The MAC tournament is ours to be had in 2027!!
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As long as we avoid UMass
So the MAC PoTY, DPotY, and 6th Man all graduated. The Freshman of the Year is portaling.
First team was all seniors.
Second team was 2 seniors, Byers and Sonny Wilson in portal, Elmer pending.
Third team was 2 senior, Sabol and Blyden in portal, Skaljac pending.
Honorable mentions 3 seniors, Simmons says heās returning to OU, Freitag portaling.
So of the 20 guys including honorables: 12 done, 5 in portal, 1 says heās staying, 2 RedHawks pending.
All freshman team: 3 of 5 already in portal, Woidke is returning (see below) and Carbuccia unknown.
Just sad for the MAC how transient the league is now.
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https://x.com/slancehoops/status/2039014571839488293?s=46&t=vUThhbDlsJy2oN8ssEthfA
Woidke returning to Kent.
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24-25ās all-freshman team:
MAC All-Freshman Team
Sharron Young, Guard, Akron - Just announced in the portal in last hour
Jamai Felt, Forward, Bowling Green - Played at Temple this year
Ben Michaels, Forward, Buffalo - Played at Vermont this year
Brant Byers, Forward, Miami - In the portal
Elijah Elliot, Guard, Ohio - In the portal
So 8 of the last 10 MAC All-Freshman are in portal or gone with 1 still unknown, including both FoTY winners.
I think there are real questions going forward on the the value of recruiting from high school for MAC teams.
I think they have to recruit from high school and understand they will have them for 2 years more than likely. High school players are like pro draft picksācontrolled, low cost salary. MAC teams donāt have enough NIL budget to build a full roster of non-HS kids. It has to be a balance like what Miami is clearly trying to do. Every other year, bring in 5 high school kids and the in between years bring in two HS kids. Then sprinkle in 2-3 portal upper classmen and hope it works out.
We need to leave the MAC ASAP
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In my idealistic athletic world:
Any school that āpoachesā a player via an NIL collective or similar mechanism must also compensate out of its own funds the athletic department of the school that said poached player formerly attended a similar amount as an offset.
Would that work? Or at least offer some money to a school that has invested time, money and coaching to develop its players before they are drawn away by a deeper-pocketed institution.
Failure to come up with some handcuffs will simply continue to push the budgets of the lesser-endowed schools into athletic bankruptcy. The current system will soon look like the capital expenditures of todayās eager beaver corporations trying to outspend their competition to rise to the top of the AI mountainā¦(incidentally, also unsustainable and likely to eventually implode).
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Its how soccer works, but they basically have international criminal organizations in the form of FIFA and UEFA to keep everyone in line. The NCAA has been shown to be merely a juvenile delinquent compared to them.
The incentive structure is going the opposite way right now where everything is controlled by the big power schools and thereās no reason to want to pay down the ladder.
Remember when the single best transfer in history all but single-handedly won Auburn a national title and the NCAA investigated whether he was improperly paid? Cam Newtonās dad asked for $150K.
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Getting a 2005 NHL Lockout vibe from the NIL deals ā¦ unsustainable, schools are going to have to say no mas, boosters are going to say āThis is a true money loser ā and the student-athletes are gonna wonder why they arenāt getting paid their supposed āmarket valueā
A lockout is what it will take most likely, but that is only going to happen once the High Major schools see that sentiment too. Might not happen for a few years though, as long as different schools keep winning the biggest sports.
I do not think the NCAA cares, as theyāre clearly in collusion with the Big ? and SEC
Big ?, SEC and NCAA----a three way, not the kind I used to devour in Cincinnati. Collusion to the max. Mutual back-scratching at its best.
The Mafia would be proud.
Why leave the MAC? Do you think Miami will find its way into the tournament more in the A10? Seriously, awesome 2025/26 but I wouldnāt get to far out front of yourself. Maybe dominate the league for a few years and see how the new arena plays out.
This is basically a college sports arms race, where schools who can never compete for the championship are being priced out by those who canā¦. and I was going to go into a big diatribe about this until I realized that time is really working against NIL.
Schools like Miami U, Pitt, Kansas State, Memphis, UVa, Tulane, Wake, Va Tech, etc., are getting donors but eventually someone will ask āWhat exactly is this getting me? I feel like I am spending my money into a black hole with very little value add and zero ROI.ā
And just like the USSR, they will concede the boo-koo dollars to the Top 10 FB teams and the MBB Blue Bloods, form their own conferences and nice TV deals (bc people love watching college football), and go with that.
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This isnāt just about basketball. You need to think bigger picture.
=>Not going to A10. The jump would be ACC during next round of conference realignment.
A10 is FCS in football and Miami is not going Indy in football like UConn.
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The realistic jump is to the American, which will be remnants of the American, MAC, CUSA, and Sun Belt after the top programs from not the MAC are poached from those others to fill the ACC.
We are much more likely to end up in a conference with FAU and ECU than Wake Forest and NC State.