NT80

We are allowed 15 useable players, not 12. We all know about Hodge bringing Tylor Perry (best player on the team) off the bench. Starting five are not always the best five. Player #9 or #11 on the bench depth chart should still be able to contribute something. They are on scholarship because of some skill a coach saw in them. To never play 7 guys says poor recruiting evaluation or players not up to college game speed. We have players 3 years on the bench. Why?

Yes, but that in itself is the criticism. They don't play yet take up valuable roster space during a season with injuries that we needed other contributors. Either play them or trade them, as they say.

Isn't that what Hodge has now, 7 guys that basically just sit on the end of the bench and never play?

It was probably difficult for them to schedule in football as an Independent.

The University of Massachusetts is set to join the MAC in all applicable sports for the 2025-26 school year, sources told ESPN on Monday. UMass is an independent in football but plays in the Atlantic-10 in basketball and the vast majority of the school's other sports. UMass had also been engaged with Conference USA, per sources. Ultimately, the MAC made more geographic sense, and it also houses more of the sports that UMass offers. The move of UMass to the MAC will leave Notre Dame and Connecticut as the lone independents in college football, with Army set to join the American Athletic Conference in the upcoming season. https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/39605350/sources-umass-set-become-13th-member-mac-25-26-season

Pitiful. I think there will be even less player loyalty to the program in the future. Sadly, few players these days spend their entire college sports career at the same school or appreciate their time playing for a program. It's more about what will you give me if I play for you?

Poor ending. I love Edwards as a player but he was out of control on several drives to the basket again this game. The strategy seemed to be drive the lane or pass down low to draw fouls the last 6-8 minutes. UTSA was ahead on fouls 6-2 at that point. But several possessions ended in wild shots, or losing ball control and a turnover instead. We had a timeout to set up a play at the end, instead of this playground ball, but never used it. It really falls on the coaches to keep the players informed about the shot clock, timeouts, and foul situations. Several shot clock violations. There are communication gaps with the team that shouldn't be happening this time of season.

The SEC and Big10 fear a 1-loss Tulane and/or 1-loss App State both getting an at-large CFP spot over a 3-loss SEC or Big10 team. They want more at-large spots for their 3-4 place teams.

Also Softball at home at 4:30 vs. New Mexico and 7:00 pm vs Texas Tech.

The article starts with a video clip of Memphis at NT game... "The University of Memphis is currently gathering and reviewing information regarding a potential issue impacting Malcolm Dandridge's eligibility and is withholding him from competition until further notice," the school said in a statement. "Memphis' game against FAU on Sunday is essentially a must-win for the Tigers' postseason hopes. They opened the season with a 15-2 record, rising as high as No. 10 in the Associated Press poll, but have since lost six of 10 games to plummet out of most projected NCAA tournament brackets. Since Hardaway took over at Memphis in 2018, the Tigers have been the subject of multiple NCAA investigations. There was an 18-month NCAA investigation due to alleged violations involving James Wiseman and other recruits." https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/39590076/memphis-malcolm-dandridge-tigers-look-eligibility

The Super Pit 3:00 PM, February 24, 2024Coverage: ESPNU Denton, TX Line: UNT -14.5 Over/Under: 137.5 https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/game/_/gameId/401602150/utsa-north-texas

Would it be better to rest him more since UTSA is...just UTSA?

Alabama, the University, paid Nick Saban as an employee. They agreed he was worth what they paid based on the Marketing he could bring the school. Players are not the product. The sport is the product. The sport is only as good as the coach and the players he recruits and trains make it. The players are compensated with education currently. That's what they agreed to in their Commitment letter. You could work for Apple. Apple makes billions but you make only what you agreed to be hired for, not how much Apple earns. If you want to make college players employees then there needs to be different contracts and rules from what it is now. Wages, hours expected, level of results expected, etc. You can be fired. You will need to pay for your school too as part of your employment unless negotiated. If you want to re-negotiate wages or resign to go to another school that will need to be in the contract also.

I don't mind coaches getting what the market pays. It's a career for the coach. The market makes them overpaid. Schools pay a LOT for a quality coach because they see it as an investment in Marketing for the school if they win. The players are Students, not career employees. They are getting free education in exchange for playing their sport. If they want to quit being a player and go coach for $$ then that is their option too. We would never have a statue of Joe Greene in front of the stadium if he had played college football today. He would have been bought after his first season here by a P5 school to go play for them.

Saban told ESPN.... "What we have now is not college football -- not college football as we know it. You hear somebody use the word 'student-athlete.' That doesn't exist." "But what you have now isn't name, image and likeness. A collective has nothing to do with name, image and likeness," Saban said. Saban said he would like to see any player compensation model that is created to be brought in-house at the various schools and taken away from donor-based collectives. Of course, then there could be Title IX issues. And while Saban wants to see players get their share of the financial pie, he said the only way any of this works is if there's also a commitment on the players' side. "Just like an NFL player has a contract or a coach has a contract, something in place so you don't have all this raiding of rosters and mass movement," he said. "I wonder what fans are going to say when they don't even know the team from year to year because there's no development of teams, just bringing in new players every year." https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/39572219/nick-saban-wants-voice-change-college-football

UTSA failed to score basically the last 3 minutes of the game, handing it to USF.

Poor endings seem to be contagious recently in MG basketball.

As expected, the SEC and Big10 are already getting greedy... CFP officials discuss expanding to 14-team playoff in 2026 "Officials will still need to discuss how a 14-team playoff would split up automatic qualifiers -- for example, could the Big Ten and SEC get as many as four automatic bids? Those early discussions were had Wednesday, with no definitive conclusions.... Everything, of course, boils down to finances. The Big Ten and SEC have made it clear the next contract will be more financially favorable than the current one, where 80% of the money is split evenly among the Power 5 leagues. Now there's four power conferences, and the Big Ten and SEC have a combined 34 teams... There has been a push, especially from the Big Ten, for an increase in automatic qualifiers for the CFP. Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti has made clear that he values the regular season and believes that increasing automatic qualifier spots could assure that late season games have higher stakes." https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/39572477/cfp-officials-discuss-expanding-14-team-playoff-2026

Hoos your Daddy?

At any one time, just over 16,000 college football players are draft eligible. And then only around 259 players will be drafted. That is 0.016% of the draft-eligible NCAA pool. Of those players, about 60% will make it onto an NFL roster at some point in their careers. However, only about 35% of drafted players will make it onto a roster in their rookie season. Those few that make an NFL roster will have an average NFL career of only 3.3 years. In other words, if their career choice is only NFL career or Bust.... 😕

That's correct, and I agree. I would say that it is diluted beyond P5 status anymore. Who decides why conferences or programs are P5 in the first place? It's an arbitrary term. The Big12 expanded to offer four G5 programs. But there are no benchmarks to meet other than an invite. And now schools like Smut are simply buying their way in, which taints the quality even more.

You really are clueless.

PAC brand > MWC brand. MWC schools see an easy road to a P5 conference with a merger. However, PAC2 currently wants only the best names in the MWC, not all. MWC leadership is trying to push an all or none merger. Eventually the better programs like Boise, SDSU, etc will split away to the PAC anyway, if there is a reasonable media package being proposed.

Exactly. He didn't go to Clemson when his dad was there.