Yes, I will still watch, but the NIL era has made the game objectively unlikable now. Every single story is about the portal. I am so apathetic to this now. This sucks. As I said, I will still watch, but this is really the first time I’ve legitimately felt deterred by the product.
I Hate This Era
- Thread starter ABLCommenter
- Start date
I will agree something needs done.
To me, this is still better than Cal’s last 3 years. That was totally apathy from me.
I guess I’m in the minority here, but I don’t get the hate. To me the portal gives us exciting news to follow during a time that was typically a dead period. Not only that, but now, we don’t have to put as much hope in freshmen. There are definitely some drawbacks to NIL in its early stages, but it will evolve. Overall, it makes the offseason more fun.
I understand why people have an issue with NIL. I love the recruiting gossip…but it’s a little silly with the players who switch schools 2-3 times. Hopefully some legislation changes things for the better.
I do like having the Walter Claytons and Zach Edeys and Otega Owehs staying in school longer.
I do like having the Walter Claytons and Zach Edeys and Otega Owehs staying in school longer.
Yeah I’m excited about the Pope era but disappointed in the landscape of college basketball. NIL + unlimited transfer portal just created college free agency with no contracts. I miss the days of getting freshman and then staying 3-4 years to form a team.
I also miss the days when the NBA wasn’t a 48 min 3 point contest and the NFL didn’t have so many soft penalties.
As I say this, I realize I’m just getting old. Back in my day…
I also miss the days when the NBA wasn’t a 48 min 3 point contest and the NFL didn’t have so many soft penalties.
As I say this, I realize I’m just getting old. Back in my day…
I don’t like this version of CBB nearly as much either. But I’ve invested a lifetime into following the sport so I can’t quit it now.
And it’s still fun to follow IF you change your mentality, get rid of all those old sentimental notions and accept that they’re all now just paid mercenaries. The portal provides some fun drama. It’s kinda like a real life fantasy football draft where the decks all get re-shuffled every year. Who is gonna be on what roster when the smoke clears? Tune in to find out!
And it’s still fun to follow IF you change your mentality, get rid of all those old sentimental notions and accept that they’re all now just paid mercenaries. The portal provides some fun drama. It’s kinda like a real life fantasy football draft where the decks all get re-shuffled every year. Who is gonna be on what roster when the smoke clears? Tune in to find out!
I think its fair to include the changes made with officiating as well. All the stoppages are ruining the flow and momentum of the game.
I watched an interview with Brooks and he was asked about putting an entire team together on short notice, like Pope. He gave a great explanation about the current NIL and portal situation, but I was really interested when he said that they now have to recruit their own players that they want to keep, throughout the entire season. I’m all for players doing what’s best for them but there needs to be some restrictions on transferring, maybe a return to sitting a year out or conference restrictions.
I don't like aspects of it either but I'm grateful for the portal because last year would've been a disaster without it. We've all known for a long time that when Cal left it would be a complete rebuild the next year and it was as we had no players leftover but with the portal, we had a pretty good season (at least for a first year coach with no returnees).
I just hate the idea that this money at the moment has no ceiling and paying a 20 year old $2-$4m is going to take money away from what college education is supposed to be about.
Colleges only have themselves to blame. They should have put a cap on coaches salaries long ago saying he/she can't be paid more than the department heads, and this would have never happened because student athletes would still value getting an education.
Yes, its about TV ad revenues and other peripheral income streams but the break in the dam so to speak was when coaches started getting paid. I don't think anyone would have a problem with colleges taking TV ad revenue and creating scholarships , building student centers, investing in research ,state of the art practice facilities, etc
but when they see a coach wearing Armani suits and getting >$2m a year to coach, everyone is going to want their piece of the pie.
Colleges only have themselves to blame. They should have put a cap on coaches salaries long ago saying he/she can't be paid more than the department heads, and this would have never happened because student athletes would still value getting an education.
Yes, its about TV ad revenues and other peripheral income streams but the break in the dam so to speak was when coaches started getting paid. I don't think anyone would have a problem with colleges taking TV ad revenue and creating scholarships , building student centers, investing in research ,state of the art practice facilities, etc
but when they see a coach wearing Armani suits and getting >$2m a year to coach, everyone is going to want their piece of the pie.
Im not a big fan of the portal but it is what it is. The NCAA does need to change the transfer rules though. ONE freebie but after that, you must sit out a year. And if they could, tie all the nil money to staying at least 3 years.
I personally LOVE IT! I hope it never goes back to freshman dominant recruiting!
To me this is a huge improvement over the last 20 years.
Coaches and officials and do nothing administrators ruined the college game.
NIL will seek its own level. The market will correct.
I’m glad the players are finally getting paid on their name instead of someone else getting it.
I’ve never been one to count other people’s money so it doesn’t concern me how much they get.
From what I do know from several people actually writing NIL checks is the numbers are much exaggerated.
Since I’m a UK fan I want UK players to set the standard and be at the mountaintop of NIL too.
Coaches and officials and do nothing administrators ruined the college game.
NIL will seek its own level. The market will correct.
I’m glad the players are finally getting paid on their name instead of someone else getting it.
I’ve never been one to count other people’s money so it doesn’t concern me how much they get.
From what I do know from several people actually writing NIL checks is the numbers are much exaggerated.
Since I’m a UK fan I want UK players to set the standard and be at the mountaintop of NIL too.
Last season was some of the best college basketball we’ve seen in a long time.
Looks like we’ll have 5 guys returning plus bringing in 2 in state talents.
As long as the other guys we load up with bleed blue, I’m good with it.
I’m sure the system will have to be tweaked. Probably need to figure out how to have more accountability. Free agency every year without consequences is probably not sustainable.
But again, the product on the floor has been good. And contrary to much of the weeping and gnashing of teeth, we appear to be positioned near the top as far as ability to compete in this era.
Looks like we’ll have 5 guys returning plus bringing in 2 in state talents.
As long as the other guys we load up with bleed blue, I’m good with it.
I’m sure the system will have to be tweaked. Probably need to figure out how to have more accountability. Free agency every year without consequences is probably not sustainable.
But again, the product on the floor has been good. And contrary to much of the weeping and gnashing of teeth, we appear to be positioned near the top as far as ability to compete in this era.
I honestly don’t care. Not to sound harsh, but I’m a Kentucky fan, and that’s it. The small schools exist for us to beat up on, as far as I’m concerned.
Well yeah but , when I think of “the good old days “ it was when players stayed in school for 3 to 4 years and transfers weren’t as likely. Watching guys like Kenny Walker , Melvin Turpin , and Tony Delk develop added a lot to my UK fandom experience.For me , the game started eroding when the one&done era began. I realize many on here weren’t alive during those days though, lol .
I think we’re more likely to hang onto and develop guys like that now than we have been over the last 15 years.
Will probably be somewhere in the middle, since some kids will get lured away by a big money offer. But the revolving door to the NBA should slow down substantially.
Your "foundation" is the heart and soul of a person, building, program, catch, etc. What your foundation is is who you are, what your beliefs are built on and how well you weather a storm.
A weak foundation for a building and it can fall down much easier than a building with a strong foundation.
A person who has a strong foundation will usually make the right decisions in the most taunting situations.
Our foundation at UK is our tradition. Everyone remembers the Unforgettable's and what they did for UK.
In this new era of college sports, the foundations at schools like UK will slowly diminish and in a few years, younger fans will only remember the "moment" and not our history.
With this new era, when does anyone think we will hang another players jersey in the rafters?
Coaches will give up and retire much quicker in this environment. The days of Joe B, Gene Keady, Bob Knight, Denny Crum, Rat face, Dean Smith are all gone. Coaches come and go. There is no loyalty left expect to the dollar bill.
I have what I would like to think is fairly nice UK themed basement. I have items dating back from the 50's up to today. I have it all insured and walked my daughters thru it one day explains to them the value of each item so when the day comes I leave this place, they will have some sort of idea of what they got.
I have a mounted framed piece that is a blue/white .357 derringer and a red/black .357 derringer with the encryption "Battle In the Bluegrass" signed my Joe B and Denny Crum.
My grandkids asked what is the battle of the bluegrass.
That is what our tradition is. Kids today could care less about playing UL in this game. It's all about the money now.
There is no stability left in the game. No new additions to our traditions except if we win a title.
Next time in Rupp, look up and ask yourself what the ghosts of the those names hanging in our Rafters would think about all this.
A weak foundation for a building and it can fall down much easier than a building with a strong foundation.
A person who has a strong foundation will usually make the right decisions in the most taunting situations.
Our foundation at UK is our tradition. Everyone remembers the Unforgettable's and what they did for UK.
In this new era of college sports, the foundations at schools like UK will slowly diminish and in a few years, younger fans will only remember the "moment" and not our history.
With this new era, when does anyone think we will hang another players jersey in the rafters?
Coaches will give up and retire much quicker in this environment. The days of Joe B, Gene Keady, Bob Knight, Denny Crum, Rat face, Dean Smith are all gone. Coaches come and go. There is no loyalty left expect to the dollar bill.
I have what I would like to think is fairly nice UK themed basement. I have items dating back from the 50's up to today. I have it all insured and walked my daughters thru it one day explains to them the value of each item so when the day comes I leave this place, they will have some sort of idea of what they got.
I have a mounted framed piece that is a blue/white .357 derringer and a red/black .357 derringer with the encryption "Battle In the Bluegrass" signed my Joe B and Denny Crum.
My grandkids asked what is the battle of the bluegrass.
That is what our tradition is. Kids today could care less about playing UL in this game. It's all about the money now.
There is no stability left in the game. No new additions to our traditions except if we win a title.
Next time in Rupp, look up and ask yourself what the ghosts of the those names hanging in our Rafters would think about all this.
I’m guessing you’re young, because you appear to think of the old way as the Cal one and done era. Most of us are thinking of something else.
LOL. You think Jordan went to UNC for the education? AD at UK? How drunk are you?
This is the problem. The younger guys have no idea how great things used to be. You can tell them, but they didn't live through it, so they don't really "get it". This is the only college basketball they know and so they don't see all the same problems that we older guys see. It's not the same game we grew up with, it's not "our" game anymore.
We’ve gone from renting freshman for a year to renting seniors.
You can call it what you like but that’s the truth.
Will it get us at least a national championship and four final fours as the last guy?
Ask me in four years and I’ll give you my answer.
You can call it what you like but that’s the truth.
Will it get us at least a national championship and four final fours as the last guy?
Ask me in four years and I’ll give you my answer.
If they make students sit out coaches should sit out too
Our incoming guys were freshmen or sophomores last year.
Our likely returnees will be 3 sophomores, 1 junior, 1 senior.
Bringing in 3 more guys playing their first year of college basketball.
I’ve never seen more capitalists turn into Marxists when college athletics are involved.
And I’ve never seen more commies become fervent nationalists when international soccer is involved
so now we’re back to calling each other communists…cool.
The biggest problem we have is that we are really good at tearing things down but a complete inability to build anything to replace it that is better.
The problem isn’t NIL or the transfer portal. It is the unstructured chaos that leads to the wild Wild West.
If there was an Effective cap, limits on transfer quantities, and frequencies and minimum time commitments most of the problems go away, players get paid and fans get more parity and less beggin for extra checks…
The biggest problem we have is that we are really good at tearing things down but a complete inability to build anything to replace it that is better.
The problem isn’t NIL or the transfer portal. It is the unstructured chaos that leads to the wild Wild West.
If there was an Effective cap, limits on transfer quantities, and frequencies and minimum time commitments most of the problems go away, players get paid and fans get more parity and less beggin for extra checks…
The money has very quickly gotten out of control. We’ve gone from a few hundred thousand dollars to millions in just a couple of years. Our sport will not survive with this kind of money and zero guidelines.
That’s why I said this only ends in two ways: we take the money completely out of the game or we get collective bargaining.
Things can always be adjusted here and there but you don't have to follow this stuff daily, and I think most coaches who actually do this for a living would say don't. It's not your job to look up the stats of dozens of players you've likely never heard of before a portal tweet was sent out and dream of them playing for UK. And then when they go elsewhere (because we can't sign 40 guys), have an aneurysm. Why would a fan stress themselves out over NIL and portal moves? Just be patient.
I liked it better when we paid under the table or funneled the money to players through shoe companies, fake jobs for parents, and AAU programs. True amateurism in men’s college basketball and football hasn’t been a thing in at least 40 years.
While I agree better guardrails should’ve been put into place initially for this new era, I always thought the NCAA/schools held way too much power over the athletes in the old days.
While I agree better guardrails should’ve been put into place initially for this new era, I always thought the NCAA/schools held way too much power over the athletes in the old days.
College is an effing joke and always has been. They get these poor moron students to sink tens of thousands (or more) into loans but then when they graduate and can't find a job in their field starting out for more than mcdonalds employees make its like what do you do?
It's a joke and has never been about education or helping students. It's been about the rich getting richer. Same with sports. The players that get all the ratings were paid nothing for decades and now they are getting what they deserve.
The stupid transfer portal annoys me way more than NIL.
It’s all part of the process. But yes, it’s communist to say the coaches, dept heads etc should all get the same and the governing body should determine what that is and the rest should be used to build buildings, infrastructure etc.
There has to be chaos before organization. No one thinks that this is how it should be. But it’s a step in the direction of a true capitalistic system. The universities have to declare the players employees to move forward. They don’t want to do that, but that’s the only way this gets fixed. It’s in the Universities hands at this point. If you want to get mad at someone, get mad at them not the players. Everyone (including you) does what’s best for them and their families in America.
There must be some sanity or college athletics will destroy itself. That's just a fact.
When it first started, i assumed all these people who gathered wealth by making wise investments would be conservative when it came to literally getting zero return on investment with nil, but boy was I wrong.
I still have no idea why these people spend so much, but they do.
There is a difference between capitalism and greed.