UCLAs water boy is soaking in success with his | College News

LEXINGTON, Ky. — On the eve of UCLA’s greatest sport of the season, there was a fluid state of affairs in the locker room.

The water boy couldn’t discover something to drink.

Nothing available aligned with Finn Barkenaes’ new sponsor, Niagara Bottling, resulting in jokes about a personal prohibition.

“He can’t drink certain kind of drinks because he’s got an NIL deal,” Bruins coach Mick Cronin mentioned of the pinnacle pupil supervisor who just lately turned the primary water boy to land a national model sponsorship. “And I was looking around, and they said, ‘No, it’s true.’”

Barkenaes can truly drink no matter he needs, however he’d strongly choose or not it’s a Niagara product.

The Diamond Bar-based company just lately chosen the senior business economics main to be its pitchman for what is likely to be the last word Cinderella story of March Madness.

“Let’s be real, water boys don’t get NIL deals,” Barkenaes mentioned, “so it’s been pretty cool to be part of something that’s, like, flip the script on things and get recognized, even if it is in kind of a joking manner.”

During the following few weeks, Barkenaes shall be featured on Niagara’s Instagram and different social media platforms, the tagline being that 2025 is the “Year of the water boy.”

“At Niagara, we believe unsung heroes like Finn keep top athletic programs running strong with high-quality water,” mentioned Julia Buchanan, the company’s vice president of advertising and marketing and communications. “He was the perfect choice as our first-ever NIL water boy — his dedication to UCLA athletics is unmatched, and he plays a vital role in supporting a legendary program.”

At first, Barkenaes thought the entire thing was a joke. A water boy pitchman? Seriously?

He realized in any other case as soon as he began hopping on Zooms with company executives from across the nation, resulting in his signing a deal with undisclosed phrases. Barkenaes did reveal that he’s already acquired a number of instances of water, with more prone to come.

“I’m jealous,” Cronin mentioned as his staff ready to face Utah State on Thursday at Rupp Arena in the primary spherical of the NCAA match. “That’s what I just told him.”

Handing out water is likely to be the simplest factor Barkenaes does. He and the opposite managers sweep the apply court docket, load gear onto buses and planes, tape simulated basketball courts onto resort ballroom flooring and check out — in an usually futile effort — to stop the staff’s huge males in apply whereas sporting outsized pads on their arms.

“He’s hitting us, pushing us,” heart Aday Mara mentioned of Barkenaes.

This isn’t the primary time Barkenaes has been known as a water boy. Arizona and Arizona State followers as soon as used the time period to heckle him, however the taunts had the alternative of their meant impact.

UCLA males’s basketball supervisor Finn Barkenaes poses alongside Niagara Bottling merchandise. Barkenaes has an endorsement deal with the company.

(Niagara Bottling)

“The whole idea is that we’re out of the spotlight, and the people who work this job do it because they love basketball and they love UCLA,” mentioned Barkenaes, who needs to work in wealth management or finance after commencement. “All of the staff with me, they’re not in it for the spotlight and the recognition, so I think people kind of embrace it, it’s kind of like a chip-on-your-shoulder thing. It’s like, ‘I’m the water boy, I’m the one that people typically don’t care about.’”

Now he’s the speak of the locker room, gamers calling Barkenaes “Money man,” “Niagara boy” and “Water boy.”

He simply smiles, a no person soaking in success.