DC-Pony wrote:I hope college basketball continues to be an appealing enterprise. But that feels very uncertain to me.
The amount of player movement between teams (some players playing for 4 different colleges!), players switching to rival schools without hesitation, and the associated lacking level of competition and allegiance definitely erodes the passion of college sports.
Arguably the three most accomplished coaches in all of college basketball - Roy Wilkins, Coach K, and Jay Wright - all retired within the past 12 months. Each mentioned a litany of reasons. Each included NIL and the prolific transferring among the reasons.
I have no ill will toward college players receiving compensation. And I worry the shifting landscape of college athletics may position its best days in the rear view mirror.
Well stated, DC, and i agree with you. But reality is colleges having been paying players since WW2 with little repercussions, unless of course you are a school like SMU, so my sympathies towards the decline of the ‘college experience’ is definitely tempered.
I don’t see NIL’s going away, not with all this absurd money flying around. I suspect NIL’s are the best way to get the players in on the action. And yes, it will become even more semi-pro.
Schools in urban economic hubs will benefit the most, schools like Stanford, USC / UCLA, Miami and hopefully SMU. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if Harvard fielded a Top 10 BB team or if Northwestern rises in BB prominence.
SMU just needs to be smart in all this.
Think of it in these terms, the state of NY just committed $600M to help build the Buffalo Bills a new stadium. These NFL teams have that much of an economic impact on their cities. It benefits the city of Dallas to have a semi-pro team in THEIR city, not a AAC team competing against ECU.
Dabo says there should be a 40-50 super conference. The President of SMU & it’s AD along with the Mayor of Dallas should make it a priority to have SMU as one of those schools. Wishful thinking, maybe, but they should try.
Dallas would not support SMU vs Rice, or ECU, or NTSU or UAB.
Dallas would support SMU vs UT, Georgia, Ohio St or USC.