Before a skeptical Supreme Court this morning the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) defended its rules that preclude paying student-athletes. The Biden administration sided with the student-athletes during oral arguments March 31. The case is actually two cases that the court ordered heard together: National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Alston, court file 20-512, and American Athletic Conference (AAC) v. Alston, court file 20-520. Sixty minutes were allotted for telephonic oral arguments, but they ran 94 minutes. A ruling by the nation’s highest court against the NCAA could, in that organization’s view, undermine the prevailing business model for college sports that is based on not compensating athletes for their work. The NCAA makes a virtue out of not paying athletes, arguing in court documents that “a hallmark of intercollegiate athletics” is “a revered tradition of amateurism” that “adds richness and diversity to intercollegiate athletics.” “Antitrust immunity for college sports is a question for …