I think this is one of those things where both sides can be correct. There's no question that since NIL and portal kombat, Illinois has been given the opportunities and advantages to be a upper half B10 team. It's been great for us and has been instrumental in turning our program around.
But I also agree that the Portal and NIL has made college sports worse overall. The constant transfers, the constant rerecruitment, the venturing into a professional minor league for the most part, and the continuous churn and burn what have you done for me lately approach leading to a revolving door is overall just not as enjoyable in my opinion. And I think a lot of it has to do with you not seeing kids grow and mature and develop. Kids you look forward seeing turn from awkward freshmen into senior leaders. Now you might get 1 or 2 ride or die guys like Luke or Matt or Ayo and a bunch of 1yr mercenaries, when back then most of your team was ride or die.
So I agree the portal has been great for Illinois, but I also agree that the overall NCAA product has gotten less enjoyable and worse due to NIL and turning students into professional mercenaries