Compton

That's a farce. MAYBE they got half that.

Solid start for SLU as well.

Along those lines, any Big East self-congratulation about geographic considerations is brought into question by Providence-to-Omaha.

Could have been four if Willie Reed had just signed that ill-fated contract.

Dalger getting minutes?

Makes sense to me that the NCAA would want to scrutinize van Bussel and Magassa's eligibility as they both played semi-pro ball. So, NIL aside, it'd make sense that there'd be some scrutiny of the nature of their prior affiliations.

Whether it lasts beyond having players that were recruited pre-NIL is tbd. Gonzaga will have a rude awakening this year with Timme and Strawther gone. Creighton will when Kalkbrenner and Scheierman graduate. That will tell the tale of whether their sales pitches to recruits and transfers hold up. Coincidentally, Gonzaga is off to a solid start by luring Ryan Nembhard from Creighton.

Money as the great equailzer will undermine - to varying extents - the prior selling points that were emphasized to players, including: winning tradition, great coaching, great facilities, and the best opportunity to play in the NBA. Smaller schools with less funding, but winning traditions, seem particularly poorly positioned. Davidson, Saint Mary's, Gonzaga, Providence, Butler, Xavier, Creighton, Seton Hall all come to mind. But yeah, theoretically it could help schools like Fordham or LaSalle turn things around. If they were to ever land some major boosters they wouldn't have to wait around for them to build a new arena, locker rooms, weight rooms, etc... or hire a big dollar coach who takes 2-3 to implement their program. The money could make such schools competitive in the marketplace for talent in a single off-season.

Also, potential opponent College of Charleston got two votes.

It'd be good to have him back by the Utah State game on 11/28. They have transfers coming in from Oregon and Washington at 7' and 6' 10" respectively, that we'll want options/depth for.

No need to say anything. We'll find out on 12/6.

Seems as good a way as any to support the NIL cause. Better than just cutting a $250 check.

nm

Looks like the full schedule is out: https://slubillikens.com/sports/mens-basketball/schedule/2023-24 with Dartmouth and Lincoln (Mo.) rounding out the schedule. Oct 24 - Kentucky Wesleyan (exhibition) Oct 29 - Berea College (exhibition) Nov 6 - Southern Indiana Nov 8 - Lincoln (Mo.) Nov 11 - Illinois State Nov 16 - Wyoming (neutral) Nov 17 - Charleston or Vermont (neutral) Nov 19 - TBD (neutral) Nov 25 - Dartmouth Nov 28 - Utah St. Dec 2 - SIUC (AWAY) Dec 6 - Drake (AWAY) Dec 9 - Hofstra Dec 16 - Louisiana Tech Dec 20 - NC State (AWAY)

No problem. Defaulting to bashing the Billikens without really thinking about it is a common occurrence around here.

We finished in the top 4 in 2020, 2021, and 2023.

The Hofstra game is on the same day as the MLS Final on Dec. 9th. The only other possible overlap is Nov. 25th.

Not exactly Conference Shuffle, but I was looking at games in Brooklyn this fall and saw that the St. Francis College Terriers (Northeast Conference) will not be competing in D-I. The school announced in March that they will be eliminating their athletics program.

Thanks to everyone - @HoosierPal, @Pistol, @wgstl, @Scoop , anyone else - who has helped cobble the schedule together through sleuthing and re-posting things here. It's helpful (especially for us out of towners that might want to plan a St. Louis trip around a home game) and just good to know what we have to look forward to.

I'm not so sure about that. Two considerations: Missouri State has football. So, assumedly, at least some of its $158,000 in licensing and royalties is coming from the Missouri Valley Football Conference. It's not unreasonable to think the A10's payout could be 2X the MVC's. Missouri State's NCAA distributions could be significantly padded by A10-member Loyola Chicago's final four and sweet sixteen tourney runs.

As the top four conferences gain a stranglehold on football, I wonder if lesser programs will give up on it. Schools like Charlotte, Temple, and UAB doubled down on football in the last decade. The pendulum could swing the other way. We're already seeing it a bit with UConn leaving the AAC for the Big East. If the likes of Charlotte, Temple, Tulsa, or WKU opt out of football irrelevance, and/or Wichita St tires of playing second fiddle, there could be some solid pick-ups available for non-football conferences.

Missouri State: Licensing & Royalties: 158,000 NCAA distributions: 700,000 Conference reimbursement: 580,000

Looking at the 2022 budgets for the two A10 public schools without football: VCU: Media rights: 235,059 NCAA distributions: 776,528 Conference distributions (non-media or bowl): 1,315,820 GMU: Media rights: 235,059 NCAA distributions: 869,981 Conference distributions (non-media or bowl): 139,624

The total payout to all NIT participants last year (collectively) was $334K, with a maximum payout of $26K. Participants in the CBI pay a $27,500 entry fee. It wouldn't take much to lure the best non-tourney teams and shake things up. Consolation tournaments - NIT, CBI, whatever Fox is cooking up - don't matter. If participating schools can get a little more money out of it, great.

Hopefully......THIS week!?!?!