Posted by GW69  4/17/2024 8:28 am | #21 |
I said I would drop in on occasion.This topic interests me enough to throw in my two cents.
Given the NIL landscape as it stands right now I don’t see GW Basketball sustaining a program
that is meaningful nationally.Just won’t happen any time soon unless some regulations are
implemented.Even then with immediate transfers the whole enterprise of putting together a
consistent product is impossible.Call me stupid-As Joel says -are academics are not great.Our team is not good..GW is on the skids.Time to drop down conferences or D2 or D3 and focus on academics.I don’t know about the rest of you -but for me it would be nice to say I went here and feel proud of my association with
the school.Let’s be great at something!!Know when to “fold them”.I don’t believe my take will be actually
implemented -but this Is how I think and feel.
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Posted by Tennessee Colonial 4/17/2024 9:04 am | #22 |
I know a lot of Vanderbilt and Tennessee fans. Vanderbilt has been terrible in sports (except for baseball) the last half century. They will never leave the SEC because of the $ they get from the conference. UT fans feel like their being pressured to keep giving more and more. A lot of them have dropped their season football tickets because of the outlandish requests for more money to buy players. I don't think anyone I know who likes the new situation.
On a side note. Living in the South can be a pain with warm weather here. Cut the lawn twice and got my first mosquito bites on Sunday. My friends and relatives up in PA and NJ don't have to deal with bugs yet. Just earthquakes.
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Posted by Gwmayhem 4/17/2024 9:14 am | #23 |
Based on some of your reactions, I feel compelled to point out that I am not advocating a drop in conference affiliation. (I also think that BGF's point about this is an excellent one.) My original point was to suggest that while there was a point in time, not very long ago, when I never would have considered any merits of playing at a lower level, I am not so sure that NIL isn't going to force the school's hand. Which leads to my question of whether you would rather be a perennial bottom-tier school in the A10 or a Vermont/Colgate type who plays in a lesser conference but who may realistically compete for a spot at the Dance.
This of course leaves out what GWRising projects: a total revamp of the NCAA leaving GW without any meaningful landing spot from a sports perspective. (A drop to D3 appears to be realistic under this scenario.) This is a somewhat different discussion, from the vantage point of "what will happen to GW once this happens" as opposed to "what if any proactive moves should GW be making in the very near future?"
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Posted by GWRising 4/17/2024 10:15 am | #24 |
Yes, they are two separate discussions Gwmayhem but related. One is a short term discussion 0-10 years and the other a projection of the longer term schism that is coming to the NCAA which will force GW's hand.
As for the short-term, as I said previously, we can and should compete in the A-10. CC can produce a team that will compete for an A-10 title and NCAA consideration. The question is more of if he does that is it sustainable where we get a 3 or 4 year (or longer run)? NIL and Conference affiliation suggest it will not be sustainable unless winning comes with a significant bump in NIL resources (really to a million or more annually). The vultures are out there and tampering is a thing now making GW very vulnerable to poaching, especially after success.
Longer term, you all know what I think. Some of the best minds in college athletics see this on the horizon. The P5/6 schools will split because the money (football included) is too important to share with the lesser conferences who they believe add nothing or not much. When the split does occur, GW principally because of conference affiliation, lack of football and resources will not be able to join the P5/6 group. Without the share of NCAA money, the MM and LM conferences will implode and college athletics will become more regional to save on travel costs etc. The NIL money goes because no one is spending NIL money for perceived second tier athletics. We will return to more of an ECAC model of the 1970s in the Northeast except this time, there will be no need for athletic scholarships. Remember it's not just basketball we are talking about - all the other sports as well. So the D3 model seems the most likely when the money goes. This will not be a choice for GW, it will be forced upon them.
This is the predictable outcome that NIL has brought. A few will benefit at the expense of the many. The gulf between the haves and have nots will grow. Schools now have maybe 10-15x the NIL money GW has and that gulf will widen. As much as we all love GW it's going to be near impossible long term to compete with that. Before we had a fighting chance, today we are (like most of the D1 non P5/6 schools) swimming against a very strong tide.
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