2026 Basketball Portal

Miami will end up where leadership will take us.

A lateral move only postpones the inevitable…be bold, be brave, be smart and forward thinking and looking.

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Not A10 but even that would be fine. At the end of the day money can only get you so far. Players want to feel like they are competing at the highest level and the MAC doesn’t give them that

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I’d argue that historically that would be possible even if we were in the MAC, great programs in mid-major conferences were always able to sell players on good OOC schedules and a strong chance of March Madness. Power conference consolidation and the NET have basically killed that to your point.

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Indiana State’s entire team has entered the portal

https://x.com/sycamore_ball/status/2040502308623020051?s=46

If true this a very sad moment in college athletics. Not that the NCAA, SEC, or Big ? Will care, but very sad.

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And 2-3 years ago they had a great year

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For now, I think the American is the place to go. They are the top non Power 4 football conference which means a (small) shot at a college football playoff spot every year. And they have sent 2 or more teams to the NCAA tournament far more often than the MAC has in the last 25 years.

Ultimately, schools like Tulane (and Northwestern, if ever dropped by a “super league” in the future) are the ones we want to associate ourselves with - very strong academic institutions who also play big time sports and have the “CEO alums” to pay for it. This is a new era where strong academic schools can choose to pay to be elite in sports. Cal and Stanford can’t be happy being in the ACC either. Maybe we develop a phased strategy that first involves moving to the American but ultimately preps for being aligned with schools like this.

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This whole mess could have been avoided.

Those in charge of college athletics, a questionable position at best, ought to be ashamed of themselves for allowing this to take place. What is going on is akin to watching a NASCAR car crash is super-super S L O W M O T I O N.

The way this is going, it will all end in a total collapse after one once proud college or university tops the NIL pile of wannabees by raising close to $50 Million for basketball alone and claiming complete financial superiority and able to buy anybody they want, only to see their efforts flame out when their team of mercenaries lose in an early round of March Madness…after the “Tournament” expands to 128 teams.

I hope I live long enough to see the NCAA leadership’s collective asses hauled before a Congressional Committee and asked to explain how they allowed all of the aforementioned shit show to destroy intercollegiate athletics.

How could it have been avoided? Be specific? You think the NCAA wants this? They have literally lost every court case they have faced. We need to have a congressional intervention. Until this is legislated its all noise.

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Was at the Final 4 yesterday (my daughter goes to Illinois) and during that awful second game (during which I had to endure being around many obnoxious Michigan fans) there was a lot of “Big 12 was a fraud” talk… the “dropping” is even happening at the very top with the Big Ten in a class of its own followed by the SEC and then a big drop down to the Big 12 and ACC. It is happening in football and basketball and all due to the “new big $ system”. Hopefully, we find that this is a system schools like Arizona, Duke, North Carolina, and Kansas aren’t happy with - this is the only way I see it changing course.

That would change nothing. Schools like Arizona, Duke, Carolina, and Kansas are completely irrelevant in the college sports landscape. The football powers are the only ones that matter. College football makes huge money for the schools and conferences. College basketball makes huge money for the NCAA first, then trickles down to schools and conferences. There’s a reason the NCAA has no involvement in the bowls or CFP, and never will.

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Congressional legislation will only make matters worse. “Leaders should have argued that athletes are justly
Compensated with free tuition, room, board, medical care, academic support, clothes and other benefits not available to the larger student body. Additionally, they should have argued that college athletics are largely a burden to over 90% of schools, more so due to title IX scholarship requirements. Instead, we get schools like Texas A&M thinking they’re a legitimate power school spending millions to struggle to compete in major college athletics

The NCAA did argue that…and they lost in court. The NCAA has many shortcomings, but they defended the traditional model of college athletics at every step and the courts said no.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O’Bannon_v._NCAA

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Bringing it back to Miami, all I can say is that this is a critical point in time - can’t afford to be complacent and not capitalize.

To me staying in the MAC = being complacent. If you can’t beat’em, join ‘em, and we have the highest brand image and academic reputation in the conference by far. UCF is an example of a school that had neither (when they were in the MAC) and just got a 10 seed with a mediocre team.

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I am for what you are saying but UCF is one of the largest schools in the nation in one of the fastest growing cities

I hear ya - hard for an exact proxy to Miami but my point is that others have benefited by not being complacent

Gabe Cupps Transfer Portal: Top 5 Potential Landing Spots for Ohio State Guard | College Sports Network https://share.google/uRf4Qi9cWPhU5UtlN

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Much rather commit whatever portal ammo we have to get the best big available (and retain or replace Elmer, hopefully retain but more nervous by the day with no word) than spend on a guard. I’m not saying we can’t improve on Evan and Luke, but that’s already a top of MAC back court, especially if Luke continues to add to his game and Evan is healthy and fully back by December.

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To me Cupps is only an option is we lose Skaljac or Ipsaro. He’d be our third best pg right now. Wright State makes a ton of sense for this kid.

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Javonte Cambell from Bowling Green to the portal. I thought he was a senior. Lead the nation in steals.