kreed5120

Once again I don't think anyone thought he was going to the College of Charleston. @NWAkron was clearly being facetious and some took the bait.

Yes, and I would say Miami sacrificed athleticism for perimeter height. They were also very undersized in the post, as can be seen by how they were bullied by UMass and Tennessee, so not sure if that's a terrific example. I don't disagree that height is important. Just that other schools with deeper pockets are going to pay a premium for it. IMO if Tavari was 6'3" he probably gets similar offers to Nate in the portal when he put his name in. Maybe it's still worth sacrificing athleticism if it means we get taller. I'm more pointing out there will be trade-offs.

I feel a big part of the problem is we're not going to be able to afford a 6'4" Tavari or a 7' Lyles. We would have to sacrifice skill for height.

Yes, salary is also likely comparable once you adjust for cost of living as well. Groce I believe got a combined $100K bonus for winning the MAC Tournament and making the tournament. That would have brought his total compensation to like $950K.

I think you may have overlooked @NWAkron sarcasm.

Ianello killed any momentum Akron might have had with a new stadium. Building a consistent winner at Akron is going to be challenging when programs like Miami (OH) are reportedly going to be spending $6-$8 million in NIL moving forward. Even if we have success it doesn't mean people will show. Akron basketball averaged 2,147 this past season (8th in the MAC) despite winning the MAC tournament 4 out of last 5 years and having the winningest season in program history. I get football is more popular. I just don't see how it can consistently attract 15k+ when the basketball program can't even get 3k.

I think this might be the first MAC addition this offseason. https://x.com/i/status/2037017462286541090

Member of the Louisville state championship team. Considering he stayed local to play at Walsh, one would think Akron could convince him to stay in the area if he's someone the staff truly wants.

My vote just now got it to 50%/50%

These are the figures that I saw. No school was close to $20M player spend this year. I'm guessing top schools next year will be around ~$15 million. I'm not sure if any school hits $20 million.

Revenue share makes up a huge portion of these budgets, perhaps close to 50% of the overall player spend at these P5 schools. At least in the present state. I don't feel all B1G programs are the same. What OSU or Michigan are able to collect in NIL donations is going to differ from what Nebraska or Iowa can. I guess I don't know what you mean by far and away surpass. If Nebraska has a $10 million roster spend next year and Butler has $9 million I wouldn't view that as far surpassing or be a dollar value that Butler couldn't overcome. If Butler spends $9M I'm not sure how Nebraska could 2.5x it's current figure to get to a number of close to $15M, which is around when I'd say far surpasses. At least under the current parameters. Edit: If we see an increase to the revenue share cap I would be more inclined to agree. I feel an increased revenue share is where B1G and SEC programs could really flex their money. More so than donations.

Those schools also heavily invest in football whereas Butler doesn't. For every dollar Nebraska is fundraising for MBB they're likely fundraising $2-$3 for FBS football. Butler doesn't need to fundraise as much as Iowa or Nebraska to have a comparable MBB NIL budget as it's making hoops it's primary sport while those others are making it their distant secondary. @Zippy87 shared a post that said Butler plans to have $9 million NIL spend next year, which is more than what Nebraska or Iowa spent on this years MBB team.

$9 million NIL yet some on this board think it's a mid-major job lol. For comparison it's believed UMass led the MAC with $1.3M-$1.5M spend.

Thanks for sharing. I don't find this all that surprising. Last year Utah State was at ~$850K and this year they climbed to $2.4M per Calhoun. NIL is still relatively new as is revenue sharing. I wouldn't be surprised if we see double digit annual growth for the next several years until we see the market mature.

Thad Matta was getting paid $2.6 million/yr. They might appear poor compared to UConn, but they have a lot more resources at their disposal compared to a mid-major program like Akron or Kent. If a program like Nebraska/Iowa can make a run to the Elite 8 I wouldn't see why Butler couldn't. They might not be able to keep their coach after doing it so it might not be sustainable year over year and certainly not the standard, but they can still get there.

I honestly don't know. Maybe someone else can answer.

IMO making rivalry weekend the first Saturday in October is something the MAC should fight for with the next TV deal. If they make it a point of emphasis I can see it being something ESPN or whoever agrees to.

If it keeps Groce in Akron I won't fight the narrative.

That last bit doesn't seem to do Groce justice IMO. Akron finished #54 in NET and currently sits at #69 in Kenpom. There are 85 schools in the P4 + Big East. I imagine it's fair to say all of them had more NIL than Akron. Probably 3x-10x as much. Add in many teams from the A10, MWC, MVC, AAC, WCC, and some one offs like High Point/Liberty that outspent Akron and Akron might have had ~130-150 highest payroll in college basketball. Fielding a top 75 team while spending around the median amount in college hoops is still excellent. Very few programs likely got a better bang for their buck.

I think you may have missed that they play EMU week 0.

Maybe he will find more consistent playing time and better production at a low major, like NIU.

It kind of shows how college athletics is shifting. NC State by a small margin has probably been the better program historically and plays what had been known as the basketball conference. 10 years ago you probably wouldn't expect an SEC school not named Kentucky to be able to poach NC State coach. The landscape has shifted.

I agree, I'm not sure what more they could have realistically done. What's disappointing is we see terrific turnouts in Cleveland every year which makes me wonder where these fans have been all season. I get if they live in Westlake, Bay Village, or Parma it might be a bit of a drive for them to regularly attend games, but even if we could get them to go to 3-4 games a year it would help attendance numbers a lot.

I have to imagine they would have scaled down or not built Wolstein Center at all had they known the Cavs would be relocating only a few years later.

Even so those things don't fit the fix that sports/concerts does. Much of the things you listed are reasons why I said people are unlikely to make an all day event out of both attending Akron games and then also attending Browns games. Adults have responsibilities so there is only so much time they can carve out for personal entertainment. People in Cleveland, Detroit, Buffalo still have to do all those mundane things you mention and the free time they have they have many more options of how to spend it. I grew up in a small city and people went to the high school football game on Fridays because that was the only thing to do. Stadium seated maybe 6k and the population of the city at the time was ~9k-10k. Every home game the stadium was probably 80% full. As I grew up I realized that everyone attending the local high school game wasn't the norm in other cities, particularly the larger ones. You can pretend that Jonesboro, Arkansas has all the alternative entertainment that Cleveland, Detroit, or Buffalo does, but it doesn't. The same way that Cleveland has less competition than a city like LA or NYC. I never said a product still wouldn't be important to attract people. Just that people in Jonesboro are more likely to go watch a 5-7 college football team than someone in Cleveland because frankly there are fewer big events for them to attend. I'm not saying the product doesn't have to be good to get people to show. I'm saying the more competition you have to attract people the higher the threshold is needed to get them. I would think that would be fairly obvious. I'm not sure exactly what you can dispute about that.