For me, part of it too comes down to the NCAA regulations being completely ridiculous imo.
The former Utah coach, the late Rick Majerus, had a player who'd just lost his father. Majerus took the kid out for breakfast that morning just out of a desire to console him. Yet he received a letter from the NCAA for doing that and was reprimanded.
I do tend to think most people see the difference between a meal being paid for, particularly with the situation with Majerus, versus tens of thousands of dollars being funneled to a kid's parents because he chose XYZ university, or more currently - where the kid joined an AAU program and was being recruited via an apparel company's endorsement money.
Part of the NCAA's incompetence has been their unwillingness to draw a definitive line as it relates to a trivial infraction versus a fairly serious rules violation. And obviously the bigger the Division I school is - the more leniency they're granted, the more they turn a blind eye when something gets covered up. (see North Carolina)
I don't think paying college athletes is a practical solution, simply for equality reasons alone, not to mention the value of a college degree these days at a major university.
But something needs to change. For all intents and purposes - the NCAA has basically been deemed totally incompetent.
And I might also add - this doesn't just pertain to college hoops, despite that being the current focus. I think if the tentacles of this investigation go deep enough - we'll see a lot of major Division I football programs being implicated. We're still most likely closer to the start of this corruption scandal than we are the end of it.