cgeldmacher

I am warming to the idea that we will have less competition for playing time among our guards, who I have more confidence in (Jimerson, Parker), and more competition for time among our bigs. Let the best of our bigs earn their playing time.

Not incorrect at all. Hadn't considered that angle. At certain schools (Kansas, Kentucky, Indiana, North Carolina, Duke) much more NIL money will go to basketball than at other schools. However, at other schools (Ohio State, Georgia, Alabama, Iowa, Oklahoma, Washington) the vast majority of the NIL money will probably go to football.

It's not just wealthy donors. We have wealthy alums as well. However, the big public schools may have 5 times as many graduates as a school SLU's size. For every alum of SLU that wants to donate $50 per month, like the guy above is doing at North Texas, a big public school has five of those guys.

Great post. You can label me as in that "camp" as well.

Love it

I'm hoping the logic holds true that a bunch of good players will still be looking for chairs at the end of this giant game of musical chairs and need to sign somewhere. And guess what we are.....somewhere.

The best news for Jordan is that he is signed to a team/cap space friendly contract, and the Suns only have room for those types of contracts right now. This means that he will be able to ride out his contract on a team that will be in contention for a title each of his remaining years. As far as earning his next contract, the Suns will, presumably, have big second half leads against bottom half teams. If they do, the coach will want to send in the grinder/defender types off the bench. He fits that mold. Hopefully, this is when he will be able to showcase his special skillset to the rest of the league.

Can we start some sort of a petition for the NBA to give St. Louis a preseason exhibition game between the Suns and the Celtics?

Walsh is a pure shooter. He will have high percentages in all categories. When my daughter was in 7th grade, Luke was in 6th grade and they both participated in this free throw shooting competition that the Knights of Columbus run throughout the State of Missouri. I think it is for kids in 5th through 8th grades. They start at their school, then go to a district competition, then a regional competition, and then to the State finals in Columbia. Both Luke and my daughter made it to State that year. They ask for volunteers to shag the balls for kids as they take their shots. I was randomly assigned to help the 6th grade boys, so myself and another dad ended up collecting the basketballs when Luke was shooting. They get three warm up tosses and then take 25 shots. When it was his turn, he made all three warm-ups and then made 24 out of 25 of his official shots. So, basically, he made 27 out of 28 shots as a 6th grader with the pressure of competition and a championship on the line.

They'll get much less money if they get relegated. This idea, while interesting, would result in much more money being forced toward football than before. Right now, Vanderbilt probably puts a decent amout of money into its very successful baseball program. However, if giving baseball money that could be going to football might get them relegated, their baseball program will suffer and football will be elevated even more above the already too high pedestal it is on.

I was always told that it was a time saver. The ref could signal the call from across the court to the scorers table and this allowed the game to continue much more quickly. Now, refs will have to be practically leaning over the scorers table every time they call a foul. I suppose that the NCAA isn't as concerned about keeping the game flowing as it used to be.

Yes, Vanderbilt baseball has been champions of the SEC 10 times. Should they be relegated just because their football team sucks?

Can anyone give a breakdown?

Looks like Ole Miss according to Stu Durando

Sorry, that's just not the way it works. Every college basketball team plays their stars in the exhibition games to get them ready for the season. That's the purpose of those games. We don't need to get the bench players ready for the season, we need to get the starters ready for the season. If college teams should sit their starters in exhibition games, then why have them.

Two St. Louis kids at the same workout.

Agree. I just don't think they are going out of their way, like every other D1 school, to recruit and push for victories. They recruit leaders for the military first. If those chosen few happen to be athletes that help their sports teams, that is very much secondary.

Chris Heinrich - I know he wasn't a star at the end, but he was looking like an uncoordinated, dud of a big when he arrived, and then finished his career with a spectacular performance against Kentucky in the tournament.

They don't want to have high level D1 athletics. They just want to train the next generation of heros to defend our country. West Point, the Naval Academy, and the Air Force Academy have sports just to liven the mood. Not a person at those institutions is worried about producing high level teams.

I have had that same thought and wonder what it means overall for our program. Ford is very close with his players (invites them to his house, pushes the concept of Team Blue). This, I believe, has resulted in very few defections to the portal from our core players (Jimerson returning this year, Yuri returning last year, Perkins coming back, etc.). However, the other side of the coin of being uber close with your players is that he is also extra loyal to guys who stick with the program. Loyalty is, in general, a good attribute, but sometimes fans wish he wasn't so loyal. It is definitely a trade off.

I guarantee, you were happy when he announced he was returning. To now throw the coaches under the bus for somehow ruining his pro career is very disingenuous. He had no shot at a pro career after his injury. Returning gave him a shot. That didn't pan out. So, he's back in the same place he was before deciding to come back. The coaches convincing him to return for a 5th season did not change anything.

Based on what? Again, I admit, I am basing my conclusion on the chart that was posted showing that a top 50 NIL player would garner about $250,000. You could get two of those guys for 500K and then have no one else on your team, because they all transfer because your aren't paying them anything. My statements are based on the twitter post above. Regardless, it doesn't matter what then numbers are. If you say 500K should by an A10 championship team every year, that's just not true if we cannot get guys to come here because Power 5 schools all have a million to spend. It's all relative to what they other guys have.

Again, I heard it somewhere. It might have been the golf tournament. Also, based on the numbers shown in the text about how players are costing under NIL, $500k would not build you much of a team. This is probably because power conference teams have much more to spend.

Didn't someone say that the BVF was anticipating having $450,000 to spread around. If that is the case, these numbers explain the downfall of the A-10 and, sadly, SLU. If it costs $50,000 to get a top 100-150 transfer, how does SLU make a competitive team on that? Also, how do we keep good players based on those numbers? Where would GJ have fallen on that list? Would he have been a top 50 transfer? Maybe. That means it may have cost us $250,000 to keep him. These numbers don't bode well for us.

The idea that he should come back one more year to (try to) improve draft stock was not incorrect. Do you think it was? Do you think he was going to be drafted into the NBA if he did not come back? The concept was correct. He just didn't excute. If he didn't execute because of his injury, that's just what it was, but don't blame the coaches for somehow ruining his pro career.