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I was one of the few people who watched the Buffalo @ NIU game last evening. Buffalo lost by 4 and was 9 of 22 from the FT line. Also near the end of the game, an NIU player's shoe slipped off and a Buffalo player threw it into the stands resulting in a technical foul. Good times.

Saturday March 9, 5 pm, Michigan St at Akron Sunday March 17, 5 pm, Akron at Michigan Friday March 22, 7 pm, Akron at BUGS Saturday April 6, 5 pm Dayton at Akron Saturday April 13, TBD, Akron v TBD at Historic Crew Stadium

Those players playing overseas aren't guys who would have been playing in college basketball 10, 20, 30 years ago. European born players have generally always played overseas before coming to the NBA. Look at Dirk, Tony Parker, Gasol brothers, etc. The difference now is that in the last 10-15 years the sport has grown a ton there so now they're producing more high caliber players. What you should be looking at is which Americans are going overseas or joining the G League. Those would be the players that are being taken away from the college game. In my previous post I didn't mention how much the game has globalized in recent times. We have more people playing basketball than ever. That could also be a factor in why top teams don't look as dominant. Mid-tier teams have a much larger pool of players to recruit and the scraps they settle for are better than the player they settled for 20-30 years ago. It could also be why we've recently seen a 16 seed beat a 1.

The University is considering outsourcing the management of student housing, much as they have parking and is soliciting proposals. Here's a very minimal and incomplete story from the Beacon/Ohio.com- https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/education/2024/02/13/university-of-akron-looking-to-outsource-management-of-student-housing-parking-revenue-higher-ed/72586213007/

Conversation in the workplace today- Co-worker: "So, who do you think gets the OSU job?" Clarkie: "Hmmmm, Oats? Miller? Paris? Kelsey?" Co-worker: "What about Shaka Smart?" Clarkie: "**** Shaka Smart that arrogant little ******** **********!" I'm still having issues.

It sounds like Lamont Paris, a former UA KD assistant and current South Carolina head coach, is in the rumor mill for the OSU job.

A basketball "Chuck Amato"

He could sit on our sideline like Jim Christian @ KSUcks.

I think mediocrity is the new excellence. In my opinion teams aren't as dominant because of a lack of cohesion within programs as a result of the transfer portal. I'm not sure the mid tier teams are getting better guys than 20 years ago. Years ago, mid tier programs like Wake Forest had Chris Paul and Tim Duncan playing for them. Now their guard is a Central Michigan transfer in Boopie Miller and their center is a Gonzaga transfer Efton Reid. They have traded Hall of Fame players for guys who you scratch your head when you hear their name. College sports will become generally less popular as dominant teams/players go away and they are replaced by more average players/teams. Average is not excellence. People like excellence because it's predictable. It gives us something to love or hate. I'm not even certain making college sports less popular is something that can change even as we turn the country into a bunch of gambling degenerates. An example would be the NBA of the 1970s. It was full of parity and was unpopular. Magic and Bird hit the NBA in the 1980s and for ten years, one or both was in the NBA finals. It's popularity grew a great deal.

https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll Kansas is ranked #6. They are in 5th place in the Big 12. Are any voters paying attention?

https://www.dominionpost.com/2024/02/02/sharron-young-scores-30-to-become-all-time-leading-scorer-at-morgantown-high/