Miami WCBB's Haley, Hanna Cavinder Respond to NCAA NIL Sanctions in Video
Haley and Hanna Cavinder, who are the basketball players at the center of the NCAA's first announced sanctions for a case related to name, image and likeness, didn't seem too concerned with the penalties.
The twins released a video Saturday and captioned it "dear ncaa, scared that female athletes have value? let's hoop tho.."
The chorus of the song "Look at Me Now" by Chris Brown, Lil Wayne and Busta Rhymes, which the Cavinder sisters used in the video, notably includes the lyrics "Look at me now, look at me now (Oh), I'm gettin' paper."
The NCAA issued a number of minor penalties, including one year of probation, for the Miami women's basketball program. The NCAA's announcement Friday state head coach Katie Meier violated rules in place for the NIL era when it comes to boosters meeting with prospective players:
"The head coach met the booster at a university event for administrators, staff, donors and potential donors. Although the head coach did not personally know the booster, she was aware that he was a prominent businessman and involved in name, image and likeness activities with student-athletes at the school. At the event, the booster and his family approached the coach to talk about the prospects' upcoming visit to the university. The head coach later called the booster to learn more about him and his work, unaware that the booster had already been in touch with the prospects' agent, until the booster informed the coach that the prospects' agent had initially declined a meeting during their upcoming visit to campus. Regardless, the booster informed the head coach that he was 'here to help' and wanted women's basketball to be 'huge' at Miami."
Dan Murphy of ESPN noted Miami alum John Ruiz has signed more than 100 Hurricanes players across different sports to NIL deals to promote his company LifeWallet.
A meeting between Ruiz and the Cavinder sisters led to the punishments, though he was not sanctioned or disassociated from the school.
In March 2022, the Cavinder twins announced they were leaving Fresno State and entering the transfer portal. Ruiz shared a picture of himself with their family April 13, and the Cavinders announced they chose Miami eight days later.
The full extent of the punishments were the one year of probation, a three-game suspension for Meier that she already served, a $5,000 fine plus 1 percent of the women's basketball budget, a 7 percent decrease in official visits for the 2022-23 academic year, nine fewer in-person recruiting days for the academic year and a three-week period from March 13-April 2 when the staff cannot participate in recruiting communications.
Miami is 17-11 and will finish its regular season with a home game against Virginia on Sunday.
Haley Cavinder is the team's leading scorer with 12.9 points per game.
