The conference is taking a real hit. I wonder if NIL is influencing any of this, especially at Belmont. Their NIL situation could be worse than Valpo’s, if that’s possible.
The silence near our portal entrance- exit point is deafening. In general I'm viewing this as a very good thing. I hate having players come and then go before I can even recognize their faces or numbers or properly spell their names. Even if Roger Powell could produce a winner with an annual complete roster turnover, I WOULDN'T COME OUT TO WATCH THEM. Call me old fashioned but I want to watch players develop!
The conference is taking a real hit. I wonder if NIL is influencing any of this, especially at Belmont. Their NIL situation could be worse than Valpo’s, if that’s possible.
The only program I see as being in a comfortable NIL situation is shockingly ISU. They just got sponsored by Pat McAfee
Wardle endorses his best shooter as the player transfers. Along with Hickman's comments, the two appear to be merely acknowledging the sad reality that mid-major teams are now just the minor leagues to be used as stepping stones to the larger conferences.
It's official:
Maybe the quality of the league will continue to decline to where we become competitive some day with our limited resources, facility, standing, and reputation. It gives me more hope than the prospects of Roger, abandoned by the AD who brought him here only one yer ago, turning water into wine.
The shake-up in the league this year, especially if the Indiana State team predictably disbands after it finishes the NIT, reminds me of an old Etch-A-Sketch game: simply shake to erase and start over again with a blank screen.
Succeeding because others are failing is an unreliable route for advancement. Mid-major basketball as we have known and loved it seems to be collapsing all around us. I fully expect that mid major basketball fan attendance numbers will continue to steeply decline as the reality of player free agency quickly sinks in.Maybe the quality of the league will continue to decline to where we become competitive some day with our limited resources, facility, standing, and reputation. It gives me more hope than the prospects of Roger, abandoned by the AD who brought him here only one yer ago, turning water into wine.
Just saw that Jalen Blackmon from Stetson entered portal. Averaged 21 pts/game and 38% FT brother of VU athletic assisstant performance coach Vijay Blackmon. Wonder if there will be a connection there. Jalen spent his first year GCU and has 2 years remaining i believe
The problem is that decisions regarding transfer rules, realignment, and NIL are not being made with all of college sports in mind. They are being made with CFB in mind and only in mind. Heck, the highest paid public official in some states is the football coach! NCAA tries to regulate, but they just keep getting sued and loosing. They lost control of football, had to rescind transfer rues, and even opened NIL as a result of lawsuits.
The shake-up in the league this year, especially if the Indiana State team predictably disbands after it finishes the NIT, reminds me of an old Etch-A-Sketch game: simply shake to erase and start over again with a blank screen.
If Indiana State disbands, all but one (Deen) of the conference's top-15 players from the three All-MVC teams will be gone.
https://twitter.com/MarchArchPod/status/1773004667250671773
@rs1207 Jalen Blackmon is a very interesting one, especially with his year at Grand Canyon coinciding with Vijay Blackmon’s year as strength coach intern for Bryce Drew. Plus he’s from Indiana. Is it likely that he’ll have Valpo at the top of his list since he’s sure to get plenty of interest from bigger schools? Maybe not, but it’s worth a try to see if he’d want to run it back with his brother one more time. #10 scorer in the country this year.
And Northern Iowa strikes first.
It's time for the mid-majors to create, officially or unofficially, the equivalent of the college football FCS, and to use one of the current also-ran tourneys as the primary mid-major post-season platform.
