2024-25 College Basketball Thread

[Bubbler]

Don't you think fans of Northwest Missouri State were rooting for Drake? I do

At my former shop? They just went through getting their whole roster gutted when the coach left for greener pastures. I can assure that they were definitely NOT rooting for his new school and they were not rooting for their kids who dispersed elsewhere, including several who were in the NCAA Tournament.

Fans of mid-majors are understandably scared to death about the changes in college athletics in the last few years. It is absolutely an existential crisis. One thing mids had over power schools in the one-and-done era is selling athletes who stuck around to their fans. Now it's the total opposite.

However, the power conference schools better be smart about how they handle things. They need to recognize that mids do provide a pipeline for them. Squeeze too tight and the pipeline dies off.

Same goes for high school recruiting. Many teams try to use the transfer portal near exclusively to get players. However, as long as eligibility rules continue to exist as they are presently, this inflated current group of players is going to deplete in a hurry. This is the last year where a lot of players have that COVID amnesty year. It has artificially inflated the pool of talent out there, making the portal a more viable way to build. Those days are gone now. The guf of souls (talent pool) has to be filled by someone.

 

[Bubbler]

This and the contempt Hurley is getting on this thread is starting to border on the insane (like Hurley!).

As long as Rick Pitino is in the Big East, Hurley is not even in the ballpark of the worst human being in his own league, never mind all of sports. heck he might not even medal in his own league. Greg McDermott got suspended for declaring his players had to stay on the plantation. Sean Miller was investigated by the FBI, sat by as his Black ass't coach took the fall and then got a life preserver from Xavier, whom he immediately threw overboard the second a real national title contender came calling.

He's not even close to the worst human being in his own sport. Chris forking Beard, a job jumper who makes Pitino look loyal, is getting gushing longform written about him after beating the ever-loving shirt out of his fiancee a few years ago.

Two years after losing the Texas job, Chris Beard finds his place at Ole Miss

The university and the city of Oxford have welcomed the coach as he rebuilds the men's basketball team.

www.espn.com

Bruce Pearl and John Calipari are so dirty they've left the NCAA no choice but to punish them and their programs. For crying out loud, New Mexico State shut its season down a few years ago b/c of hazing within the program, and their coach, Greg Heiar has gotten two JUCO gigs since then.

heck, you could argue Hurley is the most sane and above-board great coach UConn's ever had! Jim Calhoun did much worse and got busted by the NCAA mulitple times and his thanks to Patrick Sellers for taking the fall was going to the governor and asking him to make sure Donyell Marshall got the Central CT gig over Sellers a few years back (Marshall flamed out and Sellers eventually got it).

Hurley is truly batshirt insane and I don't doubt his career will end with a rageful on-court incident someday. But he hasn't been busted for beating his wife and he hasn't gotten into NCAA trouble and he climbed to the pinnacle of his profession from high school and low D-I ball. And at least he's got some self-awareness about himself and understands how foolish he looks--even if he's bullshirtting about it. Most other lunatic coaches aren't offering that.

BYH named several coaches that segments of the Indiana fanbase wanted badly. Guess who they're inspired by?

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

Dane Fife?

 

[swingline]

@Bubbler, I'm the same way about SEC teams. I never root for any of them to do well. fork all the rest of them is what I say. I never understood conference pride or any of that bullshirt. They're league foes to my team. fork 'em.

 

[poindexter]

This and the contempt Hurley is getting on this thread is starting to border on the insane (like Hurley!).

As long as Rick Pitino is in the Big East, Hurley is not even in the ballpark of the worst human being in his own league, never mind all of sports. heck he might not even medal in his own league. Greg McDermott got suspended for declaring his players had to stay on the plantation. Sean Miller was investigated by the FBI, sat by as his Black ass't coach took the fall and then got a life preserver from Xavier, whom he immediately threw overboard the second a real national title contender came calling.

He's not even close to the worst human being in his own sport. Chris forking Beard, a job jumper who makes Pitino look loyal, is getting gushing longform written about him after beating the ever-loving shirt out of his fiancee a few years ago.

Two years after losing the Texas job, Chris Beard finds his place at Ole Miss

The university and the city of Oxford have welcomed the coach as he rebuilds the men's basketball team.

www.espn.com

Bruce Pearl and John Calipari are so dirty they've left the NCAA no choice but to punish them and their programs. For crying out loud, New Mexico State shut its season down a few years ago b/c of hazing within the program, and their coach, Greg Heiar has gotten two JUCO gigs since then.

heck, you could argue Hurley is the most sane and above-board great coach UConn's ever had! Jim Calhoun did much worse and got busted by the NCAA mulitple times and his thanks to Patrick Sellers for taking the fall was going to the governor and asking him to make sure Donyell Marshall got the Central CT gig over Sellers a few years back (Marshall flamed out and Sellers eventually got it).

Hurley is truly batshirt insane and I don't doubt his career will end with a rageful on-court incident someday. But he hasn't been busted for beating his wife and he hasn't gotten into NCAA trouble and he climbed to the pinnacle of his profession from high school and low D-I ball. And at least he's got some self-awareness about himself and understands how foolish he looks--even if he's bullshirtting about it. Most other lunatic coaches aren't offering that.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

As I've said already, they're morons.

FTFY

 

[poindexter]

If you are upset because State U has a brand new look in the fall, with new players, it is because either a) players left for more money; b) players left because they found a better opportunity elsewhere; or c) your team ran the player off.

If the answer is a or b, I refuse to begrudge them the chance to make their lives better, and I can't understand why you wouldn't feel the same.

Everything is transactional. Power conferences poach from mid-majors. Mid-majors poach from D II. UC San Diego, who went 30-4 this year, and gave a helluva scare to Michigan in the first round, poached six players from D II, including 4 starters and the first guy off the bench.

UCSD basketball’s cheat code: A Division I team with a Division II roster

Tritons have 6 Division II transfers, including 4 starters and the first guy off the bench

www.sandiegouniontribune.com

And I see plenty of recommendations about limiting the players' movement. I've yet to see any recommendations for coaches.


I assume this process of, you know, letting the stars of this billion dollar show actually get paid, is good for the players. If this is better for them, I am all for it.

 

[dixiehack]

As Gee said, they will have to let/encourage the players to unionize so they can collectively bargain. But it is entirely reasonable for fans of a team to want roster continuity. Pro sports leagues would find it utterly intolerable to have players enter as free agents and become free agents after every season. Oh, and if they underachieve and don't get a better offer you are still expected to hold a roster spot for them next season. The live gate would tank and ratings wouldn't be far behind.

 

[Webster]

Men's CBB has basically eliminated the concept or the superstar team/player. The money is too good in the NBA to delay going for a year (especially given how much the second contracts are for top players). So, by the time you pay attention to a player, they are likely weeks away from leaving. Multi year arcs with Christian Laettner or Patrick Ewing are long in the rearview and the ability to freely transfer to chase the highest NIL paycheck can gut teams of the next level of player who is a potential second rounder/UDFA.

Good for the kids, but bad for the viewing experience.

 

[BTExpress]

@Bubbler, I'm the same way about SEC teams. I never root for any of them to do well. fork all the rest of them is what I say. I never understood conference pride or any of that bullshirt. They're league foes to my team. fork 'em.

The only reason "league pride" exists is because of playoffs and tournaments.

When people are championing 12-0 or 11-1 football teams and 30-2 basketball teams who haven't played anyone to make the postseason, those 10-2 and 24-10 teams who HAVE played a bunch of tough teams are apt to start beating their chests about their tough conference as a means of arguing they deserve one of those coveted berths.

 

[dixiehack]

Now that's an office pool!

For the first time in nearly 10 years, a Berkshire Hathaway employee claimed Warren Buffett's $1 million grand prize for his company's NCAA bracket contest.

An anonymous employee from aviation training company FlightSafety International, a subsidiary of Buffett's Berkshire, won the annual internal bracket contest after correctly calling 31 of the 32 games in the first round of the men's basketball tournament dubbed March Madness, according to a statement.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/24/ber...buffetts-march-madness-bracket-challenge.html

 

[dixiehack]

Sweet 16 starting fives by original college. (Image is clearer once you click on it.)