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If you ain’t payin, you ain’t playin

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EagerFan

Junior
Dec 24, 2010
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I'm impressed and even a bit amazed that, per the article, Painter has never brought in a transfer that wasn't also a graduate. That's very cool and the model I think Collins wants to use.

Also, it looks like one of the ways to a more impressive resume is to schedule a bunch of the P4 teams for the under $5 million category.
 
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Catmandoo78

Junior
Nov 12, 2025
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EagerFan said:
I'm impressed and even a bit amazed that, per the article, Painter has never brought in a transfer that wasn't also a graduate. That's very cool and the model I think Collins wants to use.

Also, it looks like one of the ways to a more impressive resume is to schedule a bunch of the P4 teams for the under $5 million category.
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How does that lead to an impressive resume? Assuming those teams are likely to be bad teams, a win against a bunch of cupcakes (even if they’re P4 cupcakes) doesn’t mean anything in the NET ranking system.
 
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EagerFan

Junior
Dec 24, 2010
3,349
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Catmandoo78 said:
How does that lead to an impressive resume? Assuming those teams are likely to be bad teams, a win against a bunch of cupcakes (even if they’re P4 cupcakes) doesn’t mean anything in the NET ranking system.
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A season where your OOC games are all victories over P4 teams and you have a winning record in the B1G conference (against the bottom half, sure, but still) will take you dancing. The $5 million and down category, as I read the article, still includes top 100 teams. They don't have to be cupcakes, they're just operating at a financial disadvantage. I haven't looked at real numbers across the P4, and the staff doesn't have the scheduling flexibility to intentionally create my snarky plan, but I suspect you could theoretically build schedules that target financially strapped P4 programs made up of teams ranked better than 150. I believe that would be an impressive resume for many teams not named Duke, Kentucky, NC, etc.

I mean, based on the article, the Cats may not be very far above that $5 line. Coaching and recruiting the right players for your style rather than just the most expensive players available will still matter. I'm sure we'll see some big spenders go bust or flame out early.
 
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EagerFan

Junior
Dec 24, 2010
3,349
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If you start with a baseline of hating Collins, every day can be a field day. Anything good that happens isn't his work and everything bad that happens is his fault. This year won't be any different than prior years in that regard.

imho
 
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Catmandoo78

Junior
Nov 12, 2025
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EagerFan said:
A season where your OOC games are all victories over P4 teams and you have a winning record in the B1G conference (against the bottom half, sure, but still) will take you dancing. The $5 million and down category, as I read the article, still includes top 100 teams. They don't have to be cupcakes, they're just operating at a financial disadvantage. I haven't looked at real numbers across the P4, and the staff doesn't have the scheduling flexibility to intentionally create my snarky plan, but I suspect you could theoretically build schedules that target financially strapped P4 programs made up of teams ranked better than 150. I believe that would be an impressive resume for many teams not named Duke, Kentucky, NC, etc.

I mean, based on the article, the Cats may not be very far above that $5 line. Coaching and recruiting the right players for your style rather than just the most expensive players available will still matter. I'm sure we'll see some big spenders go bust or flame out early.
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Problem is, I’m not sure you’d get many Q1 wins with that plan. And that will ultimately keep you out of the dance.
 
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NJCat

All-Conference
Mar 7, 2016
22,002
2,150
113
If, and it's a big IF, the issue is money, Collins has his hands tied. Time will tell.
 
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LawCat21

Redshirt
Oct 18, 2026
10
7
3
Highly recommend anyone interested to listen to the Eye On College Basketball Podcast episode discussing the tiers of spending in this article.

I don’t think the Cats need to be in one of the top tiers to be competitive, but they need to be able to retain their guys. Being able to recruit 4 stars more often does nothing when they leave after a year. This year looks a lot less bleak if they manage to gin up a few extra hundred thousand to keep Singleton (assuming money was the issue rather than something else).

Given the price of big men, I’m worried the price tag for a big like Ghai is going to skyrocket as soon as he looks decent in a few conference games and he’ll be gone.
 
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cedricmelons

cedricmelons

Freshman
Dec 13, 2001
409
62
28
Basketball needs it's own Uihlein equivalent. Who would be good candidates? Does Kip Kirkpatrick have that kind of dough, or did he max out his donations with the softball stadium?
 
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EagerFan

Junior
Dec 24, 2010
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LawCat21 said:
I don’t think the Cats need to be in one of the top tiers to be competitive, but they need to be able to retain their guys.
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This is the general conflict, right? Coach needs enough money every year to retain his own guys AND attract competitive recruits.

That doesn't have to be in the first few tiers of the article, but it looks like it has to be more than he had to spend this off season or he'd have retained Singleton.
 
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LawCat21

Redshirt
Oct 18, 2026
10
7
3
EagerFan said:
This is the general conflict, right? Coach needs enough money every year to retain his own guys AND attract competitive recruits.
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I don’t know for sure, but I suspect that there is a steep drop-off as far as valuation for incoming recruits after the top-tier guys who are sure to make an impact right away. Otherwise you wouldn’t see 4 star guys signing with A-10 schools like VCU.

I think recruits in that range aren’t even being looked at by the top schools out of high school since they know they can attract guys in the portal once they prove themselves worthy of playing time. The top schools probably don’t feel like they have the luxury to spare developmental minutes for someone like Ghai but will gladly pluck him away once he shows he is a solid player. There are some exceptions (UNC taking a flyer on Bennerman) but usually I think the top teams prefer a guy who can help now.
 
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NUera

Freshman
May 29, 2001
6,421
86
35
NJCat said:
If, and it's a big IF, the issue is money, Collins has his hands tied. Time will tell.
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What do you mean time will tell? We've known this since we couldn't back up the Brinks truck to keep Boo AND Chase
 
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Catmandoo78

Junior
Nov 12, 2025
458
265
63
LawCat21 said:
I don’t know for sure, but I suspect that there is a steep drop-off as far as valuation for incoming recruits after the top-tier guys who are sure to make an impact right away. Otherwise you wouldn’t see 4 star guys signing with A-10 schools like VCU.

I think recruits in that range aren’t even being looked at by the top schools out of high school since they know they can attract guys in the portal once they prove themselves worthy of playing time. The top schools probably don’t feel like they have the luxury to spare developmental minutes for someone like Ghai but will gladly pluck him away once he shows he is a solid player. There are some exceptions (UNC taking a flyer on Bennerman) but usually I think the top teams prefer a guy who can help now.
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Yeah I mean if you look at HS recruiting now, it’s nothing like it was. Top tier schools will take a couple high ranked studs from HS and then the rest is proven transfers who have already shown they can do it in college.

We don’t need to be in the first two tiers, but if you want to keep your head above water in the Big Ten, you have to be able to keep your guys and add a piece or two.

The problem is, we already couldn’t do it. And the price of the game keeps going up and up.
 
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hdhntr1

All-Conference
Sep 5, 2006
38,796
1,526
113
EagerFan said:
This is the general conflict, right? Coach needs enough money every year to retain his own guys AND attract competitive recruits.

That doesn't have to be in the first few tiers of the article, but it looks like it has to be more than he had to spend this off season or he'd have retained Singleton.
Click to expand...
We don't know. Supposedly they offered Singleton something like $1 mill and others offered a bit more but thought I heard he was still inclined to stay until all the people talking into ear convinced him otherwise
 
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hdhntr1

All-Conference
Sep 5, 2006
38,796
1,526
113
NUera said:
What do you mean time will tell? We've known this since we couldn't back up the Brinks truck to keep Boo AND Chase
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Time will tell if they open the wallets to a more realistic level in order to compete, They did it in FB as we supposedly spent $23 mill for this year, No will they do it for BB as well?
 
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wildcatpn

Junior
Oct 26, 2005
3,377
280
83
hdhntr1 said:
Time will tell if they open the wallets to a more realistic level in order to compete, They did it in FB as we supposedly spent $23 mill for this year, No will they do it for BB as well?
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Iowa State spends in the 10-12 million dollar range and NU is in the 7-10 million dollar range? If that’s true then….

1). ISU does a great job with talent evaluation as they are so much better than NU without spending a ton more.

2). If NU is really spending 7-10 million on this roster, that would mean each player is making 500k-700k on average. Obviously some make more than others. I know that’s peanuts for many teams these days but who on this roster is worth that much?
 
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hdhntr1

All-Conference
Sep 5, 2006
38,796
1,526
113
wildcatpn said:
Iowa State spends in the 10-12 million dollar range and NU is in the 7-10 million dollar range? If that’s true then….

1). ISU does a great job with talent evaluation as they are so much better than NU without spending a ton more.

2). If NU is really spending 7-10 million on this roster, that would mean each player is making 500k-700k on average. Obviously some make more than others. I know that’s peanuts for many teams these days but who on this roster is worth that much?
Click to expand...
I had not seen that number for us
 
Purple Pile Driver

Purple Pile Driver

All-Conference
May 14, 2014
29,373
4,605
113
wildcatpn said:
Iowa State spends in the 10-12 million dollar range and NU is in the 7-10 million dollar range? If that’s true then….

1). ISU does a great job with talent evaluation as they are so much better than NU without spending a ton more.

2). If NU is really spending 7-10 million on this roster, that would mean each player is making 500k-700k on average. Obviously some make more than others. I know that’s peanuts for many teams these days but who on this roster is worth that much?
Click to expand...
West
 
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Catmandoo78

Junior
Nov 12, 2025
458
265
63
hdhntr1 said:
We don't know. Supposedly they offered Singleton something like $1 mill and others offered a bit more but thought I heard he was still inclined to stay until all the people talking into ear convinced him otherwise
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After yesterday, it’s hard to say that the people in his ear were wrong.
 
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EagerFan

Junior
Dec 24, 2010
3,349
308
83
hdhntr1 said:
We don't know. Supposedly they offered Singleton something like $1 mill and others offered a bit more but thought I heard he was still inclined to stay until all the people talking into ear convinced him otherwise
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Per the article, he was probably marketable at the $2-3 million range, and that doesn't count the offering team's tourney prospects. Offers should consider the ear whispering crowd's influence in this new world. Teams without (strong) (recent) history of doing well in the tournament and/or putting players in the NBA are going to have to pay a lot more for similar talent when competing against teams with.
 
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