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“Last weekend, the Illinois Fighting Illini men’s basketball team soundly defeated the Iowa Hawkeyes to advance to the 2026 NCAA Final Four and have a shot at becoming national champions. While the Illini have competed in the Final Four six times since 1949, most recently in 2005, they have never captured the title.

The team from America’s heartland - which features what many have called the “Balkan Five,” including players from Croatia, Montenegro, and Serbia - reflects a broader transformation in college sports: its financialization. Since 2021, and with expansion of it since then, college sports’ “Name, Image, and Likeness” (NIL) method of compensating athletes allows colleges to offer what can be really good money and great public exposure from endorsements, sponsorships, and other uses of their personal brand. As well, it provides what can be a much-better pipeline to a professional career—in this case, in the NBA.”