Meet the man responsible for bringing disorder to college athletics... and who could shape its future

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If college players become employees, I'm curious at what point professional sports leagues like the NBA and NFL will grow more concerned. We're rapidly nearing a point where if schools are no longer restrained by traditional eligibility requirements, they could keep players on their active rosters for years, pay them more (no salary caps) and go head-to-head with the pros.

And I'd point out how insane it is that state-funded and privately-funded "schools" might field professional sports teams, but honestly, we're well past that point. It is insane that it's already gone this far.
 
Pretty good synopsis. Unfortunately, like everything, it is focused on the power conferences and everyone else is just collateral damage into whatever gets designed for them.

I think my interest and fandom in college athletics is "on the clock" based on the outcome of these lawsuits and decisions. I won't stick around if it continues to operate like it has the last couple years. I don't find it interesting watching your half your roster flip year over year regardless if you are good or bad. The average D1 team has lost 6 of their 13 scholarship players in the roster based on the number of players in the transfer portal as of today and we've still got 10 more days before it closes.

Watching Ju transform from a skinny freshman that couldn't shoot a lick into a pretty complete Valley guard that could was awesome to watch. Watching a local kid that had no offers walk-on and turn into one of the greatest players in program history was awesome to watch. Watching several of our highly recruited kids move up the scoring or other statistical ranks and hoping they eclipse those that came before them was awesome to watch.

Moving forward, stories like these are unlikely to be written. It is unlikely we'll ever retire a jersey from anyone in this era. Hell, it is now very likely that we've seen our last 1,000 point scorer because any guy that averages 15ppg in the Missouri Valley will likely be bought by one of those programs the new system is designed for.

Tick. Tock.
 
Man, sad stuff. New reality hits hard. Hoping my Syc 🏀 attitude improves as staff positions fill & our roster completes.

Believe I can continue my fandom as long as we can compete with the Valley & other similar sized programs, even if the unfair P5 advantage & bias widens.
 
It would be one thing if we were fans of a forward-thinking university with leaders who have an intuitive ability to read trends and adapt, but we are not, so I don't expect us to get ahead on things and be well positioned for whatever is to come. For our sake it's probably best this rapid rate of change continues at this pace. If (when) the big boys splinter off, do it soon and allow the dust to start settling behind you. And on the bright side (going glass half full here), if our players are treated as employees then that would allow us to sign them to contracts and require buyouts, so at least we'd have the chance to get a return on players as well as coaches when we lose them. In that way, we could become more like a lower tier European soccer club and that makes sense to me because that's what we're more comparable to, the local pro team trying to work its way up and win its league/conference.
 
bent20 said:
It would be one thing if we were fans of a forward-thinking university with leaders who have an intuitive ability to read trends and adapt, but we are not, so I don't expect us to get ahead on things and be well positioned for whatever is to come. For our sake it's probably best this rapid rate of change continues at this pace. If (when) the big boys splinter off, do it soon and allow the dust to start settling behind you. And on the bright side (going glass half full here), if our players are treated as employees then that would allow us to sign them to contracts and require buyouts, so at least we'd have the chance to get a return on players as well as coaches when we lose them. In that way, we could become more like a lower tier European soccer club and that makes sense to me because that's what we're more comparable to, the local pro team trying to work its way up and win its league/conference.
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What do you think the school could do at this point? The only forward-thinking move that could have been done had to have been done in 1979 and I honestly can't fault Landini (even though he admitted they didn't capitalize) because nobody in the late 70's had any clue that only the power conferences (and really only the Big Ten and SEC) would matter in 2024. Hell, almost a quarter of the teams in the NCAA tournament that year weren't even in a conference at that time.

At this point, I do agree with the potential solution. I first proposed a salary cap and revenue sharing model in 2020:

If the NCAA membership is fine with paying players, then lets just jump in with both feet and institute a salary cap for college football and basketball. Create a revenue sharing model (sort of like how they disperse NCAA tournament units) and give it to all Division 1 schools to let them sign players. Lets see how good blue bloods are when they don't have 10 4- and 5-star recruits because they opted to take a bigger payday at a smaller school.
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NCAA group to propose possible changes to allow athlete endorsements

https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/29109389/source-ncaa-group-propose-possible-changes-allow-athlete-endorsements Nope, don't like it one bit. First, it does not address program inequality. Sorry, a school like UNC that has rabid millionaire boosters will just form LLCs and...
sycamorepride.com sycamorepride.com

Unless they create a fair and equitable system, I'm honestly starting to warm to the idea of saying fuck March Madness as it stands and have everyone outside of the power conferences in their own ecosystem and shun the power conference schools entirely. Let them form their own Super League and keep their nonsense contained within. If I wanted to watch pro sports, I'd fucking watch pro sports.
 

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Jason Svoboda said:
Unless they create a fair and equitable system, I'm honestly starting to warm to the idea of saying fuck March Madness as it stands and have everyone outside of the power conferences in their own ecosystem and shun the power conference schools entirely. Let them form their own Super League and keep their nonsense contained within. If I wanted to watch pro sports, I'd fucking watch pro sports.
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It's already been an unfair and unequitable system and we've now reached the point where no one is even bothering to pretend it still is or should be. Forward thinking might be to do just what you've suggested. Form a separate tournament for the mid-majors and splinter off now. Get ahead of it and start building a new identity. Yes, it's the equivalent of the FCS playoffs but perhaps we can be competitive there, unlike in football.
 
bent20 said:
It's already been an unfair and unequitable system and we've now reached the point where no one is even bothering to pretend it still is or should be. Forward thinking might be to do just what you've suggested. Form a separate tournament for the mid-majors and splinter off now. Get ahead of it and start building a new identity. Yes, it's the equivalent of the FCS playoffs but perhaps we can be competitive there, unlike in football.
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The problem there is most schools are hanging onto the "we belong" dream so it's essentially a non-starter.
 
Jason Svoboda said:
The problem there is most schools are hanging onto the "we belong" dream so it's essentially a non-starter.
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If all non P6 conferences & teams banned together, they might be able to negotiate meaningful 'competitive' concessions. If NCAA or P6 called their bluff, then they could split and create their own. Either scenario would be progress, imo. However, I agree, "mid-majors" would not be in agreement about either approach.
 
RunSyc said:
If all non P6 conferences & teams banned together, they might be able to negotiate meaningful 'competitive' concessions. If NCAA or P6 called their bluff, then they could split and create their own. Either scenario would be progress, imo. However, I agree, "mid-majors" would not be in agreement about either approach.
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agree but that new "organization" will be awfully similiar to today's NAIA

big TV $$ will follow the big schools, aka P2 and some of the remaining P4 conferences
 
We've needed 1AA basketball for a while now. The biggest controversy would be where to draw the line. Personally I'd make the Power 4, Big East, Mountain West (or PAC 14), and the American 1A, and make everyone else 1AA.

Outside of Dayton and VCU the A10 is average. The MVC is average. The WCC is simply Gonzaga and St Mary's. No reason for any of those conferences to be 1A. The 4 schools mentioned would more than likely get poached by the MWC, AAC, or perhaps even the Big East in a split. Gonzaga is 100% getting an invite by the MWC or Big East in this scenario.

Splitting revenue sports (FB and MBB) makes sense, but I'd leave the non-revenue sports alone.
 

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Regardless of whether we are in a separate "tier" or "league" or whatever - Our best players and coaches will continue to be lured away... I really do believe that we are seeing the end of college basketball..... it's already happened to some extent in football.... and basketball has fewer players, so it will be felt even more. I think the NCAA Tourney will be dead (or at least unrecognizable) in a few years.
 
I have kind of avoided this discussion but I will chime in and say, like Jason college basketball is on the clock for me as well... I have tossed around in my own head over the last month that I'm going to give this thing 3 to 5 years and then make a decision on what I want to do. What I'm weighing:

1) Every time I get in the truck with my 2 year old he says "basketball game daddy"... With a 4 month old as well that doesn't know the difference yet I will probably continue to support whatever they are interested in! That will always be at the top of my list.

2) I've been saying for a long time on here and Twitter how fraudulent the NCAA is as an organization... I think they are basically powerless at this point. So I will just say until the NCAA/legislation/whoever decides to put some parameters in place around NIL caps and transfer limitations - then I am going to keep inching closer and closer toward walking away entirely. I'm as close today as I've ever been.

3) Our own NIL efforts... I'm very curious to see how far it can take us. Can we fund our NIL in the top half of the MoVal and can we continue to compete for conference championships year-after-year. I can probably find a way to live with the roster turnover if we can find a way to continue to be a program where good players want to come play to propel themselves to a higher level. I can live with it - if we can find a way to be successful year-over-year. But if we are going to just be pissing money away - with very little results to show for it I am going to abandon ship pretty quickly. It's a slippery slope for fans and donors.

And as for the discussion above about D1AA Basketball (as 96 suggested) or breaking away from the P5 entirely (as Jason suggested) - however you want to say it! I'm not here for that and I doubt that I will ever embrace the idea. I understand why ya'all would come to that conclusion - I'm not questioning the logic. I just don't think I can ever support college basketball if that is what it comes to. I think I can just tune it out entirely... I experimented with it during the NCAA Tournament this year for the first time in my life - I never watched one full NCAA Tournament game and I bet combined minutes I maybe watched enough for one full game (40 minutes) the entire tournament. If all of this NIL/Portal pressure eventually implodes college basketball as I have known it my entire life - I will walk away entirely.
 
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The breakaway wouldn't be P5. The discussion has been that there will be an 70 to 80-team "Super League" formed and there will be some relegation/promotion system for the bottom teams. But under that scenario, everything is being designed for those that have FBS college football. The folks with this idea are smart because they're throwing the G5 a bone so they can essentially buy their votes for it.

My hope is that the Big East, Gonzaga, etc. would lead a "You know what... fuck you" movement and work towards a new college basketball setup where we would ultimately be part of since they will be getting majorly fucked by those in the Super League. If they sit on their hands, they're going to be at the mercy of what football schools decide so they are on the clock themselves before they get ran over.

The bottom line, what I'd like to see is:

1) FBS Football League - Schools with FBS football can form some league with rules and fuck right off.

2) College Basketball League - A NCAA-like organization (NCBAA) is formed specifically for college basketball. How that would be structured internally, I don't know. IMO, you should take the money made by the NCAA Tournament and disburse that like you do tournament units. Based on what that organization brings in and distributes, you can have a salary cap just like other leagues.

3) The NCAA (or a new organization) retains all non-revenue sports and figures out a new paradigm for them moving forward so they don't all get wiped off the face of the Earth. Regardless of what all of these proponents say, non-revenue sports as we know them will likely be for the rich only and everyone else will pivot into club sports or just get cut completely. Especially since many of the non-revenue sport athletes are now trying to say they deserve equal treatment as revenue sport athletes. Talk about just a lack of awareness and common sense. It's akin to the guy walking the plank and sawing it off behind him.
 
When it comes to the NCAA Tournament I think they'll eventually copy the CFP format and only give automatic bids to something like the top 10 conference champions, and then turn the NIT into a mid major only tournament to make room for more power schools in the actual tournament. There's probably too many road blocks and complications to completely split D1 into two.
 
Sycamorefan96 said:
When it comes to the NCAA Tournament I think they'll eventually copy the CFP format and only give automatic bids to something like the top 10 conference champions, and then turn the NIT into a mid major only tournament to make room for more power schools in the actual tournament. There's probably too many road blocks and complications to completely split D1 into two.
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The results for the top 10 AQ's this past season using NET would have been:

1) UCONN - BIG EAST
2) AUBURN- SEC
3) IOWA ST- BIG 12
4) ILLINOIS- BIG TEN
5) ST MARYS- WCC
6) NEW MEXICO- MWC
7) DRAKE- MVC
8) GRAND CANYON- WAC
9) JAMES MADISON- SBC
10) MCNEESE ST- SLC
 

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Sycamorefan96 said:
The results for the top 10 AQ's this past season using NET would have been:

1) UCONN - BIG EAST
2) AUBURN- SEC
3) IOWA ST- BIG 12
4) ILLINOIS- BIG TEN
5) ST MARYS- WCC
6) NEW MEXICO- MWC
7) DRAKE- MVC
8) GRAND CANYON- WAC
9) JAMES MADISON- SBC
10) MCNEESE ST- SLC
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At what point in the season?
 
4Q_iu said:
At what point in the season?
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Whenever they released the NCAA Tournament bracket. The NCAA doesn't track NET after that point and no one else does either since it's a secret formula.

The other AQ's would get thrown into the NIT that didn't make the top 10 cut, assuming they didn't receive an at-large bid.
 
Difficult to predict what I would think of a 2 tiered system of basketball...Power 5 types and then everyone else. On one hand, conference championships and NCAA tournament bids are ultimate brass ring goals every year. However, a lot of folks who believed that an NIT bid was a non-starter were rooting like hell for STATE to win it all and saw value in thumping so many P5 schools along the way. Love STATE more than thay HATE the idea of not making the big dance. BUT, considering that the NCAA is currently trying to make the NIT verrrry P5 friendly, what would be the "prize" for non-power 5 schools? NCAA "junior" March Madness? Seems like an uphill battle for relevance for the MVC's of the world. And like SoS, my NIL dollars will continue to flow for now, but I can see getting a good ROI being a dicey proposition that will affect that flow.
If they can't figure a way to balance out the cash distribution to athletes so that it levels the playing field somewhat, and do something (2-3 year NIL deals, maybe???) to cut down on this multiple transfer bullshit, they're going to kill basketball for the many of us.
 
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