Oscar Tshiebwe's merchandise line launches at Kentucky Branded

Slowly but surely, Oscar Tshiebwe is opening for business. This morning, Oscar’s merchandise line with Kentucky Branded launched, featuring ten different designs on t-shirts, sweats, and coffee mugs. It’s a big milestone for the big man, who will likely sell a billion t-shirts to the adoring Kentucky fanbase, but he’s determined not to let it become a distraction.

“All that stuff, I just leave it up to God. I’m so grateful. When God opened up an opportunity for you, you should be grateful. They are doing that and they’ve got some people that Coach has put in charge of helping me with that. I’m not letting all that stuff get in my head because this is not a great time for me to lose my head because we’re going to enter the tournament, so I just leave it up to Coach and everybody, the people Coach has pulled to help me.”

That being said, Oscar is excited to send some money back home to his family in the Democratic Republic of Congo and hopefully get his mother to the United States to watch him play in the NCAA Tournament.

“It’s really good. I thank God for that. It’s going to help my family. It’s going to help a lot of different things but I just leave it up to God.”

As you might expect, business is good thus far. The folks at Kentucky Branded tell KSR that sales have been brisk and far exceeded any expectations they had. Here are a few of the designs:

Go get yours at KentuckyBranded.com/Oscar-Tshiebwe.

Kentucky House of Representatives passes F1 Resolution

While Oscar’s Kentucky Branded line is a promising development, the quest to get him full NIL rights continues. Yesterday, the Kentucky House of Representatives passed a resolution to encourage federal lawmakers to allow F1 students, aka foreign students, to work. Even if it passes the Senate, it’s non-binding, but the hope is it prompts the Department of Homeland Security to clarify what foreign students are allowed to do on F1 visas or a new federal law.

“This is a resolution, it’s not a law,” John Calipari said on his radio show last night. “It’s saying, ‘Our state stands behind F1 students.’ Think about that. And it’s bipartisan. It’s still got to go to the Senate to pass as a resolution, but I’m so proud of our state, the legislature, the leaders. They’re about these kids, but they also understood, ‘We’ve got to protect these universities too.’ I think it’s a model legislation, the NIL. The resolution, that is a statement.”

“Homeland Security can make a statement that they can clarify what an F1 student can do. What if he’s a cellist and he goes to Carnegie Hall and he plays? Then that cello company wants him to endorse it. You can’t, you can’t do anything that’s work. It becomes (about) if they’ll clarify it. If not, it is going to take a federal law. And I’ll be honest with you, what we’re doing is protecting our student-athletes until a federal bill gets passed.”

Until that happens, I hope Oscar sells a billion t-shirts.