I was thinking about how recruiting rankings and NIL impact team chemistry. You have Deal come in with all the hoopla and a big bag. She's then getting paid a bunch of money to come off the bench while others like Journey and Strem are out there playing at a high level, knowing that they are getting a fraction of what Deal was getting. Fans and her family are crying out for more minutes even as she struggles more often than not, as Journey and Stremlow's roles increase. Then to top it all off Deal gets the All Freshman nod and Journey is left off. Emely was a similar situation although she was a next level problem that contributed nothing. No one is going to convince me that the situation with these 2 didn't impact the team.
Now, before some knucklehead jumps on here to defend Deal and rip me, none of this was Deal's fault. She simply took what others were willing to give her. It was the system in place that created these problems, and I've managed enough people to know that when a disconnect between performance and compensation becomes known to everyone involved, it's a recipe for big problems.