NCAA trial at halftime: Game over

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He's right. Statistics presented by Rascher show that an overwhelming number of four- and five-star recruits already go to the power conferences.

Wilken, annoyed as she has been about some of the techniques used by NCAA lawyers in their questioning of witnesses, has been careful not to tip her hand as to which way she may rule. She, an audience of one, could still rule in favor of the NCAA when her written decision is issued, most likely no earlier than August. But the NCAA's inability to support its position with factual data spells trouble for the governing body and will continue to do so as the appeals process plays out.

Along the way, over the first half of the trial, we've also gotten a sense of how an injunction against the NCAA might play out. Michael Hausfeld, lead lawyer for the plaintiffs, describes a college sports industry in which the conferences, not the NCAA, have the power to determine the compensation levels of athletes. Unlike the NCAA, none of the conferences have market power, meaning more than half of the total college sports market. So each can set its rules without worrying about violating federal antitrust laws. The SEC, for instance, could decide among its members to share, say, 32 percent of all media and licensing revenues with the athletes; the Big Ten, meanwhile, could provide 25 percent but guarantee all scholarships through grad school or add other benefits that make sense to its members.

As long as the conferences don't get in a room together and agree to fix prices in the way the NCAA currently does, they're golden. They're competing, as required under federal law.

This scenario challenges the model that is being pursued by the power five conferences, which are pushing for more autonomy within the NCAA structure to make decisions. Whatever they end up voting on in August may end up getting revised if Wilken rules against the NCAA and the model that Hausfeld submits as legal takes hold.

In the end, what's unlikely to hold is the notion that Alabama football is an exercise in amateurism.

Indeed, maybe we're already moving on. Most interesting about Pilson's oral gaffe on the stand was that no one -- not the judge or even the NCAA's lawyers -- tried to correct his testimony. They let it go, saying nothing, perhaps not wanting to draw any more attention to it. Or because any further pursuit of that correction might lead down a path that demonstrates Bama has more in common with the Dallas Cowboys than the Chattanooga Mocs.