kreed5120

Liberty is in C-USA. They were added to the conference after the C-USA schools bolted for the SunBelt.

Marshall is in the SunBelt. Also, they play 4 OOC games, not 3. App State OOC schedule is as follows. ETSU @Clemson @East Carolina Liberty

I'm sure that was very much the case at the large state schools OSU, UM, Penn State, etc.

78 players participate. Edit: Odds are high of him at least making a summer league roster. It's still very much an uphill battle to secure a roster spot even if he does get drafted. Over coming the odds stacked against him obviously wouldn't be anything new to Freeman though.

That was my thought up until he developed a perimeter shot this season. Now I feel he's more adapted to this position less style of basketball teams are employing these days.

The Big East never stopped functioning as a D1 conference. The SWC in 1996 would be the correct answer. I don't think the PAC 12 will fold. I expect the Mountain West to merge into it that way they can capitalize on the PAC-12 brand. Regardless that would still mean one of the PAC-12 or MWC will disappear. It would be the first time in ~30 years that a conference went under. Even with realignment, conferences have seen resilient to stay afloat even when it looked like they didn't have many options left.

I don't see the value in expanding just for the sake of expanding. That's just more mouths to feed.

When is the last time a D1 conference has ceased to exist? The WAC will probably poach 2 schools from a conference like the Southland to stay alive. There also always seems to be a school willing to make the transition to D1.

I don't know that answer. It's possible then that won't be on the schedule. Do we even know which tournament we'll be participating in? That's usually one of the first things that leaks regarding our schedule.

Hopefully this means we should find out Akron's schedule sometime soon. We have the two SunBelt games. I also believe a road game against Bradley and host Northern Kentucky. Are any other games known?

Thanks for the grunt work that you do. It's appreciated by us casuals who still want to stay somewhat informed.

You don't think the fact we'd be in a position to only offer .25 to .50 scholarship to players while programs like OSU, North Carolina, or Michigan can offer full scholarships puts us at a disadvantage? Basketball or football really isn't a comparable comp since all scholarships are full in those sports.

Wouldn't those players be viewed as more depth pieces? More players they have no intention to start, but willing to bring into camp to compete for a backup role.

As someone who doesn't really follow recruiting are we #2 because of the volume of the recruits that we got or because of the quality of the recruits? How does our average star compare to other MAC programs? I ask because in the past I've seen those services reward teams in rankings based off of volume more so than quality. My hope is that we're getting both.

What I found interesting was that under the proposal P4 schools could offer full scholarships to every player on every team. Currently college football roster size cap is 120. They could offer 120 scholarships, however, it sounds like the roster size number will be reduced to 85-95 if this deal is adopted. Baseball scholarships would climb to 32 instead of the current 11.7. If you're a MAC school, there will be no way to compete in sports like baseball or soccer. You're going to see Akron with 9.9 scholarships in soccer trying to compete against programs like OSU with ~25. If this goes through, the P4 should just form their own league.

Scarcity can create demand. I don't think I've ever bought a Zips football ticket in advance as I know I can just walk up to the gate and get one the day of the game. If they Zips 5500 seat arena suddenly seats 4500, you're going to see more and more people look to buy tickets in advance fearing it selling out. This is good for attendance as they're now committed to going. People who plan to just buy the day of the game can be flakey.

I wouldn't be opposed to paying for a cushioned chairback as well. I more so brought it up because many complained about ticket prices during the season.

If they do that, that likely means both sides would likely go to reserved seating therefore reserved seating prices.

Didn't Enrique Freeman "declare" for the draft last year to get looked at with the intention of returning to Akron? Dozens of players do this exact same thing every year. We wouldn't even be talking about him doing this if his dad wasn't who he is. Declaring, even when you're not NBA ready, isn't out of the ordinary.

I wouldn't waste your time arguing. Per kenpom, USC was the 85th ranked team. There are over 350+ D1 basketball programs. That's far from below average. In fact, they would have steamrolled the MAC this season. It seems people have an odd hatred for Bronny. Every year you see players "declare" for the draft without hiring an agent that way they can be evaluated by NBA scouts. They then return to college for another year. Even mediocre MAC players that had no chance of getting drafted have done that in the past. That's almost certainly going to be the case here with Bronny. There are only 60 players drafted per year. Of those 15-20 are international players. That means only 40-45 collegiate players get drafted per year. Of those maybe 10 will have an NBA career longer than 5 seasons. Odds are slim for any of these guys unless you're a generational talent at the very top of the draft board.

Build it and they will come just doesn't work in practice. A new arena wouldn't fix our attendance issues. Even if it provides a small boost at first, the new car smell will soon fade.

The MAC has taken a nosedive since covid. It's still better than the OVC, but the gap between them isn't as large as it used to be.

He's from Chicago so probably just wanted to be closer to home

No basketball program is generating their school hundreds of millions in revenue or anywhere close to that frankly. The bulk of the athletic revenue comes from football. Even at basketball schools like Kentucky. I'd venture to say 85% of D1 basketball programs aren't clearing 10 million in revenue a year. Let alone 10s of millions. My earlier comments weren't really about whether or not college players should be paid. I've stated on this board several times that it really doesn't matter if people like NIL or not. It's about adapting or being left behind. I was more just bringing light to the transformation.

Out of curiosity I went ahead and looked what the Euroleague is paying. Mirotic is making $5 million. Shane Larkin is making $4 million. After that the top players are making ~$2 million. It's not inconceivable that in 5, 10 years from now that the NCAA will be the best paying basketball league outside the NBA.