Around the MAC

[trueblue32]

1 hour ago, Big 4 Hoops Blogger said:

I didn’t want to post this because it’s unconfirmed but there was a rumor that Ohio’s collective has raised $100,000 for basketball. That’s not nothing if true…

Good for them if that's the case, but really this just says to me that NIL isn't even really worth worrying about that much if a mid-major scrounges up $100,000 and all it nets them is Shereef Mitchell and Ike Cornish.

Edited May 11, 2023 by trueblue32

[Big 4 Hoops Blogger]

52 minutes ago, trueblue32 said:

Good for them if that's the case, but really this just says to me that NIL isn't even really worth worrying about that much if a mid-major scrounges up $100,000 and all it nets them is Shereef Mitchell and Ike Cornish.

What about roster retention? Ohio just kept their entire team in place and added two solid guards into the mix. They’re also likely to add another big man soon. Boals has mentioned that a big part of the job now is re-recruiting your own players at the end of every season due to the transfer portal. You better believe that NIL is just as important in that regard as it is to adding new talent.

And let’s not just downplay Cornish and Mitchell. Cornish in high school would’ve gone down as the highest ranked recruit in UB history. Just because it didn’t work out at Maryland doesn’t mean he’s not a solid transfer for a MAC program. We would be hyping him up a ton if he was coming to Buffalo.

 

Edited May 11, 2023 by Big 4 Hoops Blogger

[Big 4 Hoops Blogger]

1 hour ago, rma said:

He would also need to be formally offered the UB job, too. Not just his agent saying that he was offered the job to get more money from YSU.

My prediction is that the better job never comes. We’ll see if I’m right or wrong.

Let’s not dismiss Calhoun now because he didn’t want to come to UB. He’s a solid coach and has done well at a program that’s very difficult to succeed at. Predicting the better job will never come sounds like wishing him a bad future.

Edited May 11, 2023 by Big 4 Hoops Blogger

[trueblue32]

25 minutes ago, Big 4 Hoops Blogger said:

What about roster retention? Ohio just kept their entire team in place and added two solid guards into the mix. They’re also likely to add another big man soon. Boals has mentioned that a big part of the job now is re-recruiting your own players at the end of every season due to the transfer portal. You better believe that NIL is just as important in that regard as it is to adding new talent.

Sure, they retained one all-MAC player who like all of our remaining players can't transfer without having to sit out. AJ Brown is a good freshman they retained, I'll give them that. I'm not sure who else on their roster was worth throwing NIL money at
 

29 minutes ago, Big 4 Hoops Blogger said:

Cornish in high school would’ve gone down as the highest ranked recruit in UB history. Just because it didn’t work out at Maryland doesn’t mean he’s not a solid transfer for a MAC program. We would be hyping him up a ton if he was coming to Buffalo.

Sure he might turn out well. He also sat at Maryland behind Patrick Emilien (among others) who didn't have a future at Maryland and two years ago averaged 5.2 PPG on a 5 win WMU team.

I guess my point is $100,000 is a lot of money to be throwing at a roster that looks like the 3rd best roster on paper in the MAC, and they're not the only ones still looking to add.

[rma]

25 minutes ago, Big 4 Hoops Blogger said:

Let’s not dismiss Calhoun now because he didn’t want to come to UB. He’s a solid coach and has done well at a program that’s very difficult to succeed at. Predicting the better job will never come sounds like wishing him a bad future.

Eh he used a phantom UB offer as leverage to get a bigger paycheck at his current school. I’m not rooting for him. 

[Big 4 Hoops Blogger]

16 minutes ago, trueblue32 said:

Sure, they retained one all-MAC player who like all of our remaining players can't transfer without having to sit out. AJ Brown is a good freshman they retained, I'll give them that. I'm not sure who else on their roster was worth throwing NIL money at
 

Sure he might turn out well. He also sat at Maryland behind Patrick Emilien (among others) who didn't have a future at Maryland and two years ago averaged 5.2 PPG on a 5 win WMU team.

I guess my point is $100,000 is a lot of money to be throwing at a roster that looks like the 3rd best roster on paper in the MAC, and they're not the only ones still looking to add.

That’s fair. Obviously, I don’t know if the 100k number is true or how they choose to allocate their funds if that indeed is the case. We’ll just have to see how everything plays out.

Edited May 11, 2023 by Big 4 Hoops Blogger

[Big 4 Hoops Blogger]

16 minutes ago, rma said:

Eh he used a phantom UB offer as leverage to get a bigger paycheck at his current school. I’m not rooting for him. 

I have no issue with not rooting for him. I personally have no interest in where his career goes from here but do think he’s a decent head coach.

[MuchMany]

1 hour ago, Big 4 Hoops Blogger said:

What about roster retention? Ohio just kept their entire team in place and added two solid guards into the mix. They’re also likely to add another big man soon. Boals has mentioned that a big part of the job now is re-recruiting your own players at the end of every season due to the transfer portal. You better believe that NIL is just as important in that regard as it is to adding new talent.

And let’s not just downplay Cornish and Mitchell. Cornish in high school would’ve gone down as the highest ranked recruit in UB history. Just because it didn’t work out at Maryland doesn’t mean he’s not a solid transfer for a MAC program. We would be hyping him up a ton if he was coming to Buffalo.

 

You seem very excited about Ohio. Good luck to you guys in the upcoming season. 

[Big 4 Hoops Blogger]

1 hour ago, MuchMany said:

You seem very excited about Ohio. Good luck to you guys in the upcoming season. 

I’m always excited about Ohio and Buffalo hoops. I think the Bobcats are a 20+ win, top 100 team heading into next season.

As for UB, I can’t wait to see how Halcovage does year one and how he rebuilds the Bulls program. I’ve always thought that both schools should be in the top five of the MAC on a yearly basis with Akron, Kent and Toledo.

[Jeseph]

 

[Jeseph]

 

[UBinMD]

11 hours ago, Jeseph said:

 

Step up

[Jeseph]

 

[Big 4 Hoops Blogger]

Javonte Brown was a player that had visited Syracuse, San Diego State and Ohio this offseason. Former UConn and Texas A&M player who was a Top 125 recruit in high school. Intriguing addition for Western Michigan.

Edited May 23, 2023 by Big 4 Hoops Blogger

[UBinMD]

16 minutes ago, Big 4 Hoops Blogger said:

Javonte Brown was a player that had visited Syracuse, San Diego State and Ohio this offseason. Former UConn and Texas A&M player who was a Top 125 recruit in high school. Intriguing addition for Western Michigan.

Is he their Bates?

[DocCas86]

LeMoyne picking up transfer from Ball St.

 

[UB92]

On 5/21/2023 at 1:33 PM, Jeseph said:

 

I don’t know if this has been mentioned before, but WMU got a boat load of money from a very generous donor, with a nice chunk of it going to athletics.  Perhaps some of that is for NIL.  It can be a game changer for them. 

[rma]

2 minutes ago, UB92 said:

I don’t know if this has been mentioned before, but WMU got a boat load of money from a very generous donor, with a nice chunk of it going to athletics.

One of WMU's (as a school) top donors has a son that played soccer for UB. He has a net worth of multiple billions.

Frustrating.

[121Merrimac]

19 minutes ago, rma said:

One of WMU's (as a school) top donors has a son that played soccer for UB. He has a net worth of multiple billions.

Frustrating.

woah, that's horrible.

a) which player?

b) how do you find top donors?

[rma]

Steven Stryker. His dad is Jon Stryker.

WMU's medical school is named after his great grandfather. I was wrong, it was actually Jon Stryker's sister who provided the $100 million gift to name the med school. But Jon has donated at least $5 million (combined) to WMU, a school he didn't attend.

There's also a $550 million anonymous donation to WMU that is rumored to be from the Stryker family.

[Big 4 Hoops Blogger]

I can tell you that many Ohio fans thought Javonte Brown was going to Athens and they believe money played a role in his decision to commit to WMU.

It's not just about NIL and collectives but how you allocate your resources. Many coaches are being forced to act like GM's with the transfer portal essentially serving as free agency.

[121Merrimac]

7 minutes ago, Big 4 Hoops Blogger said:

... It's not just about NIL and collectives ...

I liked NIL, because I thought a local business would grow a relationship between the community and the school.  (Player X represents local company Y... Support the local school!).  Collectives don't sit well with me though.  Feels more like here's a bag of money.  Nothing earned, and nothing gained (from the community perspective)

Edited May 25, 2023 by 121Merrimac

[DooleyBull06]

12 minutes ago, 121Merrimac said:

I liked NIL, because I thought a local business would grow a relationship between the community and the school.  (Player X represents local company Y... Support the local school!).  Collectives don't sit well with me though.  Feels more like here's a bag of money.  Nothing earned, and nothing gained (from the community perspective)

This is a very interesting point. I feel, aside from social media, that relationships and NIL deals between local businesses and players is the perfect way none power conference teams/players can operate. For example, player X secures a deal for some cash or even a car for doing some promotional work for the local car dealership. But then again this goes back to how hard these kids wanna work. Do they wanna put the effort off the court to build their brands or are they chasing the easy bag?

Edited May 25, 2023 by DooleyBull06

[121Merrimac]

9 minutes ago, DooleyBull06 said:

... Do they wanna put the effort off the court ...

Good summary.  Shouldn't just get money.  Gotta provide value.  Trouble is, how to quantify the amount of effort applied, and what that is worth.  Ideally I'd like to see some return of value to the school.  That is even harder to quantify.

[121Merrimac]

26 minutes ago, DooleyBull06 said:

This is a very interesting point....

Waiting patiently for an attorney's opinion on this.  lol