Please don't tell me Ohio can't ever do this.
I will always believe.

Florida Atlantic University men's basketball budget: $2,037,036
Ohio University men's basketball budget: $2,448,308

FAU's arena has a capacity of 2,900. Almost every arena in the MAC is at least double that size, some are even 3 to 4 times bigger. Just another example of how you don't need a massive arena to be big-time team/program.

In this day and age, its not as much about the money and facilities as it is the players not bailing on a program and hitting the portal, once they get good.

Think about where we could have been, if the talent that left, stayed here.

You have to get lucky, in a sense and find players in the portal and have all players peak/gel for one year cause one year may be all you get with the transfer portal. I'm sure FAU will deal with it shortly too.

You’re right. I would have thought with the portal and NIL the strong get stronger. The familiar names are not around in this year’s tournament.

Awfully testy, dude.

A few things:

1. I'm just not as convinced as some others that the sky has fallen and the divide has deepened. At the very least, I want to wait for more data before freaking out. So far, the data I have seen suggests it might not be as bad as it's perceived. FAU is an interesting data point, in my view. They're a mid-major that has been able to make the Final Four. Given everybody saying that the "divide has deepened", it's worth noting, no?

2. St. Peter's coach left for Seton Hall. A lot of players transferred. But first the coach left for a better opportunity. Was it the NIL that led to those transfers, or was it the coach bailing? Do you think Bryant, St. Bonaventure, LaSalle and Seton Hall are flush with NIL cash? Because that's where the transfers ended up.

3. Pre-NIL, Florida Gulf Coast went on a deep run. What happened to them in the coming years under the old system? 2006 George Mason? Ohio after our Sweet 16 run? Kent State after their Elite 8 run? How many Cinderella teams sustained their success in the old system?

4. My agenda has nothing to do with "growing the split between Power 5 resources" -- I just want talented people to not be restricted from earning money based on their talents. That's my agenda. If you want to compare the moral merits of your agenda and mine, happy to.

5. I support expanding the tourny. Don't know what you're talking about there.

6. In the year where everybody is lamenting the end of parity in college basketball, the Elite 8 includes FAU, Creighton, UConn (who was left out of every conference they desperately tried to join), Miami, Kansas State, Gonzaga, and San Diego State. Which of those would you describe as a power? What do their NIL deals look like and how did they benefit from the transfer portal?

7. FAUs best players are all sophomores. You think they weren't good last year and nobody in college basketball knew they were talented? Is it really so crazy to suggest that not every talented mid major basketball player is going to jump to the P5 immediately after a decent freshman year? Who has entered the portal from Ohio this year? Maybe it's not as bad as you're absolutely sure it is.

If you're going to point to George Mason, Ohio, and Kent State, I'm going to point to Butler, Creighton, Wichita State, and VCU. Some can sustain, others don't.

My biggest gripe is that I think we've seen the end of legendary players at mid major schools. Guys that begin and complete their eligibility at one school. Some mid major schools are going to hit home runs in the transfer portal (FAU has guys from Texas Tech, Minnesota, and UConn), but I think there's something missing to the sport for schools like us when the guys who have the potential to be all time greats up and leave. Have we seen the last Tony Campbell? The last Brandon Hunter? Have we seen the last DJ Cooper? If the Georgetown win happens in 2023, does he leave for Tennessee or Baylor after their coaches slip into the DMs? I feel bad for Ball State who has turned a corner with this new coach only for Payton Sparks to bolt. He apparently wants to play at a higher level, even though he didn't exactly dominate the MAC. He appears to be choosing to be another guy at a P5 instead of THE guy at an up and comer.

All of Butler, Creighton, Wichita State, and VCU ended up switching conferences as part of the reshuffle. All ended up moving up into multi-bid leagues, which makes it much easier to sustain success.

And they all re-invested their newfound money/notoriety back into their basketball programs because none of them play FBS football.

No MAC school will ever make a permanent or substantial leap in basketball until they magically quadruple their revenue and budgets or drop down in football.

It's that simple.

Gonzaga, Butler, Creighton, Wichita St, VCU, Dayton, Loyola. The list goes on.

It's also why FAU will be a 1-hit wonder.

Speaking of football Ohio is playing FAU and SDSU in the non-conference next season both of whom the Bobcats defeated last time on the gridiron.

Without The Convo to draw them in and a 3,000 seat arena instead I doubt OU would have made the tournament more than once in the past 40 seasons. Facilities for a place like Ohio is important because its all they really have.

I’m not sure a 13,000 seat arena that is normally more than 60% empty doesn’t seem like it would be a big draw to a player.

Actually, my remembrance of Grover Center's capacity was a little on the low side:

 

WKU and Middle Tennessee didn’t blow the MAC off, the conference just decided against expansion. The speculation was the current ESPN deal the MAC has; wouldn’t grow with the additional new teams. The same revenue from it would have been divided 14 ways instead of 12.

https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/32600959/m...