The World of College Basketball

[kreed5120]

3 minutes ago, X got robbed of POY said:

Help out the Zips Mangers by voting for them and advancing to go play in Indy! They must get to 51% by midnight or else they will miss out on this awesome opportunity.

 

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

[MDZip]

3 hours ago, X got robbed of POY said:

Help out the Zips Mangers by voting for them and advancing to go play in Indy! They must get to 51% by midnight or else they will miss out on this awesome opportunity.

 

I just voted and they are now at 51%. Hopefully that'll stay. Also I feel like you should change your name to X/Tavari got robbed of POY.

[Let'sGoZips94]

1 hour ago, MDZip said:

I just voted and they are now at 51%. Hopefully that'll stay. Also I feel like you should change your name to X/Tavari got robbed of POY.

 

15 minutes left and Akron has a 4% lead with 52% of the vote if I'm not mistaken. Quite the push today from Zips fans. 

 

 

 

Edited March 26 by Let'sGoZips94

[AkronAlumnus]

8 hours ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

15 minutes left and Akron has a 4% lead with 52% of the vote if I'm not mistaken. Quite the push today from Zips fans. 

 

 

 

They won!!

[clarkwgriswold]

Will Wade returning to LSU.  What a perfect pairing.  

[Let'sGoZips94]

1 hour ago, clarkwgriswold said:

Will Wade returning to LSU.  What a perfect pairing.  

 

NC State fans are pissed. 

 

That's why you never fall in love with a stripper.

[Zippy87]

 

[ZipsBBjunkie]

 

[ZipsBBjunkie]

Good weekend reading even if you’re not a parent, player, advisor, consultant, HS/AAU coach or agent … 

 

[kreed5120]

19 minutes ago, ZipsBBjunkie said:

 

 

Not surprising, I read LSU has a $40 million roster for football next year. It seems about 1/3 of what gets spent on football gets spent on basketball.

[Let'sGoZips94]

The issue is nobody is going to do a damn thing until they can figure out how to not limit their financial gain with the much needed structure. 

[HoopsFan03]

BYU paid 1 player $7,000,000 and got first rounded just like us. Still can't buy a championship. 

[UAZipster0305]

7 minutes ago, HoopsFan03 said:

BYU paid 1 player $7,000,000 and got first rounded just like us. Still can't buy a championship. 

More like still can't win a championship with one player.

 

Get at least five of those players, and watch what happens.

 

Buying wins is happening. That's why the past two years there have been no mid-majors to the Sweet Sixteen, and the SEC and Big Ten have dominated the NCAAT. Even the formerly mighty ACC is looking paltry. 

Edited Thursday at 09:44 PM by UAZipster0305

[kreed5120]

Roster construction is still important. UMass spent the most money in the MAC, but still finished 8th in the MAC. If you pay top dollar for a bunch of mid players that's not going to suddenly make them great. 

 

The issue is there is a lot more money out there than there are players worth spending it on. You're going to see more and more fringe P5 players, like Nate Johnson, command $1.5M+ plus.

 

You have to spend a lot of money to contend, but just because you spend a lot of money doesn't mean you will contend. If that makes any sense.

[Illini Zip]

51 minutes ago, kreed5120 said:

Roster construction is still important. UMass spent the most money in the MAC, but still finished 8th in the MAC. If you pay top dollar for a bunch of mid players that's not going to suddenly make them great. 

 

The issue is there is a lot more money out there than there are players worth spending it on. You're going to see more and more fringe P5 players, like Nate Johnson, command $1.5M+ plus.

 

You have to spend a lot of money to contend, but just because you spend a lot of money doesn't mean you will contend. If that makes any sense.

It makes perfect sense. 

[Captain Kangaroo]

13 hours ago, kreed5120 said:

You have to spend a lot of money to contend, but just because you spend a lot of money doesn't mean you will contend. If that makes any sense.

Just ask the NY Mets, LA Clippers, Raiders…

[clarkwgriswold]

I was listening to some sports talk show that Jim Boeheim was a on a couple of weeks ago.  According to him, a program needs at least $10M a year in NIL funds to be competitive on a national scale.

[kreed5120]

9 minutes ago, clarkwgriswold said:

I was listening to some sports talk show that Jim Boeheim was a on a couple of weeks ago.  According to him, a program needs at least $10M a year in NIL funds to be competitive on a national scale.

 

That's pretty accurate. Even Providence College said they plan to spend $10M next year. That would mean I would expect the Michigan, Florida, and Alabama to spend closer to $15 million. I imagine the top 2-3 spending programs like a Duke or Kentucky could approach or surpass $20M 

[kreed5120]

1 hour ago, Captain Kangaroo said:

Just ask the NY Mets, LA Clippers, Raiders…

 

You can probably add the Browns to that list. I believe they have been at or near the top of the league in dollars spent the last few years from trying to manipulate the cap by converting base salary into signing bonuses and then absorbing large cap hits when said player isn't even on the roster.

[zippy5]

42 minutes ago, clarkwgriswold said:

I was listening to some sports talk show that Jim Boeheim was a on a couple of weeks ago.  According to him, a program needs at least $10M a year in NIL funds to be competitive on a national scale.

 

 

 

 

[Let'sGoZips94]

44 minutes ago, clarkwgriswold said:

I was listening to some sports talk show that Jim Boeheim was a on a couple of weeks ago.  According to him, a program needs at least $10M a year in NIL funds to be competitive on a national scale.

 

Depends on who the coach is. 

[clarkwgriswold]

30 minutes ago, Let'sGoZips94 said:

 

Depends on who the coach is. 

Lots of schools not getting their money's worth.

[Let'sGoZips94]

1 minute ago, clarkwgriswold said:

Lots of schools not getting their money's worth.

 

Bingo. There's so much focus on the money that's spent, but the actual issues occur with the free movement and lack of compensation for schools that have their players plucked. Until someone with the power has the moral cajones to put aside personal financial gain and fix the fundamental flaws with the transfer portal, the money will continue to be spent at absurd rates. However, that rarely translates to any sort of guarantees. 

 

The Guardians have the lowest payroll in baseball and just took 2/3 from the Billionaire Dodgers - the actual Billionaire Dodgers, not just what Senderoff sees in his nightmares. System, culture, and coaching are the most important components. Always have been, always will be. 

[Zip Watcher]

44 minutes ago, zippy5 said:

I seriously wonder if any of them will sniff a Final Four with that spend.  BBN hasn't been to a Final Four in 11 years, and they can spend all they want and have the most lottery picks.  The ?football school? in Bloomington hasn't been there in 24 years.  They're casting about and spraying money at what they think is the problem. 

 

It's not translating to net cutting.  You only need to look at the 2nd half of the Duke / UConn game last weekend to see what happens when experienced talent goes against pure talent in a high stress situation.  The experienced team will maintain composure better than the teams new to that environment.

 

Talent surely matters, but culture is wildly undervalued with the NIL top down perspective.  There's a team shooting for it's 3rd NC in 4 years that has ample NIL (just below the cited list), but prioritizes culture and team building. It's the *same* reason that the Zips will be playing for their 4th straight MAC tournament title in about 11 months.

 

His on-court antics aside, if you take the opportunity to listen to Dan Hurley's recruiting and program perspective, you'll see how much he values fit and background over projected draft status.  Steph Castle is a prime example .. and it's the same reason he's a great fit for the Spurs.  He wanted to be part of something bigger.  Karaban is shooting for his 3rd NC.  He's not a 1st round NBA guy .. but he's essential to UConn's success.  There are plenty of other examples (Painter at Purdue for 1).

 

Ultimately, success is less about the "X's and O's" than it is the "Johnny's and Joes."  You either have the players or you don't .. but among 2 teams on the court with similar talent, it comes down to cohesiveness and collaboration.  Teams that like themselves and play for their teammates will always be better than a group of individuals.  No matter what happens this weekend, the signature play of Alex Karaban's college career will be giving up the ball to a Freshman who had a slightly cleaner look at a shot the team had to have.  As we all know, the kid buried it .. but it was the trust the team had in each other that obliterated Duke in the 2nd half.

 

Same is true in rec ball, middle school, CYO and almost every career.  Build a high functioning team and successes will chase you down.  It's one reason I'm excited to see Coach Ford's finger prints on the Zips.  I fully expect to take my center court seats at the Q next March and watch the Zips play on Saturday for the hardware.

 

The sun shines brightly on our team & program, and I hope the sun shines brightly on everyone here this Easter Weekend.

 

Go Zips!

 

{/captain obvious}

[Illini Zip]

1 hour ago, zippy5 said:

 

 

 

 

Illinois will land on this list easily.