2024 Miscellaneous College Basketball News

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

While any theoretical gymnastics or softball union could take the position that the players deserve more than scholarships covering cost of attendance, I doubt they would in most cases. Far more likely is that any unions that do form focus on the amount of required practice time, "captain's practices," meal stipends, etc.--basically just "working conditions" stuff rather than "wages." And I can see a situation where, say, swimmers, simply have no appetite for unionization and would be happy to operate under the NIL status quo.

The question, of course, is how deep the wages football and basketball players will almost certainly ask for will cut into athletic department budgets. Will universities be less likely to fund swim programs if every rostered MBB player has to be paid a 10K stipend beyond COA? Probably. It won't make swimming extinct, but I'd bet it will shrink the collegiate player pool in a substantial way.

Title IX will absolutely be a factor too (though I wonder if you'll see an effort to exempt football from its proportionality requirement, which is something I've seen floating around--in theory, that would marginally protect sports like wrestling and baseball, which have historically been first cut when schools need to create participation statistics in line with regulation).

Agree with owbc that the "vanity system" of some non-revenue sports may fade, or just get squeezed out by new budgeting priorities. That might be for the greater good on the whole, but it'll also involve all the heartbreak cutting programs usually involves, and not all of those players or programs will be "vanity" ones. I'm honestly fascinated by how things might go just from an athletic perspective, and that's not even considering all the weird recruiting things that'll pop up depending on how union-friendly various states are. Imagine a world where Ohio State and Alabama start losing players to, I don't know, Illinois or something because those players want the wage bumps unions almost always provide. Given how much football bedrocks just about everything in the US, I doubt the implications of this, should it be upheld and move forward, will remain siloed within athletics.

[yourout]

1 hour ago, Cool Hand Lucroy said:

While any theoretical gymnastics or softball union could take the position that the players deserve more than scholarships covering cost of attendance, I doubt they would in most cases. Far more likely is that any unions that do form focus on the amount of required practice time, "captain's practices," meal stipends, etc.--basically just "working conditions" stuff rather than "wages." And I can see a situation where, say, swimmers, simply have no appetite for unionization and would be happy to operate under the NIL status quo.

The question, of course, is how deep the wages football and basketball players will almost certainly ask for will cut into athletic department budgets. Will universities be less likely to fund swim programs if every rostered MBB player has to be paid a 10K stipend beyond COA? Probably. It won't make swimming extinct, but I'd bet it will shrink the collegiate player pool in a substantial way.

Title IX will absolutely be a factor too (though I wonder if you'll see an effort to exempt football from its proportionality requirement, which is something I've seen floating around--in theory, that would marginally protect sports like wrestling and baseball, which have historically been first cut when schools need to create participation statistics in line with regulation).

Agree with owbc that the "vanity system" of some non-revenue sports may fade, or just get squeezed out by new budgeting priorities. That might be for the greater good on the whole, but it'll also involve all the heartbreak cutting programs usually involves, and not all of those players or programs will be "vanity" ones. I'm honestly fascinated by how things might go just from an athletic perspective, and that's not even considering all the weird recruiting things that'll pop up depending on how union-friendly various states are. Imagine a world where Ohio State and Alabama start losing players to, I don't know, Illinois or something because those players want the wage bumps unions almost always provide. Given how much football bedrocks just about everything in the US, I doubt the implications of this, should it be upheld and move forward, will remain siloed within athletics.

Would be interesting to see a list of the UW sports sorted by net and gross revenue.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

https://www.collegefactual.com/colleges/university-of-wisconsin-madison/student-life/sports/

Can't vouch for the accuracy of that, but it looks like decent ballparking.

 

[LouisEly]

20 hours ago, Samurai Bucky said:

I'm sure Badger Volleyball is brining some good cash.

At $84 for season tickets for 14 games ($6/game) and $2/game for student tickets, not really.

 

21 hours ago, Samurai Bucky said:

If college athletes get paid more than a scholarship and food stipend, tutors, housing, etc., I would like to see more of a commitment to the institution from the player.  Perhaps it can be called a contract. 

I think there's something there.  Have to give them a choice, though.  If they take NCAA money, it's a contract, and they have to sit out a year if they transfer.  If they want to transfer without sitting out a year, they can't take NCAA money.

[Jim French Stepstool]

I'm sure this is me living on Fantasy Island, but if you aren't injured & sit out a bowl game you forfeit any funds owed for that season.

If you're Iron Jock & you still insist on paying Braelon Allen, your merchandise is relegated to Fleet Farm.

 

[Jim French Stepstool]

So last nights' game in Madison was Chris Holtmanns' swan song as Ohio State fired him today. Former UW assistant & current South Carolina head coach Lamont Paris is rumored to be on the short list. He's an Ohio native. I think they'd get better in a hurry if they're able to land him. Had a chance to briefly chat with him at a high school game once; very impressive guy with a really engaging personality. Hopefully the Gamecocks pony up enough that he stays put.

[Jim French Stepstool]

So, it looks like there's enough hue & cry that there will soon be some sort of anti court-storming rule in college hoops. I have no problem with this, there certainly is a safety factor involved. I'm just amused at the timing, and what's bringing it to the forefront. Kyle Filipowski gets injured, and there was also an issue recently with Caitlin Clark. The cynical part of me can't help but wonder if this whole issue would be on the fast track if the mishaps involved the 9th man for some mid-major.

I wondered the same thing when Buster Posey was hurt & there was a rule change. Would the same thing have happened if it was Chris Iannetta?

[BrewerFan]

15 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

So, it looks like there's enough hue & cry that there will soon be some sort of anti court-storming rule in college hoops. I have no problem with this, there certainly is a safety factor involved. I'm just amused at the timing, and what's bringing it to the forefront. Kyle Filipowski gets injured, and there was also an issue recently with Caitlin Clark. The cynical part of me can't help but wonder if this whole issue would be on the fast track if the mishaps involved the 9th man for some mid-major.

I wondered the same thing when Buster Posey was hurt & there was a rule change. Would the same thing have happened if it was Chris Iannetta?

Is it cynical that I don't really view that as cynical? Clark is probably the biggest star in CBB right now...Duke is one of the bluebloods and you have a projected lottery pick getting hurt...it stands to reason there'd be more pressure to do something vs two players we haven't heard of. 

It's too bad, the "storming the court," is kinda cool when it's a big upset, but you have to put player safety above all else. I'd guess there have been backups who've twisted ankles, we just didn't hear about it. 

And no, I don't think you'd have the "Buster Posey," rule if it was a guy like Iannetta.

[Playing Catch]

28 minutes ago, BrewerFan said:

is kinda cool when it's a big upset,

It's a get-off-my lawn level pet peeve of mine that there are so many court-storms. Maybe we could simply reduce them by making fun of fans that do it against a good, but not great, league rival. This is what should REALLY embarrass Wake Forest. I mean, they're T-Rank #24 beating T-Rank #12... NOT worth court storming.

[Jim French Stepstool]

41 minutes ago, BrewerFan said:

Is it cynical that I don't really view that as cynical? Clark is probably the biggest star in CBB right now...Duke is one of the bluebloods and you have a projected lottery pick getting hurt...it stands to reason there'd be more pressure to do something vs two players we haven't heard of. 

It's too bad, the "storming the court," is kinda cool when it's a big upset, but you have to put player safety above all else. I'd guess there have been backups who've twisted ankles, we just didn't hear about it. 

And no, I don't think you'd have the "Buster Posey," rule if it was a guy like Iannetta.

That's my point. If players we hadn't heard of had been injured in a court storming, it should be just as valid a reason to curtail it than if it was one of the games' sacred cows. More publicity, more pressure to do something if it's a "name", sure. That's understandable, and predictable. But it bothers me. I'm probably a little too idealistic.

[Jim French Stepstool]

24 minutes ago, Playing Catch said:

It's a get-off-my lawn level pet peeve of mine that there are so many court-storms. Maybe we could simply reduce them by making fun of fans that do it against a good, but not great, league rival. This is what should REALLY embarrass Wake Forest. I mean, they're T-Rank #24 beating T-Rank #12... NOT worth court storming.

Since it was Duke, I'd have loved it if the Wake fans simply stayed put, then as Duke was leaving the floor chanted at them "NO BIG DEAL!!!! NO BIG DEAL!!!!" Now THAT would've twisted the knife a little.

I was surprised when UW fans took to the floor after beating MU. Yeah, they were ranked #2 at the time, but maybe having beaten them the last couple years played into my thinking a little.

I agree it should be reserved for the ultra-special. Like the 1st time UWM ever reached the tourney by beating Butler in their conference final. Hell, something like that, hang from the rafters for all I care.

[stoutdude04]

Wake Forest was favored to win that game!  It's the same thing when Nebraska stormed the court after beating like...12 ranked Wisconsin. Nebraska was favored to win.  You wanna storm the court after beating the number 1-3 ranked teams, sure.  But we are storming the court for everything.  Also, some kid went up to a Duke player and flipped him off and had his phone in his face, cmon dude, you are going to be part of the reason court storming gets changed.

[nate82]

23 minutes ago, stoutdude04 said:

Also, some kid went up to a Duke player and flipped him off and had his phone in his face, cmon dude, you are going to be part of the reason court storming gets changed.

Gotta become internet famous some how!

[valpocrewsader]

5 hours ago, stoutdude04 said:

after beating like...12 ranked Wisconsin

#6, for the record. 

[stoutdude04]

18 hours ago, valpocrewsader said:

#6, for the record. 

Ah, yep.  I was getting it mixed up with Penn State where they were ranked 15th.  Both situations are not court storm worthy. 

[patrickgpe]

UWGB hiring Doug Gottleib and lettings him continue his radio show is one of the craziest things I have seen in college basketball.  So instead of being on the road recruiting and developing game plans, he will be prepping for his daily show. Also if the show is on from 2-5 central, and there is a game at 7, he is literally running out of the studio to coach a game.

The other bad part of this is that if he does succeed (and thats a big IF), he will be on the first plane out of Austin Straubel Airport. 

[HarryDoyle]

4 hours ago, patrickgpe said:

UWGB hiring Doug Gottleib and lettings him continue his radio show is one of the craziest things I have seen in college basketball.  So instead of being on the road recruiting and developing game plans, he will be prepping for his daily show. Also if the show is on from 2-5 central, and there is a game at 7, he is literally running out of the studio to coach a game.

The other bad part of this is that if he does succeed (and thats a big IF), he will be on the first plane out of Austin Straubel Airport. 

He won't succeed. 

[patrickgpe]

54 minutes ago, HarryDoyle said:

He won't succeed. 

If the goal was to get headlines, this hire was a successful. I doubt they have been on the front page of ESPN since they beat Jason Kidd in the ncaa tournament. I just don’t know how you can expect a rookie head coach to run a d1 program and work a 2nd job. Only way it can work is to bring a veteran ex coach as your top assistant 

[patrickgpe]

If Hurley does go to the lakers, it may create a ripple similar to Enfield going to SMU. UCONN is an elite job and I doubt they just hire from within or an assistant with another school. It’s so late in the offseason, it will be interesting to see the fallout 

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/ncaa-basketball/news/dan-hurley-replacements-uconn-steve-pikiell-billydonovan/bfaac23eff21b3ac8622b465

the Shaka rumors have already started 

[nate82]

LOL not surprised Ham was canned.  He was never going to be able to get a team that fit him with Lebron in LA. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

After the chuckling & sad head-shaking subsided, I tried to think of a parallel to GB hiring Doug Gottlieb. The closest I could come up with was in the mid-80s when the White Sox in their infinite wisdom brought Ken Harrelson from the broadcast booth to exec VP, and then made him GM. While in charge he fired Tony LaRussa, who went on to Oakland & led them to three WS, Traded a young Bobby Bonilla who accumulated over 2000 hits & almost 300 HRs, and canned a young exec named Dave Dombrowski. Now, I hold no ill will toward the Phoenix & hope things work out well for them. I just find it hard to see how that can happen when you hire someone who isn't immersed in the program up to his eyelids & I can't imagine how he could be. And if they succeed due to some stroke of mercenary luck, then as Patrickgpe alluded to, in the immortal words of The Hawk, he gone.

His dad coached at UWM years ago & was a hard worker. Used to see him in our HS gym all the time recruiting a few of our players. Actually got a couple.