You're listening to the Back Home Network presented by Home
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Galen Clavier joining you once again.
It is Mother's Day, the 12th of May of 2024.
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A lot to talk about, and I wanted to.
Go and dive in and maybe. Just kind of start things off by
talking a little football and then we're going to get to IU
basketball. First of all, congratulations to
IU Softball, who overcame what was a bit of a disappointing
regular season and got all the way to the Big 10 title game.
Ended up losing to Michigan yesterday in that but a
tremendous performance by Shonda Stanton and the ladies and we'll
see what happens with the NCAA tournament draw.
Maybe that was enough to get them in.
Also IU Baseball, right on the borderline.
Had a chance extra. Innings at Nebraska yesterday
and then gave up A2 run Homer in the bottom of the 10th, but
right there at the top of the Big 10, they've been playing as
well. As anybody and.
Still, you know, kind of in the mix for a regular season Big 10
title, which is amazing given where that team started and and
the struggles they had in March. So hopefully you can pull it
together and win these last four or five games and and head into
the Big 10 tournament on a strong note.
Basketball. Speaking of strong notes, it's.
Been as I. Said a while since I.
Was on the microphone. And a lot has.
Happened with IU basketball in terms of signings.
To the point that. Frankly, like a lot of.
The concerns that. We shared in March and February
regarding this team at least on paper look like they've been
addressed and I think that the coaching staff deserves A
tremendous amount of credit for that.
You know, when you think about where this.
Team has been at. And and what the problems really
were and and what we really tried to talk about over the
course of the, you know, the, the.
End of the season and. It kind of the struggles.
That Indiana was having. A lot of it really surrounded
this idea of there's clearly some issues with the way that IU
has been constructed roster wise as far as the 2324.
Roster is concerned. How do they address that going
into 2425? And a lot of it was well, A,
they're going to have to retain the players that they've got,
that they want, that, that are planning on coming back.
You knew Khalil Ware was probably not coming back, but
how many of the remaining players would stick around?
That was, it seemed like an open question.
And then who can they pull in the portal given the struggles
that they had outside of the center position in the portal
last year? Well, you look at what?
Indiana's Done and if? Those were the first two tests
retaining and then attracting the right kind of talent.
They really look like they've passed both of those with flying
colors, you know, we've. Seen a lot?
Of of people talking about this IU roster specifically as being
among the best in terms of how it was propped, you know like
augmented over the course of this non conference or excuse me
the excuse me the out of season not the non conference.
The non conference is later. But if we look at Bart Torvick's
website, which I always highly recommend, Tarvik is kind of
like Ken. Palm, but it's free and.
The calculations I often times think are a little bit better
than Ken Palm in terms of trying to figure out exactly what's
going on analytically in college basketball.
He's got this thing on his website now, which is college
basketball projections for next year based upon roster data.
And what you find is that if you Scroll down, I mean, you know
the the top teams right now in terms of where their rosters are
at, It's Houston, Iowa State, Kansas, Gonzaga and Duke.
All of those make some sense. Duke may be a little bit high
given what they lost. But Indiana?
Who Of course. Is as you'll recall you know
finish the season in the 70s or 80s in Torvik is up to 21st and
you can see here on the on the screen projected to be the 29th
best offense, 27th best defense and you know if you look at what
they've got returning they've got about. 59% of their or about
60. Percent of their minutes
returning. They've got quite a bit of
talent returning overall and they were able to pull in
players that look like they're going to have a positive impact
on what they're doing and the fact let me switch to.
Another screen Real. Quick and what you'll see here
is the what this called the roster cast.
And what it does is it basically goes through and looks at what
the individual players that are on the roster now might be able
to contribute. And you know as you might
expect, Malik Renew kind of at the top of the heap in terms of
total minutes, total usage, offensive rating projected at
1:13, which would be awesome. But then #2 miles Rice who of
course Indiana has brought in, you know as as one of its guards
for this upcoming year. Trey Galloway up near the top.
Mackenzie and Bako. Then Omar Balo.
Kane and Carlisle. I mean just right down the list,
like what you see with this team.
Is a team that. Looks like it's going.
To be able to get contributions from a.
Variety of different people offensively because that's
really what this is grading and this doesn't even.
Really fully count. You know, does Gabe Cubs take a
leap from a talent execution perspective during this
offseason? Do we see Jaqui Newton come back
from his injury and look good? You know, can Anthony Leal?
Produce and contribute more than he did last year and obviously
he. He contributed a.
Decent amount last year, all things considered.
It's a really solid roster and as I said.
Earlier I think a lot of. The concerns that that we
expressed here, that I expressed about where this was at, a lot
of it was. Predicated on this idea that.
That really we. Hadn't seen this coaching staff.
Be able to fully restock the cupboard through the portal or
through, you know, grabbing a player like Bryson Tucker.
You know, doing all of that combined, yes, I know they.
You know, they, they certainly. Were able to grab Mackenzie and
Bacco last year, but it was an. Incomplete roster is my point
this. Looks like a pretty complete
roster. It's probably a need for another
backup big, but that's about it. There's really not much work
left to do, and we've even heard some rumors.
About the, the, the. The big from Bellarmine,
perhaps? Coming in.
So all of this is good. And I think what's going to be
fascinating now with IU basketball.
As we move forward is how does all of this.
Mesh and this is the one. Thing where when we see people
kind of being critical on social media and saying, you know, I'm
I'm still kind of out on this team or this roster or this
coaching staff, I think so much of it.
Comes back to the loss of trust that I think a lot of people
feel after how poorly? A lot.
Of this last season went. And it's.
One of those things where? You kind of have to see a
change, and you have to see things work differently than
they. Did for people to really get
back with it. Again, and you know it's.
Unfortunate, but it's also. Just kind of a.
Reality of. Things that when you get down to
it, this fan base. Just feels like that it's been
burned a bunch. Of times, and it's hard once you
lose that. Trust to get it back.
We've seen it with the last few coaches, but you know.
Certainly if you're looking at the the pieces on paper right
now. It's hard to argue against the
idea that. This coaching staff did
essentially everything that you would have wanted them to do in
the. Offseason now the.
Question is how does that? Come together as far as the
regular. Season, roster and the
performance is concerned. And you know so.
Much of the attention has been on the offense.
It's been interesting watching the debate.
Back and forth about whether or not.
This team. Was going to pull in another.
Big or if they were. Needed to pull in another.
Wing player or or. What have you it?
Feels to me like, you know, right now you're kind of at a
limit where you're not. Going to be able to play all the
guys that you've currently got the minutes that they're going
to want, so I do look at it. Right now and saying you're
almost hurting yourself if you're.
Going and trying to pull in more players because.
Like when are they going to get minutes?
We just heard John Calipari as he's putting together his.
Arkansas roster say he's going to play?
Like 8 guys total. And that's about where Indiana's
AT and that's that's essentially kind of what.
They did this. Past year or I think what they
would have wanted to do down the stretch if not for injury and if
not for some of the struggles that.
They had, you know, this. Team.
If they stick with what they're going with with on the roster
right now, looks like they're going to play a little smaller.
Looks like they're going to be in a situation where you know
that you're you might get Mackenzie and.
Bako at the four. You you might get, you know,
some flexibility in terms of the line.
Up You might get Trey Galloway playing in as part of a three
guard line up. There's a bunch of different
directions that this team can go.
And there's a lot of unknowns. I mean, we mentioned it earlier
like we don't know how ready Bryson Tucker's going to be for
the big time. Certainly looks like a very
talented player and he kind of fits.
Right in the middle. In terms of.
The height and overall physical. Build.
Of this team, we don't know how jokai.
Newton's going to look, we don't know how Gabe Cups is going to.
Improve from that first year. We don't know how Trey Galloway
is going to look. Post surgery, obviously he had
to. To get some some work done to to
get his. Body back and right but.
If Indiana's indeed going to. Go a little bit smaller in terms
of how they're. Playing offensively, that's a
big. Step and now you've got players
that can create. You know you you brought in a
three-point shooter and Luke Goody, you've got Mackenzie and
Baca who really came on. So there's a lot of intriguing
pieces here. And.
You know the there's kind of two competing theories about the.
Offense from last year, but one of the theories that I think a
lot of people. Have been putting forward is
this idea that. It wasn't so much the.
Lack of outside. Shooting as it was, the lack of
play making consistently that. Created all of the other.
Issues. That led to.
Indiana having to consistently send it into the post and then
try to distribute from there. And then of course down the.
Stretch of the season. Trey Galloway having to
essentially be like a a a non. Point guard creator, which led
to all of those. Assist.
Numbers that he had and. You know, clearly Indiana
figured something out offensively at the end of the
season that allowed them to win the games that they won.
But if Indiana with a little more.
Roster flexibility? And a little bit more play
making at the guard position can stretch things out a little bit.
You add in the rim protection that Ballo provides.
I mean, it's it's a really intriguing roster And
offensively, yeah, you look at it and it's like.
Well, how would you feel? About Indiana if.
They were a top 30. Offense.
I mean, last year in Kenpalm, at least, Indiana finished 105th.
Offensively, which was just not good enough.
And if you look at the overall ranking of the Big 10 teams last
year in terms of offensive efficiency, there were only two
teams worse than Indiana in offensive efficiency last year.
One of them was Rutgers. And the other one was.
Maryland and. Those teams were both teams that
finished seven and 13 in the conference.
So Indiana, clearly. Has to take a step.
Forward there, where I continue to bang the drum, is I'm really
fascinated by what does Indiana do defensively?
How does Indiana improve defensively?
That has been the biggest. Concern I've had in terms of.
Trend line Indiana in three years has gone in terms of
defensive efficiency. So how good they are at stopping
the opposing team from. Scoring They've gone from 24th
and Mike Woodson's first year to 40. 5th in his second.
Year to 84th. In his third and it the one
thing that I think was concerning, I mean, you can
attribute a bunch of different issues to the offensive problems
that Indiana was having last year.
And there's AI don't know that anybody.
Could say for sure. What specifically the problem
was? But the defense really did.
Concern. Because, you know, with the rim
protection Indiana had, you know that.
Yes, they were lacking athleticism.
On the perimeter they still. Should have been better
defensively than they were to be 80. 4th in the country in in
Defensive efficiencies. Just.
Not really going to get the job done and if you.
Look at the Big 10. There were only three.
Teams. That were worse than them.
Defensively, Iowa Who's always terrible?
Defensively Michigan who? Really didn't look like.
They cared. And Minnesota.
Who seems to be always terrible defensively as well and.
There were, you know, there were other teams that were in the
mix. I mean Illinois.
Got by last year being. Hyper efficient on offense and.
Being really mid. On defense, they were 80th.
In the country, Penn State was 81st.
So it wasn't like Indiana was entirely alone in that that
category. But the problem was Indiana
couldn't overcome. Their lack of defensive
efficiency with good offense and that ultimately ended up leading
to a lot of the. Inconsistency that we saw with
this team last year. So how well can Indiana and Mike
Woodson build a defensive identity and build defense into
their team persona, given the fact that they're going to be
integrating a bunch of new pieces?
That's the one thing that I really do get concerned about.
I mean defense to some. Degree feels like.
A product of of being. Able to know what your.
Role is and what the role of your teammates is going to be.
And you can again. I think in this era of
basketball especially, you can overcome bad.
Defense with really, really good offense.
But you still need to. Play at least somewhat decent
defense unless you're playing. Like, ridiculously good offense.
Like last year, there were really three.
Teams that fit that paradigm of of.
Teams that were. Insanely good offensively and
were not really that great defensively at all.
Kentucky being one of them. They got bounced in the first
round of the tournament. Alabama, who made it all the way
to the Final Four? And then Illinois, who?
Was right on the precipice there, like each of those.
Teams was top 10 offensively and they were 80th or worse
defensively. I don't think Indiana really
wants to. Live that way though.
And I think, you know, for a coach like Mike Woodson.
Who obviously played for. Bob Knight understands the
defensive identity of of Indiana basketball.
It feels like that has to. Be something that gets worked on
and that is probably the thing that I'm most.
Curious about with this roster? How well do they gel defensively
and how effectively can IU? Set up a system defensively
that's going to work. You know, you look at the
individual components last year of Indiana.
Defensively and why they weren't as good as they could.
Have been and. To me it really boils.
Down to two things, the. The lack of forced turnovers.
Indiana was 300 and 8th. In the country enforcing
turnovers. And.
What happens in that case is that you don't get the.
Opposing team to give up. The four or five?
Possessions that you would normally give up, even with just
an average. Level of turnovers forced.
So that means more possessions where you get.
Shots. It means more possessions where.
The shots might go in, which raises your opposing your
opposing team's. Offensive Efficiency and makes
your defensive efficiency worse the.
Other aspect that was poor for Indiana last year.
And this has. Been kind of a trend.
With Mike Woodson's teams in general.
So I you know, I think this. Is it's an interesting?
Choice that's being made. But it's in the percentage of
offensive rebounds. Given up to the opponent.
The first year that Indiana played under Mike Woodson.
They were actually. Pretty good in this area, you
know. And they had Trace, Jackson,
Davis, Race, Thompson. They had Michael Durr coming in
off the bench. They really didn't give up.
Very many offensive rebounds at all.
That year, they were they they were 64th in the country.
But then last. Year or two years?
Ago I guess and last year they were in that 29 to 30%
surrendered range which. Just really wasn't good.
Enough and and again for. Those of you who are still
struggling to understand efficiency when you give up
offensive rebounds, you're allowing the.
Opponent to extend the. Possession.
And that creates a problem because if you can extend a
possession, chances are you're going to score on it.
Which lowers your defensive efficiency.
So how does Indiana? Attack that, especially since
they're going to be a. Little smaller next year we
think in terms of how? They play, so I don't have any
answers. That's going to be really
fascinating and that's, I think probably the biggest thing that
the coaching staff's going to have to work on.
Yes, they need to increase their offensive efficiency.
They cannot afford to be 105th in the country and I think that.
They will, just by the nature of the players they brought.
In. But the other.
Question becomes, what does Indiana?
Do defensively. How do they address that I am?
Fascinated to see what happens. With all of that, so.
We will see some other quick items to mention before we move
over to. Football.
An interesting. Story that popped up here over
the last couple of days. If you haven't been following,
there's a new tournament that's being staged in Las Vegas.
It's an nil tournament and it's being put on by the same people
that put. On like I think the.
The Charleston Classic or something like that.
But what's fascinating to me about this tournament?
Is like basically. They are.
They're giving every team worth of players like $1,000,000 and
then if you win this tournament you get like $1,000,000 of nil
money. The players are.
Going to be participating in nil related.
Activities. This is all.
Happening in Las Vegas, and it's happening over Thanksgiving.
Break. And it's.
It's just the whole. Thing's kind of fascinating.
Because it's they're. They're calling it the.
Player's era Festival and they've got, right now eight
teams that have committed and they're pretty big names
Alabama, Houston, Notre Dame, Oregon, Rutgers, San Diego
State, Texas A&M. The big.
Story with all of this is that it was.
Just announced that the eighth team for this tournament this
year is Creighton. Creighton was supposed to play
in the Battle for Atlantis, which is where Indiana's playing
in in November. But instead.
They've backed out of that. They're going to.
Have to pay a. Penalty to get out of the
Atlantis tournament. And instead, they're going to
this tournament in Las. Vegas and to quote this.
Story by Dennis Dodden and Matt Nordlander from CBS Sports.
The event will include a $1 million nil payouts for 8
participating schools. What's more?
Players involved will have. Future earnings opportunities
through long term nil contracts and you know they're.
They're light on details about what all of this means.
But there's It's going to be fascinating.
Because the nil collective of each participating.
School, again quoting the story, will be paid $1 million.
Additional significant nil opportunities believed to be in
the neighborhood of another million.
Dollars will be awarded exclusively to the.
Winner or winners of the event? Depending on the final bracket
format, they're talking about either one bracket.
Of eight or two brackets of four.
The athletes while in Las Vegas will be.
Required to participate in multiple off the court.
Activities to earn that nil money.
That quid pro quo? Agreement for nil money is a key
distinction. And at the.
Core of the appeal of the festival.
So this has really. Been a a bit of a little
seismic. Event that's happened in college
sports because. The you know, the multi team
event, the exempt tournament, you all know these like you see
them all over the place and these have been, they don't like
have huge profit margins, but there are ways for teams to get.
Exposure. There are ways for television to
get. Some games and so like the Maui
classic. Is one of these.
The NIT Preseason NIT Atlantis is one of them.
There's a bunch of different ones.
But this one's. Different in that it's pulling
teams away from tournaments that they'd already committed.
To because of this. Financial guarantee because it's
an extra $1,000,000 in nil money and.
People are very concerned. In college basketball, at least,
the. Ones around the traditional.
Mt ES that. This is going to completely.
Upset the apple cart. It's a very disruptive approach.
Because if you can't give $1,000,000 in nil money to the
participating teams, it's like why would I?
Participate in a tournament. I don't need the television
exposure because. That's going to happen anyway.
At this point, everybody's on TV, so.
A. It's.
Interesting to think what's going to happen with Indiana.
Indiana might be one of the few teams that doesn't need the
extra nil money. Because of how flush IU.
Appears to be with nil cash. But.
Obviously if there's $1,000,000 available, you know the the, the
the secret about millionaires is when there's $1,000,000
available, they go get the $1,000,000.
They're not like, you know what, I've got $1,000,000 already.
I'm fine. It's like, oh.
I could have 2 million. Dollars.
So that's going to be fascinating.
It's also going to be fascinating to see if this
thing. Actually, like goes anywhere
because obviously you know the. If you're not making a lot of
profit margins, it's like. What are you getting?
For your money. And.
If you're giving away 8 million, $9 million in this tournament to
these teams, where's that money coming from?
So. I'm curious if this is just a.
Disruptor event or if this is something that could really
extend into something bigger and will we see Indiana in one of
these at some point? Soon probably.
I'm just curious to see what it looks like.
We're seeing this whole landscape change and I need to.
Do a podcast at some. Point where all we.
Do is focus on the offseason or the?
The out of season changes. That have happened in college.
Basketball. There's been a ton of them.
There was just a ruling the other day in an emergency ruling
that you can do unlimited visits for for transfer portal players
now. Because teams were trying to
ration. Those, and it was becoming
impossible to know who to bring on campus and who not.
To with how crazy this whole portal process is.
So anyway, I'll get to a podcast.
On that at some point. Soon but.
Just wanted to bring that up that you know, we thought we had
the. Atlantis Field settled, and
apparently we do. Not now because Creighton's
going to Las Vegas instead. Let's jump.
Over and talk about IU football and the first thing I wanted to
note, I'm going to put this up on the screen for those of you
that are watching on the YouTube channel.
So there's a. A website called CFB depth or
College Football depth that. Has been looking at the rosters.
Of the various. Teams and I'm going to.
Pop this up here. This kind of took people by
surprise because this. Website in talking about.
IU was like. IU might have a top five most
talented roster in the whole. Big tent.
Which for those of us who have been watching IU football.
For a while, it's like really that that that good.
So if you look at where Indiana's at right now in the in
the echelon of things. And I've got it.
Popped up Now this website has Indiana ranked 50th overall,
44th in offense, 61st in defense.
Team depth of C, which sounds bad and probably.
Is a little bit bad. But if you keep in mind that
Indiana's depth oftentimes looks like it's AD or an F.
Maybe it's AC? Feels like an improvement, you
know when you look across the. Board, they get it.
You know, they get an A minus in their quarterback starters.
AB. In depth, they get AB for
starters and running backs, AB plus in wide receiving starters.
Tight ends are AC. Plus offensive.
Line is an A minus, although the depth there is AD minus which is
a bit. Of an issue.
And then even defensively. An A minus now for defensive
line, AB plus for linebackers, AB plus for the secondary, and
an 86 overall for. Specialists like that's all.
Really good. And you?
Compare it to the teams. Indiana's going to be.
Playing and. You know, the only teams.
That are like rated. Clearly ahead of Indiana on on
the overall set up here are Ohio State, Washington, MI, Maryland
and UCLA. But even that is kind of
interesting to think about. You know Indiana's got the
higher ratings than Nebraska. Barely.
Michigan State, Purdue, FIU, Western Illinois.
And Charlotte and Northwestern and.
You also look at a school like UCLA.
It's like. I mean, whatever the
methodology. Is on this.
It seems hard to believe that UCL as got.
The 10th best defense in the country coming into the season.
But we'll see. Point being between this and
what Indiana's managed to do, landing some pretty highly
regarded transfers on the defensive side of things, it's
it's really been fascinating watching this momentum and
people have been paying attention.
I mean, Pete Tamil has tweeted multiple times about Indiana.
Football we've got this. Account tweeting about IU
football and then look if these things don't necessarily mean
anything. What matters is what the.
Outcome of the games are. But it's really.
It's exciting to see that Indiana is being regarded as
well as they're being regarded on a national level.
And there was a video I was seeing the other day, you know,
where there was a a a gentleman talking about how, you know,
Indiana's flipped like. 30 to 35.
Players spots on their roster. Which is if you think.
About it it's that's. 40% of the roster, basically that's turned
over. And it's been what?
Appear to be quality players. Coming into the to to these
spots and taking over and we're going to have to see.
How all of that equates? Much like the basketball
conversation we just had, you can do a lot of stuff on paper,
but ultimately, if you've been watching IU.
Football for the last. Few years you've seen the
deficiencies in terms of how the team has played.
This season feels like a season where you're still going to have
some kinks to work. Out, but there's a lot.
Better raw materials to work with and having talked with some
folks close to the team over the course of the last month, it's
been interesting listening to the reactions to Kurt Signetti
and the way that he has approached coaching this roster.
The thing that has stuck out, I think more than anything else in
those conversations that I've had and these have been people
that are are. Close enough.
That they would know this. Like the real difference has
been the businesslike approach that.
Signetti and his coaching staff have taken in terms.
Of of what? What's being done in the weight
room? How spring practice went, you
know, it's fascinating. You've seen some additional
roster turnover from IU post spring ball, as I think it
became clear what the expectations were, whether
players wanted. Or were able to live up to.
Those expectations, but also you know what the coaching staff was
looking for and how they were going through and trying to
evaluate. Things and what excites?
Me, I think more than anything else about where this team is at
right now. Is that there really?
Does to be an appear to be an internal sense of belief in the
process that Kurt Cignetti has brought to the table?
Far more so than I think there was with Tom Allen.
I think for some of the folks involved, it's been a situation
where perhaps they didn't. Realize that there were steps
that. They could be taking to improve
their overall position that maybe weren't being done.
That sounds like a criticism of Tom Allen.
It's really meant to be more, you know, if you.
If you look at. Coaching and you look at the way
the teams are put together. A lot of the.
Dividing line between teams is really about routine.
It's about consistency. It's about what's being focused
on, how time is being utilized and what Kurt Cignetti and his
staff did it, James Madison did it, Elon And what they appear to
be doing here so far is really drilling down on the most
important things and focusing on details.
And if you've listened to this podcast over time, you know
that's something that we've been banging on.
About for a long time. Was the lack of attention to
detail in the Tom Allen era? And.
It could occasionally be games where Indiana's emotion and.
Vibes as they were would lead to success, would lead to
victories, or at least. Lead to close games, but there
were often games far more often than not where Indiana.
Just fell short because their. Opponent seemed to just have
planned things out better. Or or had practiced the types.
Of things that needed to be practiced more than Indiana had
been able to. So it's going to be interesting.
I mean, Indiana has done a lot. Of great work.
In the portal without overwhelming nil money, you
know, And they've been beating out teams with more nil money
for some of these transfers and as we talked about.
You know this? Is why the arguments for Tom
Allen just needing more nil money?
I think always missed the point. Nil money certainly helps, but
you got to have a vision. People have to.
Believe that what you're doing is going to get them where they
want to go, is going to lead the team's success.
And that right now is where this Indiana team under Kurt Cignetti
is flourishing in the offseason. They are clearly attracting
players who have already done some really good things at other
places, and they are. They're selling them on the
idea. That this is a place.
Where you can achieve. Those kinds of things.
And. Here's our system.
Here's what we're planning on doing.
Here's how you fit into the picture.
That is exciting. Will it?
Lead to success. I don't.
I don't think anybody knows. We've I've talked about trying
to hedge expectations. As much as possible for first
seasons, but it's clearly resonating with players that
wouldn't normally have looked at Indiana, and I think that that
more than anything. Else is really exciting so.
We'll see what happens but. That is where we're at.
Right now with IU football and it's.
It's again, it's a good thing. So we'll keep an eye on that
throughout the course of the summer.
I wish we had more. Practices to look at but we'll
I'm sure we'll. Have some additional information
as we move forward. One other item real quick I
wanted to touch on before we wrap up.
There was an interesting post on the College Football Reddit
which the College Football Reddit may be the only good
Reddit like. Subreddit that there is.
Like most of them are just not very fun or entertaining, but
the college football subreddit normally has some really good
conversation and some good articles.
I'm going to link. This post in the sub stack that
I send out for this article. But there was a gentleman who
follows Oregon. I'm assuming it's a gentleman.
It might be a it might be a lady.
But wrote. You know, I maintain my own
roster database of each Big 10 team. the IT appears that
Nebraska right now has 98 players that are on scholarship.
They list 149 players on their current roster, but it looks
like they have 98 players who are listed as being.
Like scholarship, athletes and this.
Guy was like, how? Could that be the case?
'Cause that's that that. You can't have 98 scholarships,
it's got to be 80. Five and they're.
Going to have to cut people or whatever, but someone brought up
an interesting point in the comments, which has been a trend
that I. Think a lot of people are are.
Keeping an eye on and it's happened more and more and it
was noted that some programs like Nebraska, Michigan.
Et cetera, et cetera. That are over scholarship limit.
Will opt to pay players the. Cost of tuition and name, image
and likeness as walk. ONS rather than actually.
Giving them a scholarship, so. You know, let's say we're at,
we're at 85 scholarship athletes.
And we want to bring in another one and say, well, we don't have
another. Scholarship to give this person.
That's fine. Well, tuition and and cost of
attendance is $95,000. We're going to give that player
an nil deal that's worth $95,000.
Well, now they're going to college for free.
For this year. You might say that's.
Cheating How can you do? That it's actually not cheating
according to the nil. Rules.
Because as long as there's. A business contract.
Involved in that nil deal? You can do that.
And a player can choose, you know, and we've seen so much of
this with preferred walk. Offs like if you you've.
Seen that that terminology thrown around a bunch, Indiana's
got people coming in as preferred walk ONS.
It just means they're not on scholarship.
But in the nil era, you can. Basically give them the.
Financial equivalent of a scholarship.
Without it actually being a scholarship.
Which is a fascinating development and.
It's it's not. It's from a competitive
perspective, it's not great obviously because.
It is a way to. Circumvent the scholarship.
Rules that are supposed to. Keep things relatively even.
Across the board, but it's. Another indication and another
illustration. That college sports has got to
get its act. Together and come up with some
actual legitimate. Roster rules to keep these.
Sorts of things from happening. Like all of this happens.
Because the NCAA. Refuses to just say.
Hey, we need employment contracts and we need to set
hard limits on what our teams are doing.
In their overwhelming and never ending effort to appear like
it's amateur athletics, they continue to allow situations
like this to. Essentially affect what little
competitive? Balance there might be in.
College sports all I can. Say is again.
As I've talked about this, it feels like ad nauseam on the
podcast for the last. Couple of years college.
Sports just like set some rules that actually can be enforced.
Especially at the college football and college basketball
levels. Between the transfer portal and
this new thing that's that's happening with giving walk ONS,
and I owe money that essentially act as scholarships, you are
creating something that is doing far more damage than just paying
the. Athletes would have.
And and that's, to me, the biggest irony of this whole
thing is that, you know, it's ironic that we keep hearing
about, you know, paying. Athletes would lead to like the.
Destruction of college sports. And yet, college sports is
eating itself right now in an effort to not pay college.
Athletes. It's wild anyway.
I've gone too long. I'm gonna go ahead and wrap up.
It was great to talk to you folks yet again.
We'll be back with more. Podcasts coming up soon, Lots of
stuff going on still in May. Rosters still being settled,
We'll see how all that plays out.
Thanks to our presenting sponsor, Home Field Apparel.
Be sure to check out the rest. Of the back home network,
including the new Pacers Podcast, right at Meridian.
Starring Scott Caulfield and friends.
For all those folks, I'm GAIL and Clavio.
We'll catch you folks. On the flip side, bring back the
Bison song, everybody.