Taj79

As to Abomb -=--- no issue with getting paid for Name, Image and Likeness. Big issue with pay for play/enrollment.

which adds to my point.

@Lord Elrond: Agreed however this sounds a lot like drafting the next franchise QB. You know l... guys like Wilson, Darnold, Mayfield, Wentz, Goff, Mariota and many others.

NIL Deals: How Much Are Top NCAA Tournament Players Earning? (basketballinsiders.com) @JMM28: The link above will take you to the top 10 NIL makers in the 2023 March Madness. Interesting that none of them made the Final Four. None. So someone is tabulating lists like these because there is huge interest in who is getting what around the country. And I've seen other lists that rank all NIL deals --- like the Cavinder twins at Miami. Am I being nosy? Well, yeah. Seems like a simple question and folks like me are nothing if not mildly curious. There is enough information out there on pro players as well. What is Sprite paying LeBron James? Subway and Steph Curry? Chris Paul and State Farm? You can find it if you want. Me? I don't really care in that regard. But college guys I do. My major interest remains who at SLU gets what. What will I do with it. Nothing but satisfy an itch. Next year, I will probably walk up to Troy Robertson and ask him the same question only on next year's squad. He may tellme that is private information and I'll respect that but inquiring minds will always want to know. We all seem to know what Ford makes. Coaches are paid to coach and win. If players are paid to win, came such questions be expected? I think so.

@JMM28: What does what I make a year have to do with things? I could tell you that in married filing jointly the $$$ are in the six figures with both my wife and I retired. But I don't know what that means in terms of your statement. Care to expand upon that? @TheA_Bomb: Are you advocating $30k unilaterally? So $30k for Perkins, ditto Pickett, ditto Collins, ditto Cisse, Thames, etc. Over and above tuition, room, board, degree, etc. Every parent in America that births a child should push their kids to these heights ... especially with college costs soaring out of control. I am glad my dealing with that part of life is over. We got away relatively cheap.

@billiken_roy I respectfully disagree. There is no guarantee --- just look at Armando Bacot as a prime example. Essentially, you are gambling with no guaranteed return on investment(s).

It obviously worked for Miami. Did it work for North Carolina? How about Ohio State? Michigan? For every instance, there will be an example that validates the narrative. Tremaine endorsing the model should come as no surprise ---- I'd endorse it too if I was lucky enough to be in a position to clear some big cash as a college player. Who wouldn't? I have long asked the question how you would parse out some amount of money across the recent SLU roster. What would you pay and to whom? All you hear about are these six figure payouts to guys. I doubt that is th enorm but it does set an unrealistic bar (in my book) that can't be met annually. I still would love to see an accouting of what schools are paying who. Much like there are ways to find out what a coach is making, there should be a reciprocal listing coming out soon enough that shows that. Maybe some of these NIL collectives are shielded from that by the law and privacy rules but eventually it will be known. Folks throwing out numbers are just speculating. No one really knows and you can't level a playing field if you don't know.

Couldn't win with Oduro and Fernandez at Mason. How will it play out in the Big East?

@Bilzz --- okay. Not the way I read it however.

@Bilzz--- Hunter is at Central Arkansas; McKnight is Western Kentucky. If you've got those schools as P6's, you'd might want to relook your classifications. I see this as quite typical now .... kids at lower levels advancing up a notch or two. Going the other way seems a rarity.

Cisse looks alot like Traore to me.

The weave is an offensive strategy, PROVIDING it is used to attack the basket. Anybody remember the four corners? Phil Ford for UNC dribbling inthe middle of the floor with his four teammates all standing off in separate corners of the front court? This was before the advent of the shot clock. Ford could beat just about anybody off the dribble (think Jordair Jett) and finish at teh rim. If another defender came to hlkp, the corner man woudl cut to the basket for a layup. This was the attacking part of the four corners. Sure, it could also be used to stall and run out the clock but the key to any offense is attacking the basket. Our weave essentially occurs 25 feet from the basket, leads to a dump off to the big at the foul line, and eventually returns the ball to Yuri at the top of the key. And he doesn't shoot! You can run a series of variations where this guy cuts or goes back door or something to make the weave an offensive weapon. If you think we did that, you watched many different games than I did. Collins to Perkins to Jimerson to Colins to Okoro and back to Collins. Even the defense stood in a picket line across the foul line and waited for the nonsense to stop.

Not knocking the information but if I'm any of these three Big East schools, why am I giving up rivalries with Marquette, Xavier, Butler and each other to move on to matchups with Texas Tech, Kansas State and TCU? I guess it's all about money but I for one don't see it. Of course, I felt the same way about West Virginia, who, many many moons ago, was in the A10.

While there are trends within conferences, I think the A10 is on an identified downward trajectory. If you believe, as some on here do, that it is the intent of the Power 5 +1 to monopolize as many at-large bids as possible, thereby NOT sharing the wealth, then the A10 is doing it's very best to help in that mission. As Lord notes, the A10 has gone from three bids as late as 2018, to 2 bids from 2019 to 2022, to one bid this year. And a lot of that is due to poor teams in the A10. This situation has been pushed along by the recent decisions to allow transfers immediate eligibility and the advent of the NIL situation. None of these situations favor any A10 teams going forward. In the case of the transfer portal, A10 teams, one tier below the Power 5+1, now can serve as the de facto minor leagues for the big boys. If I'm RJ Luis, or Maximus Edwards, or any other All A10 freshman, what's my incentive to stay at an A10 school? Conversely, what's my incentive to go? Tre Mitchell. Rhodey's Mitchell twins and Jacob Toppin. Fordham's Nick Honor and Joel Soriano. Bona's Iron Five. All hit the highway upwards to Texas, West Virginia, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mizzou, St. John's, Iowa State and Florida. I'd say 'get used to it.' On the flip side, who is coming to the A10? Minor big school players like Khalid Moore, Wildens Levesque, Javon Pickett, Josh Nickleberry. Or lower level guys like the Drame twins, Darryl Banks, Kyrell Luc, Connor Crabtree, Conner Kochera, Jason Roche and Chad Venning. Can that work as a sustainable model? It did one year for Mizzou so who's to say no. But even if they do come in, it will take at least a year to get them to jell into a decent team for the most part (just look at Bonavenure). So the race in the A10 becomes 15 teams fighting for the Juan Bid autobid every year in Brooklyn. The A10 has inadvertently done yeoman's work in playing right into the Power 5+1 hands. Sure, some guys can and will come home. Moore is a prime example. Ditto Pickett. Levesque followed his coach. No one followed Archie Miller to Rhodey. I can't wait to see what the p[ortal brings across the A10 next year. Especially for Saint Louis University. Then there is NIL. I still have my doubts about us being able to do it but I have no doubt La Salle, Fordham, St. Joes and our other A10 bretheran cannot do what Ohio State, Tennessee, Kentucky and North Carolina are doing on that front. So that drum will be banged slowly as well. To add insult to injury, the Power 5+1 are in such a state that they won't play any mid-major teams anywhere except in exempt and neutral situations. The opportunity to play and then beat these teams become far and fewer between. How does one enhance their schedule and thereby advance their NETs or SOSs and move into consideration for Madness at-large bids (only to be dashed by those holding the power)? A school can do only what it can do --- get a state-of-the-art arena, a Champions Center, post 20 wins and so on. Where has that been done? And has it helped any? The A10 appears to be a dead end right now ---- and advancing more that way then the other way. And we are sturck.

Thanks a lot Arizona!