How NIL Evaluations Illustrate UNC’s Difficult ACC Path

Player movement has dominated the landscape of college sports in recent years, making the transfer portal the main avenue for building a championship-level roster.

That was apparent this offseason, as multiple college basketball programs invested more than $20 million in NIL across their rosters. The North Carolina Tar Heels spent around $20 million to construct their 2026 team. On Friday, CEO and Founder of EvanMiya.com, Evan Miyakawa, compiled a list of the 10 most valuable rosters based on NIL player evaluations. It’s important to note that these figures don’t represent how much these programs spent. It’s based on players’ market value.

Miyakawa prefaces this stating, “If a team spent way less than this, it means they got a discount on some great players.” In this top-10 list of most valuable rosters, the ACC features multiple teams, illustrating North Carolina’s path in the conference. Here’s a look at those programs and where they sit.

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1. Duke Blue Devils: $27.7 Million

Mar 29, 2026; Washington, DC, USA; Duke Blue Devils head coach Jon Scheyer looks on against the UConn Huskies in the first half during an Elite Eight game of the East Regional of the men’s 2026 NCAA Tournament at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

It goes without saying that the Blue Devils are the most complete team in all of college basketball. Not only did head coach Jon Scheyer compile the No. 2 2026 recruiting class, according to ESPN, landing elite prospects Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje, Deron Rippey Jr., Cameron Williams, and Bryson Howard, but he also signed Wisconsin transfer John Blackwell and Belmont transfer Drew Scharnowski.

Those only include the additions to the roster. Duke also retained Cayden Boozer, Dame Sarr, Patrick Ngongba II, and Caleb Foster. Obviously, the Blue Devils’ brass had to spend big time on this talent. Again, the above amount isn’t what they spent; rather, it reflects how much the respective rosters are…

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Publish date : 2026-10-03 14:30:00

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