IUCrazy2

In the context of the convo, yeah. The SEC doing well in this draft is not necessarily a trend and much like football, that would be driven by the success of 1 team.

Kind of a cherry pick though.

https://thespun.com/pac-12/usc/college-football-world-reacts-to-big-ten-usc-rumors/amp?fbclid=IwAR1gQDOAS62GODRK6RH0wx23aZwQ0BTLwpf_dVQOS6jnpbs_V8VhokYHUcE Appears there are talks happening...

Yes, and there are more markets to poach from the PAC 12. Phoenix is one of the largest markets in the country. Grab Arizona. A&M is leary of Texas being in the SEC, poach them to add Texas. Then with those last 2 spots you look at Oregon, Washington, Kansas, Ga. Tech, and Notre Dame and see who you can get to fill them. Then you have a Big Ten East and a Big Ten West. Having 2 divisions of 10 that play each other mostly but face off in Championships yearly would be a good way to keep things somewhat normal. Adding Kansas and Iowa St. doesn't do much of anything. Poaching the Pac 12 and A&M would make the Big Ten a truly national conference while the SEC is regional. And with 2 10 team divisions, you could still keep the divisions fairly regional (at least in the case of the east which Indiana would be solidly in). Is this the way I want to see things go? No. But it is happening and I want the BIG to be positioned as well as possible because that is what is best for IU.

Money. Think of all the money the BTN pumped into schools like IU. Then take into account NIL. If you are a program in THE mega conference that is getting conference network money along with ESPN/CBS/Fox etc. type of money (and exposure) you are going to have a leg up on everyone.

Possibly? Not like we have not played out west during the preseason before.

It is coming, might as well get schools that make IU money. And if we add 6 and make it a BIG10 East/West type of scenario, then you would hardly ever play those western teams. Edit: Also, from an IU perspective, we want the B10 to remain strong. Look where Kansas is falling on those lists, see how often Duke gets brought up as a desirable add, we would not fair well in a huge realignment that blew up the Big 10.

Arizona, USC/UCLA, and a Texas team expand your brand to some of the biggest markets the BIG is not in yet.

Get in A&M's ear and bring in Oklahoma State as well. Then you have 2 8 team divisions, Big Ten East and West. Get to 20 teams and the Big Ten name still makes sense. Add USC, UCLA, Arizona, and Kansas and maybe have a Big Ten West that is USC, UCLA, Arizona, Kansas, A&M, Ok. St., Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and then an East that is everyone else.

Sounds like A&M was not consulted about adding Texas. Maybe we try and steal them and add Kansas. And if we push for 20 go for Notre Dame, Virginia, UNC, and Clemson.

That would be horrible for Indiana at the moment if we are being honest. Yes our football team may be on the rise but would you bet a conference spot on that? And our basketball program has been mediocre at best for 2 decades.

So they would destroy everything else for football. Good plan.

Haven't seen the kid play but the measurables look good. Trust in Woody.

I don't think there is much of a market for this to be honest. Look at the NBA's numbers. They are the pinnacle of their sport and it is not like the NBA is appointment TV. I mean, if the kid can get a million at 16, you do you man. However, I just don't see long term sustainability for a league paying that kind of money to high school kids to play basketball. There is only a short window in the summer where they would not be competing with more popular alternatives. Why watch these semi pros when the NBA is available? Why watch these guys you have no connection to when your Alma Mater or state school is available? Why watch this when the NFL and college football are available? Only the most diehard sports fans are going to be looking for something like this and it will only be when a whole host of other options is not available. That does not scream "league capable of inking $1 million deals with 16 year olds and staying viable" to me.

And put their names on them. Just completely go in a different direction than our norm.

I think 2 things worked against Roberts: 1. What type of recruits was he getting relationships with and bringing in under Miller. And 2. How has our big man development (particularly TJD) gone since he was here? Fair or not for both of those questions, the answers are not really pretty for Mike IMO.

Sign me up for your newsletter.

I think we talked past each other. Yes, the value is there IF the school is attached. Which is what I said. We have a clear cut case of their value without the school attached in the G League for all but the top 25 or so players each year. And on average that is about $35k a year. Someone used TJD as an example up above. With Twitter followers and such he is worth about $120k a year. However, without an Indiana University fanbase and hype machine around him, what is he worth if he was just playing for a team like the Mad Ants in Fort Wayne? "He is the next big thing for the Pacers!!!" Cool, ask Triple A baseball players what that ends up being worth. My point was not that colleges would not be trying to pay guys or get them money through the NIL. I believe that will happen, particularly with the NIL. However, I think a bunch of people are in denial about the players' value when not attached to one of these big schools. If you did away with the NCAA and had a minor league system like baseball, the Zion Williamsons of the world would go straight to the pros and guys like TJD would languish in a minor league system gaining little attention outside their small geographic footprint. IU is the draw more than any one player because in college the players are not around long enough to be the draw, particularly the uber talented ones.

They won't at first, then a Kentucky will drop a large amount of extras on a recruiting class, win a title, and start an arms race. Same will happen on the football side. All it takes is one school to start it and eventually everyone who wants to truly compete has to get on board too. The funny thing to me is that for most of these schools, the revenue generated by the athletes goes directly back to the athletes. Our basketball players stay in the nicest apartments in town. They have tutors. They have their own practice facility that they get use of any time of day. And if you removed the college aspect from the teams, these guys would be getting paid an average of $35k a year to play games in places like Sioux City and Fort Wayne to crowds of about 5,000 people. And they sure as heck would not have the perks that the colleges are giving them. I honestly think that the big time players are given more credit for driving the money than they deserve. They are there for a year. Most fans are not tuning in to see Top Rated Player X. They are tuning in to watch Indiana, Kentucky, Duke, and UNC. That money is not there if the college name is not attached. I don't care what anybody says, the minor leagues would not make NCAA money with the same players because the attachment to those teams is not there unless you are from the area. People in Fort Wayne don't care about the Indianapolis Indians and people in Indianapolis do not care about the Mad Ants. People in Fort Wayne and Indianapolis do care about Indiana, Purdue, and Notre Dame. The South Bend Steel Heads (fictitious NFL developmental team) are not going to be followed by anyone outside of their footprint. I just think the players are vastly overestimating their worth in a sport where the average player is on his team for 2 or 3 years at the big schools.

This is somewhat interesting. With Title IX, the cost of sports is going to go up even more. Let's be real, only 2 sports (Football and Men's basketball) would be able to maintain themselves as businesses if you stripped away the colleges from them. This is going to sound cruel, but at a certain point the cost to maintain things like women's gymnastics or men's wrestling will not be worth it.

What body part do you have to cut off to afford living in a place like that?

You are like a content machine Thanks for doing what you do.

https://www.thedailyhoosier.com/iu-offers-2023-guard-jeremy-fears-jr-who-left-very-impressed-with-program-after-visit/ Sounds like Woodson (and IU) really made an impression.

That Matta decision might be looking even better this summer. https://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/media-center/news/waiver-granted-allow-basketball-instruction-non-coaching-staff-members-summer Looks like this was really aimed at grad assistants and I think we picked up a good one there too, but man, it is going to be really terrible when Dane, Rosemund, and Hunter are on the road and we are left with...Thad freaking Matta to help run practices with Coach Woodson.