For Merl Code, basketball was life. In college he played point guard for Clemson before turning pro. Later, with a keen eye for talent and vested interest in the basketball community, he pivoted to marketing, where he was eager to build relationships with young athletes who might one day become ambassadors for Nike and Adidas. But as his network expanded and his responsibilities as a shoe rep grew, he found himself thrust into the dark underbelly of profit-driven college basketball programs, and the storied coaches who led them. Now, for the first time, Code will share his side of the explosive story of college basketball s dark reality. Propulsive, urgent, and eye-opening, Black Market exposes the truth to offer a more just way forward for both colleges and athletes.