High (After)Noon Highlights: Cade Cunningham signs deal with Nike

It’s high noon...

Cade Cunningham gets Nike deal:

Former Oklahoma State Cowboy Cade Cunningham announced Tuesday morning that he will be pairing with Nike during his rookie season.

“More than anything, they show that athletes are more than just athletes,” Cunningham said. “They really put the right message out for people to see. That was important to me. ... I felt like it was a perfect match for me.

“We all can tell a Nike commercial as soon as they come on,” he added. “Those things matter to me, and I want to be associated with a brand like that.” {The Score}

This is awesome for Cade! Congrats!

Andy Katz sits down with Mike Boynton:

There’s no better way to get to know a prospect than to talk to the guys that coached them. For the scoop of Cade Cunningham NBATV went to Oklahoma State head coach Mike Boynton.

“I’ve probably seen him grow as much as I’ve seen anybody grow,” Boynton said.” Other than my own children.”

Boynton has been watching Cade since he was 14. And seemed like a proud coach during the entire interview. He gushed on Cade calling him the “best prospect in the draft”.

You can catch the whole interview here.

What Oklahoma State brings to the table in TV viewership:

With all this talk of realignment, it’s easy to start thinking about what Oklahoma State is going to have to sell other conferences to secure a new landing spot.

PokesReport talked to Adam Lunt, an Oklahoma State grad and stat guru, about what Oklahoma State could give a conference as far as eyes on TV sets.

He crunched television viewers numbers from last football season and found Oklahoma State’s case to stay in the Power Five community and have a good landing spot.

Conferences are looking for schools that draw eyeballs to games, lots of them. That will bring more money in a football television rights package. More dollars as in bringing that school in will sweeten the pot for all the schools splitting up what would be a larger pie with larger pieces.

These numbers come from the 2020 season where more eyeballs were watching on television as game attendance was limited by COVID-19. {Pokes Report}

These numbers are interesting and definitely are worth a second look.

Around the Big 12:

Commissioner statement on OU/Texas departure

ISU leadership issue statement

Expansion a priority for Pac 12