Watch games and watch rosters...
Quote from Grouchos on March 29, 2024, 8:08 pmI know that everybody is enjoying the NCAA tournament but while I know we see this every year, it almost seems like this year is unprecedented as far as seeing players who have been very successful leaving their program to go into the portal.
"ITP's (players "in the portal) are proliferating like Rump's lies.
I had done some work on a good, deep, early list of draft prospects and hardly any of them have not gone into the portal!
Going to be another wild season as I am sure they all will be until the NCAA, congress, or, some newly formed governing body for college basketball realizes that they need to make some changes, such as:
- If a player graduates and wants to get in a year towards his masters, as a graduate player, he has to do it at the school he graduated from. Otherwise, he can't play. Enough already of these "mercenaries" getting another year at another school.
- Freshmen? Almost every freshman has doubts during his first year. First, I don't think freshmen should be allowed to transfer...period. I think they shouldn't be allowed to transfer until they have been at their school for two full years. After that, let them transfer anywhere they want without having to sit out. Of course, there can be challenges to the above rule. And, depending on the circumstances, a freshman can be allowed to transfer after one full year. However, he will then have to sit-out the year and will lose a year of eligibility. The idea is to make these kids, their parents, their trainers, their AAU coaches, their high school coaches, and, their crystal ball gazer/advisers really think about what the consequences are before just thinking the grass is greener somewhere else. This will really help stabilize the game. If the powers that be were to adopt this rule but wanted to change it to letting freshmen transfer after their frosh year but making them have to sit the next year, I could live with that but it wouldn't provide the stability of not letting them transfer until they have finished two years of college at the same institution they originally enrolled at.
- Transferring, playing at 4 schools in 5 years, etc., etc. NO FRICKING WAY! Players are allowed two transfers, MAX. And, the second transfer means you have to sit a year-you can retain eligibility but you sit the year. This will also add an element of thinking. If you look at #2 and #3, that means that a sophomore can transfer once without sitting. Let's say he goes somewhere and plays as a junior and doesn't like it. He can then transfer as a senior but must sit the year. YEAH
What all the above does is really aid stability for each team as conservatively, the transfer rate will be cut by at least 60%. Most of the freshmen will NOT transfer after a 2nd year. And, those that do will likely be better prepared to make a decision on a new school. And, with only juniors allowed to transfer a 2nd time and having to sit a year, very, very few juniors will want to do that.
NIL? The NCAA sure screwed the pooch on that one by NOT thinking about the consequences (because they are toothless and don't want to lose any more money in lawsuits-it's all about the money with them and not for the greater good of the game/players). No school should be able to guarantee that every player (Texas A&M proudly proclaimed that every offensive lineman on their football team would make $70,000!) gets a salary (let's call it for what it is). Players can make money off of their name, image and likeness (tee shirt, uni sales, product promo deals, etc., etc.). That's it. Yeah, that means that the stars are making most of the money and hardly anybody else will, but, that's America. Capitalism at work, not Communism. If the players getting the swag are smart, they share it.
Lastly, it's time to stop giving out all the extra years. It was 5 to play 4 and it should go back to 5 to play 4.
All of this is designed to be a win (for players)-win (for coaches)-win (for fanbases). The players won't like it but that's because nobody likes the taste of the medicine that is actually good for you. It's so bad that the old days where a booster would get a kid's mother a house and give him anothe $150 g's are the good old days. This has to change.
The game has survived (somehow) the awful idea that a WIDE open shot from a particular distance should be worth an extra point. It has survived not allowing a defender to touch an offensive player. It has survived letting the offensive driver use his off hand like a machete to attack a defender (who is not touching him) and get the defenseless defender a foul. It has survived it's top talents playing one year and leaving early for the NBA draft. But, it cannot survive destroying itself from the inside out, under the current rules (non-rules?) which is the modern version of the wild, wild west where just about anything goes and the richest programs can just buy the players (which is most of what is happening with all the transferring from players killing it at low and mid majors to high majors+good players leaving other high majors for the cash).
The above won't solve all of the ills, because, like Pandora's Box, once the NCAA let everything go, the culture (the pre-college kids coming up & their parents) went almost completely in the toilet, willing to chance the ride for the riches.
But, all of the above help the coaches who would like to coach and teach players again, instead of just "managing" them, praying that if they are super nice to them that the kid won't leave after the season. And, again, that'a a huge win for everybody involved.
That said, because some version of the above would be good for everybody, it will never happen. Things have to be completely broken now for anyone to support change...
I know that everybody is enjoying the NCAA tournament but while I know we see this every year, it almost seems like this year is unprecedented as far as seeing players who have been very successful leaving their program to go into the portal.
"ITP's (players "in the portal) are proliferating like Rump's lies.
I had done some work on a good, deep, early list of draft prospects and hardly any of them have not gone into the portal!
Going to be another wild season as I am sure they all will be until the NCAA, congress, or, some newly formed governing body for college basketball realizes that they need to make some changes, such as:
- If a player graduates and wants to get in a year towards his masters, as a graduate player, he has to do it at the school he graduated from. Otherwise, he can't play. Enough already of these "mercenaries" getting another year at another school.
- Freshmen? Almost every freshman has doubts during his first year. First, I don't think freshmen should be allowed to transfer...period. I think they shouldn't be allowed to transfer until they have been at their school for two full years. After that, let them transfer anywhere they want without having to sit out. Of course, there can be challenges to the above rule. And, depending on the circumstances, a freshman can be allowed to transfer after one full year. However, he will then have to sit-out the year and will lose a year of eligibility. The idea is to make these kids, their parents, their trainers, their AAU coaches, their high school coaches, and, their crystal ball gazer/advisers really think about what the consequences are before just thinking the grass is greener somewhere else. This will really help stabilize the game. If the powers that be were to adopt this rule but wanted to change it to letting freshmen transfer after their frosh year but making them have to sit the next year, I could live with that but it wouldn't provide the stability of not letting them transfer until they have finished two years of college at the same institution they originally enrolled at.
- Transferring, playing at 4 schools in 5 years, etc., etc. NO FRICKING WAY! Players are allowed two transfers, MAX. And, the second transfer means you have to sit a year-you can retain eligibility but you sit the year. This will also add an element of thinking. If you look at #2 and #3, that means that a sophomore can transfer once without sitting. Let's say he goes somewhere and plays as a junior and doesn't like it. He can then transfer as a senior but must sit the year. YEAH
What all the above does is really aid stability for each team as conservatively, the transfer rate will be cut by at least 60%. Most of the freshmen will NOT transfer after a 2nd year. And, those that do will likely be better prepared to make a decision on a new school. And, with only juniors allowed to transfer a 2nd time and having to sit a year, very, very few juniors will want to do that.
NIL? The NCAA sure screwed the pooch on that one by NOT thinking about the consequences (because they are toothless and don't want to lose any more money in lawsuits-it's all about the money with them and not for the greater good of the game/players). No school should be able to guarantee that every player (Texas A&M proudly proclaimed that every offensive lineman on their football team would make $70,000!) gets a salary (let's call it for what it is). Players can make money off of their name, image and likeness (tee shirt, uni sales, product promo deals, etc., etc.). That's it. Yeah, that means that the stars are making most of the money and hardly anybody else will, but, that's America. Capitalism at work, not Communism. If the players getting the swag are smart, they share it.
Lastly, it's time to stop giving out all the extra years. It was 5 to play 4 and it should go back to 5 to play 4.
All of this is designed to be a win (for players)-win (for coaches)-win (for fanbases). The players won't like it but that's because nobody likes the taste of the medicine that is actually good for you. It's so bad that the old days where a booster would get a kid's mother a house and give him anothe $150 g's are the good old days. This has to change.
The game has survived (somehow) the awful idea that a WIDE open shot from a particular distance should be worth an extra point. It has survived not allowing a defender to touch an offensive player. It has survived letting the offensive driver use his off hand like a machete to attack a defender (who is not touching him) and get the defenseless defender a foul. It has survived it's top talents playing one year and leaving early for the NBA draft. But, it cannot survive destroying itself from the inside out, under the current rules (non-rules?) which is the modern version of the wild, wild west where just about anything goes and the richest programs can just buy the players (which is most of what is happening with all the transferring from players killing it at low and mid majors to high majors+good players leaving other high majors for the cash).
The above won't solve all of the ills, because, like Pandora's Box, once the NCAA let everything go, the culture (the pre-college kids coming up & their parents) went almost completely in the toilet, willing to chance the ride for the riches.
But, all of the above help the coaches who would like to coach and teach players again, instead of just "managing" them, praying that if they are super nice to them that the kid won't leave after the season. And, again, that'a a huge win for everybody involved.
That said, because some version of the above would be good for everybody, it will never happen. Things have to be completely broken now for anyone to support change...