kreed5120

I also wasn't a fan at the time of acquisition, but for different reasons. A University that recently experienced a significant enrollment decline and is facing budget issues should be looking to right size, not acquire more land or assets that require capital to maintain when in reality they aren't needed.

I feel shedding Groce's salary and the ensuing buyout we received from CoC pretty much funded that reduction for this upcoming season.

I didn't even know Eric Gordon was still lacing them up. The longevity of players today is insane.

I obviously haven't kept up on the NBA this offseason. I still thought Minnesota had Julius Randle and Naz Reid. That certainly makes Freeman's pathway to earning minutes more manageable.

The main problem with Freeman and the Timberwolves is the T-Wolves depth is at the PF and C positions. 5 out of Minnesota's top 7 paid players are PF or C. It would probably require an injury or trade for Freeman to get a consistent 5-10 mpg at the NBA level.

I was under the impression that the first round matchups are based off of preseason projections, not last year results. That said, with roster turnover as rampant as it is I'm not even going to dive in to attempt to determine who will be and won't be good in the SunBelt. I follow the MAC more closely than most and I would struggle to rank them 1-12 with any confidence. No chance I could do it with the SB.

There are 14 SunBelt teams and 12 MAC teams. Two SunBelt teams have to sit out the contest.

I don't think the schedule is particularly gruesome. Wake Forest, Minnesota, and UNLV are all winnable games for a team competing at the top of the MAC. Not saying I'd expect a Miami (OH) to win all 3, but I'd think they would win at minimum 1. The real issue is we're projected as the 9th best team in what is arguably the worst FBS conference. Of course getting to 6 wins will be a challenge. There are only 13 teams in all of FBS that Athlon has ranked below us.

This is probably a make or break it year for his NBA career. As I understand it players can only be on two-way contracts for a max 3 seasons and this would be year 3. Theoretically I suppose if he doesn't make this NBA roster after this year he could just take a standard G-League contract to chase an NBA dream, but those contracts are significantly less than what he would earn overseas.

There is nothing better in place to make it worth eliminating. If there was a multi-conference Bracket Buster lined up then sure eliminate the SunBelt/MAC challenge. Eliminating it without having something better in place though would achieve nothing and be counterproductive.

I think the televised games might be played the day before if I recall correctly. Some of the SunBelt Universities in particular aren't the most convenient places to travel. Hiltopper said we chartered a plane to play @ Troy. If we faced someone like Marshall instead we probably just bus. I would think you would need to know about 2 weeks before as if you do need to charter or fly commercial, you probably don't want to be doing that last minute.

I guess I don't really view it as "expensive" as I don't see what it's really costing either conference. The majority of these SunBelt/MAC schools if they weren't playing this challenge would be playing 2 meaningless OOC games against low majors or non-D1 schools to pad their win totals. Who wants to watch that? Not like either conference was receiving at-large bids prior to this series so arguing it's a failure because only 1 at-large was earned in 3 years between the two conferences seems pretty irrelevant. I know personally the challenge has me tuning in to watch a directional Michigan play a random SunBelt team when I'd otherwise not really care as I actually want to see the MAC win the challenge. I wouldn't imagine I'm the only doing that either. More people tuning into MAC basketballs is good, especially as the new media deal nears. Not to mention the MAC gets two additional national televised games that they wouldn't otherwise get. It would only make sense to scrap the tournament if the MAC had something in place to replace it with better, which they do not. My recommendation to improve it is wait a little later in the year to pick round 2 matchups. Picking them at the start of January when the NET is very volatile isn't the best time to do it.

I actually like the series TBH. I know some expressed they would prefer to pair with a different conference or have a multi-conference event, but that's not happening. At least not in the immediate future. The SunBelt and MAC are two relatively comparable conferences and in fact the SunBelt has more wins than the MAC in the series so we're not in a position to look down on them.

I think Bowen was trying to get a waiver for his freshman year that he only played 7 games. Hoping he could make it a redshirt season. It still might not have materialized.

I hear the soon to be crowned world champs New York Knicks will be sending 3 scouts to each of his games.