Rutgers men’s basketball had one of its best seasons in decades and fell just short of reaching the Sweet 16.
Yet, players on the team came close to making a much more significant splash.
Guard Geo Baker told ESPN’s Rece Davis that the team discussed possibly delaying their first-round tournament game against Clemson as part of a protest of inequities in college sports.
“We definitely talked about delaying games,” Baker said in the interview, which will air on Saturday during College GameDay. “Us and Clemson actually were talking about delaying the game, but basically what ended up happening was we all believed that the television channel was going to get changed as soon as we tried something. So it ended up not going through.”
Baker, along with Michigan’s Isaiah Livers and Iowa’s Jordan Bohannon, have been the leading voices in the #NotNCAAProperty movement.
Among their goals is to push the NCAA to change its rules to allow student-athletes to earn money through personal sponsorships and online endorsement opportunities.
They even requested to meet with NCAA president Mark Emmert, who informed them that he would wait until after the tournament to speak with them.
The idea for the protest definitely garnered interest from Clemson players, Baker said, but they were wary of the reaction from their coaching staff.
The Rutgers guard also felt some reluctancy because he did not want to ask his teammates to do something to overshadow his own school’s first tournament game since 1991.
“It was a unique situation because we hadn’t made the tournament in 30 years, so I didn’t want to ask guys to go out of their way to delay something or protest something that Rutgers fans haven’t seen in 30 years,” he said. “That’s a really long time…[but] we definitely talked about it.”
Baker also added that he, Livers and Bohannon have been told by plenty of people to focus on the games, but the three of them argued that protesting during the tournament “is a lot bigger than just wining a couple of basketball games.”
“This is real change,” Baker said. “This is something that could really make a difference.”
The NCAA has been working toward changing its rules on compensation regarding name, image and likeness, but a January vote on legislation was delayed after the Department of Justice warned there may be antitrust violations.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the NCAA case involving an antitrust ruling next week.
LISTEN NOW on the RADIO.COM App
Follow RADIO.COM Sports
Twitter | Facebook I Instagram