IUALUM03

20 minutes ago, Seeking6 said:

Colts fans on here will be happy. That's their bye week. Unfortunately for us Bears fans we are at Detroit at same exact time.

Bears season will be in the tank by that time anyhow to make it an easier decision lol. 

15 hours ago, dgambill said:

Heard an interesting take on ACC. Talks of Clemson and Florida St going to SEC and North Carolina and Virginia to B1G leaving Cal, Stanford, and UConn to join and finally Notre Dame to headline the conference and take the lionshare  piece of the money pie. Notre Dame headlining the conference would give it legitimacy and keep it relevant even if the pie is not split evenly and they are the main profiteer. Would seem to make sense as they could dominate that conference, still play most of their main rivals and now as a part of a conference can earn a bye in the playoffs.

Meh, I don't know.  The Catholic aura that surrounded Notre Dame with immigrants from coast to coast has sort of dwindled.  I am not saying the brand is weak, but it just isn't the days of Rudy anymore where they appealed to everyone from the wealthy down to the blue collar workers in factories.  

6 minutes ago, IU Scott said:

It takes away a lot of rivalries and to me a conference is supposed to be about regional rivalry. It was at it's best when it was 10 with every big ten team being in the same region.  I guess if this is all you have seen you don't see the difference. For some of us who grew up loving college sports it is just a lot different.  You start messing with something people love and those people don't see the change being beneficial they won't be happy 

I grew up before Penn St. was added and I love this, but I also like the boardgames, Risk and Monopoly, so this probably plays into a bit lol. 

22 minutes ago, btownqb said:

I still don't understand what about conference realignment makes college sports less enjoyable? 

Agree, schools that historically avoided each other in lieu of cupcakes now will have to play each other.  I love it. 

1 hour ago, Drroogh said:

I remember in non-revenue sports we traveled all over the Midwest. No planes we drove. Even competed against a couple of Canadian teams. We did it because we loved our sport and loved competing.

My niece played softball at IU.  A majority of their season (especially the front end) was playing on road for extended treks to warm weather locations, because it was still cold in Btown.  The long travel has already been happening for both revenue and non sports on the collegiate level...neutral site games, holiday tournaments, international trips, etc. were already much in play across the board.  That ship sailed long before conference realignment.  

Regarding the question of what this is about...beyond money, this will provide a league that has brands and variety across a number of sports (more now with west coast schools bringing into play beach volleyball, more gymnastics, etc.) to give content that is very much desired into their own network along with other avenues.  I for one will love the opportunity to turn on the B1G network and not see contrived programming or replays more often than not.  They should be able to provide competitions through most of the waking time each day outside of summer.

19 hours ago, rico said:

And most people don't like change.

If it wasn't the B1G being aggressive, then another conference would and we would be complaining about the leadership being complacent jeopardizing the conference's future.  What the B1G did was nothing short of brilliant and forward thinking regardless of how you feel.  

On 8/7/2023 at 9:22 AM, Zuckerkorn said:

Yes, this is something I've harped on for a while.  Probably every team in the B10 has had a foreign player that was a starter or ccontributor over the past decade, while we've had essentially none.  As you mention, it's a fertile recruiting field overseas - one with players with more experience and fundamental skills than a lot of HS recruits.

Ben Allen say hi lol

3 hours ago, rico said:

I did notice that talk of a Spaniard has made it's way onto another site.

It me...

Flipping this topic a bit...How does this affect recruiting? Opens it up? Creates more competition?  Obviously, for football, we now have more competition, but it also opens up more recruiting areas.  Additionally, I think eventually, when the B1G and SEC are the two conferences, it consolidates talent into only those leagues, as players will want to play in the best conferences.

1 minute ago, Seeking6 said:

Watching the Pac 12 implode is something. They had decades to fix this and now their all being left behind. Schools like Washington St, Oregon St...all left behind without a chair left. 

I feel like their issue was Pacific Time.  It didn't mesh with the rest of the country, like Eastern and Central time do to get views.

4 minutes ago, Indykev said:

There is going to be so many teams in these conferences, no way you can play everyone. There will never be a clear conf. winner going forward.

The same could be said about National Championships in some regards.  Once again, I look at this more PAC and B1G merging versus realignment.  So you can still have multiple (or at least 2) sub-leagues under the B1G banner with some cross league plays, then play it out in the post-season prior to the larger national championship events. 

14 minutes ago, Reacher said:

With adequate exposure on the west coast now, not sure Cal and Stanford make sense. Maybe as backups. I'd prefer schools from AZ, TX or the southeast for geography reasons. But you probably need at least a pair from a region for it to make sense. 

https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/38134021/big-ten-set-send-invites-oregon-washington-sources-say

I want Stanford and Cal strictly for Academics and San Francisco/Silicon Valley, although Stanford is no slouch at sports (including Football) and Cal could be built up more with right investment a la Rutgers.  Bonus would be them helping attract further Notre Dame.  

Arizona appears to be only a vote away from joining little 12, although they would have been nice with the Phoenix area.  

With all of this, I also love that it will provide B1G with almost all day content regardless of timezone and up the ante in Baseball and some of the Olympic sports. 

56 minutes ago, ledies22 said:

whats more interesting is that they seemingly accepted it.

They really don't have a choice and it will still be more than they would have received in the PAC or Little 12. They will have to wait until the next deal to get fully vested, unless some conversations are allowed prior to new media contract being up.

13 hours ago, KoB2011 said:

I think we need to get to 22 teams and have essentially two separate conferences as divisions. Possibly something like:

B1G: Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin

PAC: Nebraska, Maryland, Rutgers, USC, UCLA, Oregon, Washington, Cal, Stanford, Notre Dame, Colorado (maybe?)

Could play the football championship every year in Pasadena as the winner of each division. Not sure if anyone has thought of something like this before, but I think it could work. 

Why two?  I like the idea of 3 division, maybe four depending on final number, but if three, do the champions of each with a wild card, the you can do a two game football championship for the conference and then get even more creative with the basketball maybe doing a mini march madness.

4 minutes ago, btownqb said:

This would be fantastic. Especially for sports that aren't football, basketball. 

I still want Stanford and Notre Dame, but this may create a more attractive conference for at least ND to join, since it will cover all of the geographic regions in the US and allow ND to be "National."

13 hours ago, IU Scott said:

If you like expansion and having 20 teams then yes it would be good for the big ten

I kind of feel like when it is all said and done, it might return closer to the original conferences than one might think.  This is all about content and viewers, so what is to say that there isn't a West Coast BIG sub group, Midwest, Northeast, etc., then those feed into league championships and some "interleague" play.  I don't think 20 is the number any longer, but something more around 26 - 30 with there also being sport specific members like John Hopkins is for lacrosse and academics.

Think more in the terms of consolidation versus relalignment.

On 7/29/2023 at 6:06 PM, FKIM01 said:

That link didn't work for me but this one did...

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/citing-burnout-from-nil-transfer-portal-and-non-stop-recruiting-college-basketball-coaches-make-big-changes/

 

Boo hoo.  With all do respect, the model was unequitable anyhow.  There is plenty of money they could give up to build more infrastructure in the system to stabilize college sports.   The problem is they are hoarding it at the top and within the Athletic Departments and coaches, especially Head Coaches, were fine with it when all the rules worked in their favor and against everyone else, including mostly players and assistants.  They were always free to move to greener $$$ pastures without any regards on how that affected others around them, get endorsements/shoe money, etc.  Now it is a problem because the athletes can do that as well?  Give me a break.

So with Colorado leaving the PAC, what’s the next move? I think the AZ schools follow CO and the B1G adds Stanford, Oregon, Cal, Washington, then finds a more surprise 5th…maybe Notre Dame with USC joining. 

1 hour ago, IUFLA said:

If the federal government doesn't act, the individual states, particularly California, will drive the bus...not the NCAA or the conferences...

That's exactly what happened the first go around... 

I just don't see how the government, state or federal, should have any say on a player leaving x college to go to y college.  Also, treat them like independent contractors and call it a day.  They are not public officials, so they shouldn't have to disclose their income to anyone other than the IRS. 

36 minutes ago, IUFLA said:

Joe Manchin and Tommy Tuberville introduce legislation to regulate NIL and athletes transferring 

Makes no sense and anything involving Tuberville I don't take seriously.  Regardless of political affiliation, he is an idiot.  People should be able to move freely, if they want and there are takers.  I don't necessarily disagree with NIL disclosures, but at same time someone's personal income shouldn't be anyone's business outside of the IRS. Lastly, our government should be focusing on so much more stuff and leave this to the NCAA, conferences, etc.  

On 7/20/2023 at 7:09 PM, dgambill said:

Heard the practice facility is amazing too. That said it’s definitely an uphill battle in a conference like the B1G. 

I agree, but the infrastructure is going to be there.  The only hinderance would be the academics, but as Fitz showed, it is possible for NW to be a strong, consistent winner with top of conference finishes sprinkled in.  

On another note, I would love for IU to enclose the stadium eventually similar to this.  They have improved it dramatically over the last decade, but want them to take the final step and run what they have on both entryways around the sides as well to create more of a cohesive fasade and enclose the internal structures (i.e. concession, seating, etc.) 

On 7/21/2023 at 4:43 PM, IUCrazy2 said:

We did while Crean was here.  I have heard various reasons as to why he left but he was here for that 2012 team.

Pretty sure it came out it had to do with Crean's style and also not bringing together the old guard more in the mix.

20 hours ago, IU Scott said:

What is wrong with having some spiritual things around the program. Once they took it out of schools look at the mess this country has become 

This is not a comment for or against religion, but you might want to look at history.  Religion of all types doesn't have the best track record.  

The Adidas ball in the pic is interesting.