where he presumably was on a scholly).

I'm pretty sure he ended up on scholarship at Bama, too.

[WVSU1995]

What I read, he ultimately did get on scholarship at Alabama before transferring to Marshall (where he presumably was on a scholly).

His dad was athletic director at Marshall as well. He isn't anymore over the Huff stuff.