State of the program

[ThatadultfromHolland]

IMO NU’s biggest problem right now isn’t coaching or evaluation. It’s money. The NIL gap is shaping everything about this roster.

Martinelli took a hometown discount. Around $2M is probably half of what he could’ve gotten on the open market. They gave Tre a deal that was competitive but still below market. This year they couldn’t afford plug n play transfers and went for developmental ones. That’s where NU is operating. Close, but not enough.

And this isn’t even about going out and winning bidding wars for top portal guys. This is about having enough to retain your hits and add real rotation players around them. Right now they’re struggling to do both. When you can’t consistently keep your core, continuity falls apart fast.

It’s also why it’s tough to put this on Collins. You can’t build a real Big Ten roster if you don’t have the budget to keep your best players or bring in plug and play help. Development still matters, but it only works if you can actually keep the guys you develop.

The realistic path with the current setup is pretty narrow. Retain as much of the core as possible. Find undervalued portal pieces. Try to peak when those guys are upperclassmen. That can get you competitive teams and occasional tournament runs, but it’s not how you live near the top of the league.

If NU wants to seriously compete, the NIL pool has to increase. At minimum, enough to retain core pieces and add real depth. Otherwise you’re asking coaching to make up for a talent and resource gap, and that’s just not sustainable in this era and in this league.

 

[TheC]

Man, this sure is depressing. College sports is turning into the MLB where you have the L.A. Dodgers competing in the same league as the Pittsburgh Pirates. It's pointless. College sports for many programs is becoming pointless.

 

[CappyNU]

Two years ago, it was considered absolutely unfathomable that Coleman Hawkins got $2 million to transfer to Kansas State as a 5th year grad student, and now freshmen at NU are making $1 million. This will burst at some point, it's just a matter of how crazy it gets before something has to give.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

Two years ago, it was considered absolutely unfathomable that Coleman Hawkins got $2 million to transfer to Kansas State as a 5th year grad student, and now freshmen at NU are making $1 million. This will burst at some point, it's just a matter of how crazy it gets before something has to give.

What Freshman at NU has ever made $1M for that season? If you are referencing Tre, the shuttlebutt is NU offered him $1M for next season. He allegedly has offers in the $1.2M range from a SEC school and a few in the B1G 12. Tre was rumored to have a $400k figure as a Freshman. Sounds about right.

 

[macarthur31]

I align that NU has to catch up in NIL payroll. That's a big lever. But look at Indiana this past year to show that payroll alone doesn't guarantee success. They had a $32M budget for men's hoops this year, and while that had to cover Woodson's buyout, DeVries buyout, safe to assume a large chunk of it was and dwarfed anything NU put together.

However, NU also has policies which limit the pool that they can bring in (like rising seniors not being eligible), they may need to examine those.

There's also the portal scouting and recruitment process. NU has done this for high school level, but how have they built up the capacity to assess portal talent and then execute the visits within a compressed window? NU is obviously not alone in trying to navigate new terrain, but man, I'm hoping Coach is a quick study.

 

[NVAcat]

IMO NU’s biggest problem right now isn’t coaching or evaluation. It’s money. The NIL gap is shaping everything about this roster.

Martinelli took a hometown discount. Around $2M is probably half of what he could’ve gotten on the open market. They gave Tre a deal that was competitive but still below market. This year they couldn’t afford plug n play transfers and went for developmental ones. That’s where NU is operating. Close, but not enough.

And this isn’t even about going out and winning bidding wars for top portal guys. This is about having enough to retain your hits and add real rotation players around them. Right now they’re struggling to do both. When you can’t consistently keep your core, continuity falls apart fast.

It’s also why it’s tough to put this on Collins. You can’t build a real Big Ten roster if you don’t have the budget to keep your best players or bring in plug and play help. Development still matters, but it only works if you can actually keep the guys you develop.

The realistic path with the current setup is pretty narrow. Retain as much of the core as possible. Find undervalued portal pieces. Try to peak when those guys are upperclassmen. That can get you competitive teams and occasional tournament runs, but it’s not how you live near the top of the league.

If NU wants to seriously compete, the NIL pool has to increase. At minimum, enough to retain core pieces and add real depth. Otherwise you’re asking coaching to make up for a talent and resource gap, and that’s just not sustainable in this era and in this league.

Nailed it.

 

[NUera]

A few years back I said NIL and the portal were gonna turn us into a minor league program, even though at the time NIL was still in its infancy. Then for a minute it seemed like we’d avoid it. But it turns out the Reaper was just busy collecting the souls of other programs, and now he’s arrived for ours.

 

[hdhntr1]

Two years ago, it was considered absolutely unfathomable that Coleman Hawkins got $2 million to transfer to Kansas State as a 5th year grad student, and now freshmen at NU are making $1 million. This will burst at some point, it's just a matter of how crazy it gets before something has to give.

When enough teams put up big money to put together their teams and a whole bunch fail so the supporters get tired of seeing their monies pissed away with nothing to show for it

 

[samuirocks]

It seems football is getting the funding needed. Are they not committing to basketball yet?