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40 minutes at the center and he couldn’t sell one immediately eligible transfer on it. That’s not an NIL issue

Interesting stat from Max Sports, guess who is leading the state of Illinois in made 3pters among girls basketball players? SLU committed recruit MIA Bergstrom from St Viator in Arlington Heights, IL with 101. Next highest is someone with 79.

I beg to differ. We are "beat Dartmouth by one at home" bad, so anything's possible.

1. take off all shackles for going straight to the pro's. if a 16 year old kid thinks he can be a new york knick and the knicks want him and will pay him big bucks, let it happen. 2. create a sensible living wage and expense template for all college athletes in all sports. enough to live and have a few bucks for a pizza and a movie on weekends and gas money for the used car the school has let the athlete have for a reasonable lease amount. 3. reenact all academic requirements both coming into the school and staying in the school that would get the student athlete graduated with a real degree in 5 years max. those athletes that think they are coming to college just to play their sport will be "encouraged" to go play their sport in the professional ranks. they are not students. 4. the majority of the ncaa police work should be focused on academics and the student athlete getting their degrees. major major penalties for any program looking to pay above the scale and giving undeserved bonus gifts of any kind. again, if the athlete is that good, he or she should just leave school and go to the pros. results, the big time athletes that deserve big money and amenities can get such in the pros and the ncaa can not be accused of holding them hostage. the pros can develop their own minor leagues. the student athletes that most of us really care about, are resurrected and college athletics returns to the real world where we can enjoy young men and women competing for the love of competition and loyalty to their school. the student althletes are able to live in relative comfort without struggling. the majority will likely stay where they are rather than play free agent every year since the pay scale will be the same for everyone at all schools. those that do enter the portal are transferring for reasons other than financial windfalls. boosters will be more eager to participate financially to support schools total athletic department as the dollars make sense for all concerned and give the programs a chance to develop and maintain players for the right reasons and no school has an advantage financially. the real key is developing and focusing on college is for students first and athletics second. sure their will be less talent overall, but the real reason people watch any sport is for competition. and if all the programs are participating under the above, even though inhuman athletes will be rare, student athletes of great character will emerge and imo the finished "product" will be a lot more enjoyable to follow. there send it to washington to finish the details.

I keep thinking this thread has such a Christopher Nolan ring to it…like our future selves going back in time trying not to allow the Ford hire to happen.

This isn't football. All you need is 2 players to totally overhaul a basketball defense. You put a strong post defender and an experienced ball hawk at point guard on this team and most of our defensive problems go away. The issue is why wasn't this done in the offseason? You don't need a ton of NIL money to get those players. You need a ton of NIL money to get extra-talented players to cover up the coach's lack of an offensive and defensive philosophy. The player Travis Ford was a basketball thinker on the court. Why does the coach Travis Ford construct a roster that he has to do all the thinking for?

Passing a rule to pay the athletes a $500 month stipend seems like common sense today. It was only fair since they were not allowed to have summer jobs and college sports has grown into a multi-billion dollar enterprise. But the institutions involved, both the NCAA and its member schools, were too greedy. And too short-sighted. The folks who could have addressed the issue 20 years ago are retired or gone today.

For twenty years all we heard people say is "We should just pay the players." And now we are here. Great job geniuses. You are about to completely ruin college football and basketball. I've never been more ready for college baseball and soccer season. Two weeks from tomorrow I will be watching the Bills play in Port Charlotte. No worrying about NIL money there. Hell we don't even have grass on our outfield.

Good recap Obligatory bump This guy buyouts Incredible. Dart after dart Of course the AD/PR side was a mess Among many who were pretty dang spot-on. (He did not) The capitulating stretch of posts 4-XX months later are hilarious. Probably started right when he landed Goodwin. We were star-struck It is kind of impressive how universally panned the hiring was both on the the board and nationally Garland was injured and Vandy lost their last 20 games that season (0-18 SEC) before Drew was fired. Was def in the Drew camp at the time (with most?) He went to Vandy about a week after the Ford news

Fire May. Fire Ford.

General Outlook...."Juan" is taking a siesta. For the 1st time this season the A10 is showing the possibility of having 2 bids...Day ...4th seed in the Dance...Rich ...50% chance to Dance ...St. B...NIT...58%. Meanwhile, back in the pen, we are preparing for another battle of the PIGs. If we want to climb out of the sty we need to win this game. Let's take a look at the game Game Preview.... As you can see by the headline, the computer thinks we can win this game. Why? Hasn't the computer been watching? Yes, that's why it thinks we can win. We are the better team on offense. We are better shooters ...we should sweep the slash line. And while we are terrible on D, they are only a hair better. Rose, Gray and Rivera are their main guys...Rose from the arc and the other 2 on the inside. Tsimbila is a big shot blocker. Don't dribble into him and get swatted away. Finally, Fham is a team that turns the ball over(D- ). Turn them over. Let's take a look at this game's report card.... Report Card.... The card is negative....none up and 4 down(3 Off and 1 Def)...... .................SLU............Fham................SLU...................Fham ...........................OFF..........................................DEF............. PPG..........D+..................C....................F+.........................D+ FG%..........D....................F+...................D-.........................C 3P%...........B...................D.....................D............................D+ FT%..........B-...................F..................................................... Reb...........D.....................B-..................D.............................B- OFF Rebs = total rebs...DEF Rebs = opp reb UP...............Off....none...FT%....Def....none Down.........Off....FG%...3P%...FT%......Def....3P% Top 100 In The Nation SLU Min /gm...Jimerson ...38th...up Fham Stls...Rose...72nd Blks...Tsimbila...13th Injury /Illness report and misc The Bills....None Fham....None Keys to the Game.......We need to beat them in TOs...and we need to beat them in shooting --in all categories. Their 3P D is not very good ...hopefully, we can hit from the arc. They can't shoot --UNLESS we leave them wide open....this includes points off TOs too. WWN2D2W...Target slash-- beat them in all 3 categories of the slash....Hold Fham to 70 pts....Win the TO battle....Hold their top 3 to under 30 pts...Hold Tsimbila to 1 blk. Bottom line....Fham can't beat us...We either win the game or we give them the game. Let's not be sheepish...let's bring it to them.

https://www.espn.com/video/clip/_/id/39434025 Great take imo.

The NIL funds or lack thereof is silly to me. The guy just cant coach to make up for lack of talent whenever there is, and struck out or got bad players in the portal. So many A10 teams got "cheaper" players who are having great seasons. The media calls for "Need more money" but its just a cop out that absolutely any coach no matter the program can technically use. Coach Cal has probably said they need more.

Ford can be a poor coach and our NIL can be lacking making the situation worse - both things can be true. I'm not as worried about the first thing, as it will play itself out; improving the second part is much important to the future of the program.

I actually do have some doubts on how good our NIL program really is but Frank is just propping Ford for his next job.

If Frank is crying about that on the radio, you can assume Ford is too, considering how close they are. It’s just an approach of trying to save his job through excuses.

man I miss him

Just listening to Frank on 590 now and he is going on and on about how Ford needs NIL $$$. 100% true, the new coach will too! What I want to know is who is blackmailing Frank? May or Ford or both? I’m sorry this year isn’t an excuse, NIL didn’t just sneak up on the program. Crews didn’t have NIL and Ford didn’t have to deal with it until recently. I don’t blame big donors not giving Ford money after last year, May hyped up that team as the greatest Billikens team ever, we know how that ended. IF big donors don’t agree with NIL ok, doesn’t change reality if you want to win. Maybe May should focus on raising money, finding new donors instead of asking same big guys all the time? Have the balls to say hey we need to win, this is what it’ll take and do something. He won’t, guy is biggest wiener in town. Both need to go and Frank has turned into a puppet for Travis and May, what a hill to die on defending! It’s becoming comical all the excuses.

This makes sense to me.

College sports can't survive full professionalization. That makes them a minor league and there won't be the money there once the public starts viewing them as a minor leagues. They won't be able to even afford the upkeep on their facilities much less pay players real money if that happens. The fact the athletes and most administrators don't seem to understand this is amazing.

I don't think Saban retiring had anything to do with NIL. Saban is 72, his wife wanted to move to Florida and he got sick of having to replace coordinators yearly. Hell, it now appears players were giving Alabama a pretty big discount on NIL because they wanted to play for Saban. NIL really didn't change anything for Saban.

And Jay Wright.

Same with Nick Sabin retiring. I'm sure he's not a fan of (the presently-constructed) NIL.

Congress will never come up with a plan to fix it on their own. There needs to be a coherent plan that fixes things presented to them. Exactly what is that plan that the NCAA is going to tell Congress to pass to fix it? I’ve yet to see anything presented as a possible fix that seems like a coherent plan that could then be lobbied to Congress. Ultimately the professional leagues need to set up their own development system for players outside of colleges. Maybe it looks like baseball, where the minor leagues offer a way for a player to develop paid for by the professional clubs. Maybe it looks like the transfer market system that developed in Europe for soccer players, where a separate club develops a player, and makes their money on transfer fees if they successfully present a good prospect for the pro leagues. Ultimately, only a very small percentage of all high school age players are good enough to play a sport professionally. The problem with what is going on now is that the colleges are paying every player as if they all are good enough to play professionally, without getting the revenue from that sport to support it and depending on donors to pick up the tab. The colleges need to pay only what they generate in revenue from that sport to support it long term. If a professional development system is in place, then colleges could just get the players that the system decided weren’t good enough to play professionally and give them the choice of playing for them in return for a college degree, even if that player participated in the professional development system and got money for it. I imagine the offer of a free college education (with the possibility that if they play good enough in college the pros might still take them) will look a lot more attractive to someone who tried the pro development route and got told they weren’t good enough to play in the pros. As for the colleges, you don’t care how any student not in athletics got the money to go to your school, so why do you care if they made some money playing a sport before they get to your school? There would still be a need to pay players, but you could do it on a more rational basis (with the help of Congress) such as taking the revenue derived from that sport (ticket sales, tv revenue, video games, etc) and dividing up equally among the athletes in that sport. Note it’s on a per sport basis you do this, so if a school can draw 10,000 fans to every women’s field hockey game, the field hockey players get a cut of that money. Donors could still donate under this system, but they decide what sport to put their money into in addition to what school, the money goes into the general revenue derived from that sport, and a percentage (half of total revenue? Exact number would probably be set by Congress) of that revenue goes to the athletes, the rest supports the costs of that sport. Anyone that wants to use an athlete’s Name, Image and Likeness for any commercial venture is free to set up a deal with that athlete individually. Note this should still satisfy Title IX by giving access and opportunity to play to female athletes, but in terms of making money, the money they make is dependent on how popular that sport is (in other words you are granting equality of opportunity, but not guaranteeing equality of outcome). There are some sports (like Cross Country, Track and Field, Tennis) in which you could even lump the men and women together and divide the money made from it evenly. I doubt you are going to get thousands of paying customers to come out for a cross country meet, but if you do, the athletes in that sport benefit. There would have to be rules set up to define all sources of revenue for the sport. As far as transfers, if someone wants to transfer, let them, but the school that gets the athlete owes a transfer fee to the school that loses the athlete (divide it up equally between school and athlete). Donors could cover the transfer fee. The fee would be set by the legislation, maybe based on revenue. What makes this work is that the scholarship offer isn’t a 1 year offer, it’s a 4 year commitment by the school to the player. If the school judged wrong and got a guy who’s not very good, tough, you still owe him the scholarship as long as he’s performing academically. Just my thoughts. I’m not sure anything saves college sports as we know it, but it should be possible to salvage what we can and end up with something that everyone can live with. It may be a long shot at this point.

Congress couldn't fix a leaking toilet. Why do you think they could fix this?

I can't take SLU in any game. Odds are they run us off the court.

Who knows. IMO i think collegiate athletics as we know it is at risk of total collapse. I think eventually you are right that a few big football schools will just have professional football teams that they pay a salary to(and they can afford since people don't want to give it up for at least 1-2 more generations) .. eventually all of this stuff is going down the drain IMO.

If i held my breath waiting for this congress to do something i'd be dead. so don't worry, i won't.

Congress could pass a law regulating all of this. Don’t hold your breath.

Fordham is a horrendous, no good, very bad team. I tend to agree with Wiz, but i think the computer is not weighting enough bad Billiken basketball.. Soderball says "EVEN!" .. 3pt% over/under is 40%. At home this bunch is able to do that.

Things are bad but they aren't "lose to Fordham at home" bad.

I am continually amazed at how unsophisticated most college coaches are compared to the pros. We saw very little of hack French especially if they had fouls to give. Very few coaches take advantage of 2 for 1 situations. Overall time management.

The BC head football coach just quit and took a job as a coordinator with the Packers. He cited the NIL and the portal as reasons. College ball he said has become less about coaching and teaching than fund raising, searching the portal, and trying to keep his players out of the portal. And I’m pretty sure Harbaugh left college ball for the NFL for the same reasons. The whole college sports world has been tossed on its ear and the worst is yet to come when the greedy P5/6 decides to dump the NCAA as their ruling authority.

Hard pass.

So when do the Jesuits get together to make this happen? Could be an interesting charity event.

Great and he wants to coach SLU? C’mon, if he wants out he’ll have have his pick of open P5/6 jobs in March who will be kicking down his doors waving fistfuls of cash in his face.

I have also been frustrated by the lack of information about Williford's final prep season. He attends Middlebrooks Academy - a charter school named after its founder and head coach. The address of the school per the California Department of Education is a one-story home in Alhambra. The mailing address is a mail center between a dog groomer and sushi restaurant in a strip mall in Studio City. Middlebrooks' website lists Cathedral High School under the facilities, but I can't figure out if Middlebrooks students actually use the physical classrooms at Cathedral, or whether they attend classes with Cathedral students, or if they just use the gym and weight room in off hours. A lot of schools like this just use online classes. Cathedral is located just across the 110 from Dodger Stadium, just north of downtown Los Angeles. Middlebrooks does not update its social media accounts often. The schedule on the website has not been updated since after their win on 9/30, the first game of the season. If the schedule is correct, they just had "Post-Grad Nationals" this past weekend. From what I can find on Twitter, this is not a tournament but a weekend showcase event. Middlebrooks played Ascending Life (AZ) on Saturday and Grand Canyon Club (AZ) on Sunday. Middlebrooks competes in the PEC-6 Conference, which was "established in 2013 to create a credible, NCAA-compliant governing body on the West Coast for post-grad basketball programs". The PEC-6 has its playoffs on March 16-17. Per Middlebrooks' website, they have PEC-6 games at Cathedral this weekend. Per the PEC-6 website, they don't have conference games again until February 16-18. Williford also doesn't post often, but he will repost SLU-related things in his Instagram stories. He has a current one, so it seems like he's still engaged with the program. If you can't tell, I'm mildly annoyed that so many players have shifted toward the "prep" schools from traditional high schools. These range from perfectly legitimate institutions that in some cases offer a fifth year to Bishop Sycamore-type "schools". It's really hard to say what's what, and information is often hard to come by.

Man, I was dead wrong. I expected multiple NCAA Tournament appearances. (And stronger recruiting.) (I was a lot meaner back in 2016, geez.)

Next Friday - SLU Baseball 1st Pitch Dinner w/ STL Cardinals Manager Oli Marmol as guest speaker.

My newest add to the collection is your MLS Champion keeper!