Syracuse Basketball: The On3 NIL Valuations of Judah Mintz, J.J. Starling

Syracuse basketball first-year head coach Adrian Autry, and a lot of Orange fans, are excited about the team’s backcourt heading into the 2023-24 season, which officially begins in early November.

The ‘Cuse backcourt, and frankly the team’s entire roster of 13 scholarship players, should prove deep and versatile at every position group.

If we’re talking about the Orange’s guards, the ‘Cuse has a lot of talented ones, although it does appear that the likely 2023-24 starters in the backcourt, at least at the onset, will be sophomore point guard Judah Mintz and sophomore guard J.J. Starling, a Central New York native who transferred to the Hill this off-season from Notre Dame.

Since name, image and likeness is a huge topic these days in collegiate athletics, I took a look at the top-100 college basketball players as it pertains to the On3 NIL Valuation. Both Mintz, a 2022 four-star prospect, and Starling, a 2022 five-star player, reside in the top 100 here.

Let’s check out the On3 NIL Valuation of Syracuse basketball guards Judah Mintz and J.J. Starling.

When I wrote this column, Starling checked in at No. 61 overall, with an On3 NIL Valuation of $117,000. Mintz, at No. 74 in college basketball, had an On3 NIL Valuation of $96,000. I didn’t see any other current Orange players in the top 100.

Side note: On the college football side of things, Syracuse star receiver Oronde Gadsden II was No. 101 overall, with an On3 NIL Valuation of $425,000.

This data might lead you to ask – what the heck is the On3 NIL Valuation? According to this recruiting service’s Web site, the On3 NIL Valuation is a proprietary algorithm used to determine “high school and college athletes’ projected annual value (PAV).”

The On3 NIL Valuation, to continue, “establishes the overall NIL market and projected 12-month growth rate” in measuring athletes in two categories, brand value and roster value. For every athlete, his or her performance, influence (i.e., social media), and exposure are taken into account.

On3 notes that an athlete’s NIL Valuation can fluctuate from week to week, due to a variety of factors.

"The following is extremely important to pass along: “While the algorithm includes deal data, it does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals athletes have completed to date, nor does it set an athlete’s NIL valuation for their entire career. The On3 NIL Valuation calculates the optimized NIL opportunity for athletes relative to the overall NIL market and projects out to as long as 12 months into the future.”"

Just to reiterate, these On3 NIL Valuations for Judah Mintz and J.J. Starling don’t signify the NIL deals that they may have already signed or potentially could sign in the future. Still, given the explosion of NIL, it’s an interesting topic to peruse.

Arriving at No. 1 overall in college basketball is Southern California’s Bronny James, the son of NBA superstar LeBron James, with an On3 NIL Valuation of $6.1 million. No surprise there.

In reviewing the top 100, I found numerous former Syracuse basketball recruiting targets included. Here are some of them:

D.J. Wagner, Kentucky, $582,000

Justin Edwards, Kentucky, $560,000

Elliot Cadeau, North Carolina, $470,000

Kyle Filipowski, Duke, $393,000

Aden Holloway, Auburn, $286,000

Hunter Dickinson, Kansas, $277,000

Dior Johnson, Pittsburgh, $158,000

Elmarko Jackson, Kansas, $121,000

Donovan Clingan, Connecticut, $86,000

Simeon Wilcher, St. John’s, $85,000

Yves Missi, Baylor, $83,000