College Sports (Basketball)
Sad news. Some ups and downs on the court the last few years, but I've always liked Pikiell going to back to when he coached Stony Brook against us in the NIT.
Such an utter shitshow
The Galloping Ghost
- Washington, DC
This is stupid. Class of 2021. Played four seasons. Redshirted one. Got drafted. Go away, dude.
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
This is a big one. Because he’s not asking for a 5th year. He’s asking for a 6th. Could open more possible litigation if this stands.
I’d like the beloved to win a ‘ship before this whole farce implodes. Already seeing cracks with College Football popularity.
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
College football popularity isn’t declining (see: the 19 page and counting thread on the football board about the Michigan/WMU game). If anything, the former have-nots on the P4 level (including Illinois) are enjoying the ride!
I think the NCAA would have been in a stronger position if they made the 5 for 5 change apply evenly / retroactively. I mean, obviously the fix is to negotiate with the players, but they seem incapable of going that route given how many lawsuits they've lost.
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
Based on what metric? College football post season play is setting record viewership each year. Last year’s regular season viewership was up 20% compared to the year before.
This year, 4.9 million people tuned into week 0 to watch unranked TCU take on UNC. That’s more viewership than first round NBA playoff games.
Have you also seen the rapid normalization of sports betting? So, yes, perhaps sheer eyeballs are up.
Whatever veil/facade collegiate athletics previously had with 4/5-yr students representing a good chunk of rosters has all but disappeared.
Apathy will soon seep into collegiate athletics when roster turnover and NIL essentially turns into a Frankenstein G-/minor-league.
Near 24-yo players like Yaxel full-court checking an 18-yo Keaton will start to feel progressively more broken. And those 23/24-yo’s will gladly cash multimillion dollar checks vs. playing overseas or signing non-guaranteed NBA contracts.
NCAA has shown zero ability or interest to stop young adults swapping out the name on the front of their jerseys on an annual basis. You essentially have 1,000s of 18-23yo’s operating on 1-year contracts before becoming undrafted free agents each offseason. In some cases, you have players like Baker-Mazara who are 26 years old quitting mid-season on their 5th college team in 6 years and joining a pro league.
Doesn’t take too much mental gymnastics to see how all of this is long term net negative for the allure and fun of being a collegiate athletics fan.
But yes thanks to insane rise of sports betting the eyeballs will yet rise. And the rich will get richer. And the poor will pay additionally poverty tax.
On the Football side of things, I’d consider us financially in the “have-not” bucket. Well, maybe that’s harsh. Perhaps the “have some” bucket? We ain’t broke, but we ain’t swimming in it, either. See: the D line situation. Fortunately we have an excellent coach who knows how to make the most of those dollars.
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
So your evidence is just vibes? Because the data shows the exact opposite of your claims.
That is why this 5 for 5 play will cause more litigation and guys wanting 6 and then 7 years. These clowns need to be ashamed of themselves but a lot of programs will still want these guys to win games.
I literally agreed that viewership is up. What are you on about?
I can use a bit of deductive reasoning. Every third ad is a gambling commercial. Lebron just announced a Polymarket collab. ESPN has dedicated sports bets segments. DraftKings. BetMGM. States like Texas (where I live) have always prohibited online sports books like DraftKings, FanDuel and BetMGM. Now prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket are fair game. Texas is the 3rd most populous state in the country.
So connect some dots. Some uptick in viewership is undoubtedly driven by the normalization of betting as the #1 national pastime.
And do you not agree that “vibes” are impacted negatively by turning collegiate athletics into a Wild Wild West semi-professional league where court decisions can seemingly tilt rosters by the week? Or the fact that rosters are turning over 50%+ year-over-year and at a materially higher rate than even professional sports like NFL, NBA, and MLB.
Do you recall how it felt a bit different when Dee, Deron, and Luther collectively spent 11 years in Champaign-Urbana and led the team to the Sweet 16 then a Title game?
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
Your original post said:
Already seeing cracks with College Football popularity.
Betting / NIL / Transfer Portal are all different discussions. To your original point, college football doesn’t have any cracks in popularity. It’s more popular than ever.
Perhaps “popularity” is being a bit narrowly measured purely by viewership.
I’m talking about the underlying pageantry and zeitgeist. There are certainly cracks there. Notre Dame being able to make the playoff despite no conference membership. Miami playing a fairly underwhelming schedule ahead of likely making the playoff. I could go on.
You know what else is “more than popular than ever.” Gambling on sports.
He was a cancer in the locker room last year. Purdue gave Oscar Cluff a bigger bag than TKR, and it did not sit well. He was playing for himself up until the Big Ten tourney.
Im outraged by the Sydney Sweeney ad
send the link so we can report itRabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
I appreciate the combination of these two references.
