As long as the dance keeps its bid format, someone from every conference will have a seat. NIL and the transfer portal aren't taking that away. What it is taking away is the investment in getting excited about having good players and having a core group grow into something special in the years to come. I think the sport loses something when it's so easy for Mark Sears to leave. Or in this landscape, would a Mike Laster still tough out the end of the rotation and work to start by his senior year. Would he be given the chance to?
A decade ago, it looked clear that Ohio, Toledo, Akron, and Buffalo were making
significantly more financial commitment towards men's basketball than anyone else in the MAC. Is that still the case when you factor in NIL? I honestly don't know aside from Buffalo struck out on so many coaching candidates largely because they didn't have any NIL infrastructure in place.
I think the days of AJ Clayton are behind us. (Even he I believe will be wearing a different jersey by 2025)
The first thing I thought of after Hadaway's double-double was UGA is awful, and they have no size.
He's from Lafayette, GA. 100 miles outside Atlanta. Georgia Tech is 14th in the ACC. They have 12 wins. They could use a nice young PF to come in and run a bit.
He's from 3 hours outside of Tuscaloosa, who's to say Oats isn't about to poach another one of our guys? He's from 129 miles outside of Knoxville. They've had a ton of success this season with transfers.
It's one of the reasons I've been so critical for "striking out" on DJ Burns and Ziggy Reid. I don't think we have the luxury of redshirting players anymore. We have to have a better mix, we have to bring in the talent, period. We dont have the luxury of bringing in a kid who is maybe a year behind and hoping in 2-3 years he'll be good enough to play MAC basketball. We have to take a "chance" on some 5th year guys and hope your staff is strong enough to maintain a culture.
Last Edited: 2/26/2024 10:05:48 AM by M.D.W.S.T