You're listening to the Back Home Network presented by Home
Field Apparel. Welcome back to Crimson Cast,
GAIL and Fabio joining you. Good.
Monday morning, May March 24th. Not May, not yet at least.
First weekend of the NCAA Tournaments over transfer
portal. Has just opened for college.
Basketball and the IU women's season unfortunately comes to a
premature. Close A really good.
First half on the home floor of the number one seed South
Carolina Gamecocks. Indiana just couldn't quite
sustain in the second-half and they end up.
Losing the game. It was a really, you know, hard
fought. Game, and certainly wanted to.
Start off the show by. Just saluting.
The women's team in in what was a.
Really, really difficult. Season on a number of levels.
I think to to. Degrees that people are not
aware of, but. Really proud.
Of the team for pulling together and, you know, giving it.
Such a good accounting in the NCAA tournament.
It is so hard, there's such a, it's so difficult to beat.
Those top seeds on a year in, year out basis.
And. You know, you see that.
Over and over again in. Women's college basketball,
there's such a concentration of talent at the top levels, and I
use kind of on the. Cusp they obviously lose.
You know, perhaps the. The greatest individual.
Player the programs ever had. In mackenzie Holmes and they
still. Figure out a way to get to the
tournament. And, you know, play.
Really well. For the first half against the
South Carolina. Team that's been so dominant.
In the NCAA Tournament. So a salute to Terry Moran and
the whole staff and the entire roster for.
All of the. Great memories they've given us
and and certainly a huge thank you to to the seniors Sydney
Parish, Chloe Moore McNeil. I mean, you know the.
This group, this core has. Been such a an amazing.
Chapter in IU women's basketball and you know for.
Any of them that we've seen in uniform for the last.
Time. It's been a tremendous.
Ride So thanks to you ladies and and thanks to the entire.
Group that's involved in. IE women's basketball for making
it such a memorable. Last.
Few years and hopefully it. Continues as we move.
Forward before we get started. Just wanted.
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don't have to pay, but if you want to we got some stuff for
you anyway, let's we're. This is a short episode, wanted
to hit a couple. Of things.
First of all, no official. News as of 947 or whatever time
it is right now as far as entrance into.
The portal for IUI. Do think we will have some names
coming up here relatively soon, but nothing official and there's
been enough speculation I think over.
The course of the last few. Weeks about the coaching
situation and. All of that it doesn't really.
Pay to speculate too much right now on who exactly might be
saying who's going to be coming in.
We've heard a lot of names. We're going to just wait because
I mean, at this point I've heard more names.
Both for the coaching. Positions on the staff for
Darren Devries and. The players on the roster.
I've heard more names than there are slots.
So what's? The point in speculating at this
point, we'll have plenty to actually talk about as we get
some announcements coming up here over the course of the next
couple of weeks and as you heard Zach Osterman say when he was on
the podcast last week. This is probably going to be.
Quicker rather than longer across the board, the one kind
of outstanding piece that we're not.
Totally sure about is what? Goes on with Luke Goody and and
his situation. I mentioned this a little bit
when I talked with Tony Adroni on that podcast, but if you
missed it. You know Luke Goody.
Under the the guidelines of. How you're supposed to.
Get an extra. Year of eligibility due to.
Injury is probably not eligible because you're supposed to only
play in a certain number of games and then be out the rest
of the season, not miss a bunch of the season and then come
back. And play a certain.
Number of games, and that's what happened with Goody when he was
at Illinois. However, as I.
Explained briefly on that podcast and I'll explain.
Briefly again here, there's a couple of things at play.
One of them is that the NCAA. Really doesn't want to be
getting into a lot of court battles over eligibility.
You know, and even if they make initial rulings, as we saw with
the Diego Pavia situation at Vanderbilt.
What they're really worried about?
At this point, is this getting into the courts and the courts
being like? Well, your eligibility rules
actually. Aren't consistent and don't make
any sense. And what is the difference?
Between missing the end of the season and missing the beginning
of the season, if you're missing the same amount of time, the NC
double AI think in most of these cases.
Would prefer to be the. Ones still deciding on the
eligibility rather than letting the courts.
Do it 'cause once the. Courts get involved as we've.
Seen they essentially ripped the NC.
AA's eligibility rules apart, especially now that there's.
Money involved and you know, so there's an antitrust element
here. Along alongside some other.
Things I am going to. Do actually I?
Ran into a very nice lady when I was out and about in Bloomington
during the first few games of the NCAA tournament who I was
talking with and she was like, you know, I've.
Heard your nil podcasts and how that.
Works and I'm still not. Sure how it's set up.
Many of you, I think. Fall into that same.
Category, and this Luke Goody thing actually falls into that.
Category as well. Even though it doesn't appear.
To right off the bat, so within the next couple of weeks.
I am going to get. A new.
Podcast series going it'll. Still be within the Crimson.
Cast Feed, where we take a new look at what's going on in the
nil space. There's a lot of stuff.
That's going to happen. In the next.
Couple of weeks with the house settlement.
Which is supposed to be finalized essentially.
Two weeks from today, on the same day as the NCAA
Championship for the men. So there'll be a lot to cover,
and that's really what we're going to talk about in April
since we'll hopefully have a roster largely assembled by.
That point, but I want. To talk through where the rules
are. Where things seem to be headed,
how Indiana is situated and how these.
Teams are budgeting for players. It's going to.
Be a really interesting set of podcasts, I think, and one that.
Hopefully will help to edify all of you.
About what's going on within the world at this point.
So let's go. Ahead and and jump in.
I really just wanted to hit. That and the roster question.
And then there was an interesting question that was
asked last night on X by Noah Myers, who's one of our regular
listeners and he had the question.
Would love a pod of your reaction.
To the lack of upsets. And only power four teams being
in the Sweet 16, do you think this is mainly.
Just a low sample size or do you feel like this is the?
Effect of nil transfers and conference realignment.
That's a great. Question, and this is something
that I've noticed has been kind of dominating the.
Twittersphere and some of the other conversations regarding
college basketball this morning. Is it's like, oh great.
You know, there's only power conference teams.
This is terrible. The NCAA tournament has clearly
been negatively affected by. The things that were just.
Mentioned by NOAA. I don't know if it's.
Entirely that simple, but I do think.
It's worth walking through what the situation has been
historically. And and some of the things that
are factoring into the lack of upsets.
This year so. I guess first and foremost, you
know one of the things that I. I think is worth mentioning.
Is that when you get ready to think about the NCAA Tournament
every year and when CBS is showing videos and highlights or
you're going on? YouTube you're.
Seeing often times this big collection of upsets of of you
know all the famous games that we can remember.
You know, Florida Gulf Coast. Beating Georgetown, Steph Curry
beating Georgetown, You know the Bryce.
Drew shot. You know, there's, you know,
Loyola. Knocking off all those teams in
route to the Final Four back in what was that, 2018?
And you know we. Tend to forget that.
For every one of those there's like 15.
Or 20 very mundane games within college basketball's NCAA
tournament that we just don't think.
About after they're done. And I think to some.
Degree people who have been. Looking around this year and
saying we're. All the upsets there is a little
bit of. Bias in terms of.
How we've perceived. Tournaments past, and
especially, I mean there were. Normally are more upsets in the
1st and 2nd rounds, but the idea that that automatically.
Translates into a bunch of Cinderella stories in the Sweet
16. Just really.
Hasn't been the case normally. There's.
One in the Sweet 16. I don't count Gonzaga in that.
List because Gonzaga while. Being in a small.
Conference in the West Coast Conference.
Realistically, they are a power conference.
Level team. They recruit like one, they have
the financial budget for one, they schedule like 1.
And they know they have. So much, so much sustained.
Success. They're an anomaly, so.
It's hard. I don't really.
Count them in the mix. But if you take them out of the
mix and you go. Back and look through previous
NCAA tournaments. In the Sweet Sixteens, it's very
up and down, you know, last year.
Is a great. Example of this last year,
obviously. 16 teams in the Sweet 16.
You have Gonzaga, who again I'm not counting in this mix as a a
small conference team. You had one other non power
conference team and I am counting the Big East as a power
conference because you should in basketball.
One other non power conference team in the entire Sweet 16 last
year, that was San Diego State and they got mauled by UConn by
30 points in the Sweet 16. You know, the previous year you
did have. You know, a couple.
Of entrants you had. San Diego State and then you had
Princeton, who made it all the way.
To the. The the regional semi final they
ended up losing to Creighton that time around and then of.
Course he had Florida. Atlantic What's ironic that
year? Which ties into something we'll
talk. About later is everybody was
like, oh this. Is the new.
Way that it is in college basketball where?
You've the the transfer. Portal's helping the little guy
compete against the big guys and you know, now the it's the
opposite that we're hearing is that now the little guys can't
compete because the transfer. Portal has.
Has changed the way the talent is.
Distributed, which is true, but I think there's a little.
Bit of an asterisk. There for this year for a
particular. Reason you go back to 2022, you
had Saint Peter. 'S who got all the way to the
Elite 8 That was a real. Surprise.
And then you. Everybody else was a power.
Conference team and you can kind of go.
Back through a lot of NCAA tournaments.
And you see that? Pattern where there's like.
One team that breaks through from a small conference and then
everybody else is not there. You know it's.
Just power conference teams. So when I look at.
This I say to myself, I'm not overly concerned yet about this
being a trend. I think it's more of a it's an
end of one, as they would say in the statistical world.
For the moment, I do think it's worth keeping an eye on.
You know, there's a lot of. Factors that contribute to this
one of the things. That I thought was.
Really interesting going into. The tournament this year, and I
think it's. It it bears out a.
Trend that I'm seeing around. College basketball as a whole,
is that the the best? Teams this year were.
Really good historically compared to.
How the best teams have been in previous years.
So as an example, if you know, let's take Ken Pom as an
example, Ken Pom as you've. Heard many times on our.
Podcast before you hear, Ken. Pom thrown.
Around all the time. Not everybody knows what it is.
You know the Pomeroy. Ratings are basically a measure.
Of how effective is your? Offense or how efficient is your
offense against opponents? Waited for how good they.
Are and then how good is your defense against opponents?
Waited for how? Good they are.
And when you take the offensive rating, which is.
How? Often are or how much?
Are you scoring per possession? And then you take the defensive
rating, which is how many points are you giving up per
possession? You get what's called a net
rating and the net rating. Is.
A measure of game by game. How much better are you, on
average than your opponent? So this year, the top team in
the Kenpom net rating and the net rating is different than the
net. Don't get.
I know that there's a lot of. Similar terminology, but the net
rating is just within Kenpom, the top.
Rated. Team coming out of this past
weekend was Duke. Duke had a net rating of 38.99.
Their offensive rating was 129.1.
Their defensive rating was 90.1. So basically you take how many
points per possession they're scoring in an average game, and
you subtract how many points they're giving up in an average
game. So 129.1 -, 90.1.
You get 38.99 because it goes out to more decimal places, so
by comparison. Last year's best.
Team at the end of the season was Yukon.
Yukon had a net rating of 36.43. The second team last year in the
final rankings of Kemp on was Houston.
They had a net rating of 31.17. You have to go down to the 6th
place team. This year, which is.
Alabama to find a team that has a lower rating than the second
place team last year. So Houston, Florida, Auburn,
Tennessee. 2345. All better than the second.
Place team that we. Had last year in Ken Palm in
terms of offensive, in terms of net rating.
If you go back to 2023, Connecticut was the best team in
college basketball in terms of net rating and their net rating
that year post tournament was 29.86.
And again, you that would. Alabama.
Would be above them. So UConn that year that they won
in 2023 would be 6th best in the country.
This year, now what? Is it?
And you can kind of go down the. List like if you take.
The 30th rated team this. Year, which was Baylor.
Their net rating was 20.92. You know that would be good
enough to be the 17th best team, sorry, the 16th best, the 15th
best team last year and if you go back to 202320.92 you would
have been the 13th best team in the country.
So that gives you a sense of how much better the.
Top. Of college basketball has
gotten. And I think a lot of it,
frankly. Has to do with coaches, really.
Starting to pay very close. Attention to this, these numbers
that we're talking about. To their.
Offensive and defensive efficiencies you're seeing and
this we saw a similar thing happened in the professional
game about a decade. Ago where there was a real
emphasis. On where are you taking shots?
Make sure. The shots are of high quality
and make sure the shots. Are going to positively
contribute. To.
How your team is scoring and. Also try to force your.
Opponent into taking less efficient shots.
You know what I would anticipate is.
That's part of the issue, is that coaches really are.
Looking at that and they're saying, gosh, you know, if we
can have, you know. As good of an.
Overall net efficiency rating as.
Possible and here are the. Things we need to engage in in
order to guarantee that, and a lot of that, again, is shot.
Selection. It's one of the reasons why.
The Mike Woodson era was very frustrating and the Archie
Miller era was Miller era was frustrating.
It was because in both offenses, Indiana did not seem focused on
taking the most efficient shots. They did not seem interested in
running a particularly efficient offense, and they couldn't
provide a good enough defense to compensate.
And I think. That that's a really key.
Thing to keep in mind as you go through and and think about why
Indiana hired Darren. Devries a lot of it had to do
with the idea that his. System as we've seen at.
Several of the schools that. Indiana is is looking at as as
potentially emulating will help to maximize those efficiencies
defensively. You know what's interesting is
if you look at the teams. That were really good
defensively. But not that great.
Offensively, most of them are. Not alive anymore in the NCAA
tournament. Most of the teams that are
still. Alive in the tournament.
As of today, are either really good?
Offensively and just kind of OK defensively.
Or they're really good in both. So, Duke.
Is first in offensive efficiency and 4th in defensive efficiency.
Houston's 10th in offensive efficiency and 1st in defensive
efficiency. Florida, second in offensive
efficiency and 11th in defensive efficiency.
You know, Gonzaga lost, but Gonzaga?
Really only lost because they were playing.
Houston, that's a really tough. Match up for.
What was a really good team, but you go down the list and Saint
Mary. 'S a good.
Example Saint Mary's clearly. Was not at the same level as
Alabama and if you look at Saint Mary's final rankings.
Right now they were 60. 2nd in offensive efficiency and 7th in
defensive efficiency. St.
John's is. Probably the big test case here.
I picked St. John's to.
Lose early in the tournament. 'Cause I just didn't think that
their combination was going to. Work 'cause they were 60. 4th in
offensive efficiency and 2nd in defensive efficiency.
Texas. A&M was a slightly better
version of that same profile. 42nd in offense, Second.
Or 8th in defense so. This Kansas?
Was in the same boat. Actually, So what we're.
Seeing is a teams coalescing around needing to be efficient
offensively. And a lot of that.
Has to do with the fact that. There's a only.
This kind of a threshold. Where you can.
Make it worthwhile to focus like.
Hyper Hyper effectively on defense.
You know if you go back and look at the.
The the top. Defensive ratings in college.
Basketball over the course of the last several years.
This year, the best defensive. Rating was Houston and they had
a a defensive rating of 87.8. Last year, it was Iowa State.
Who had a defensive rating of 87.5 the year before.
That it was Tennessee 87 point. Five the year before that.
Texas Tech 85. The year before that.
Memphis 86. The the the best you can.
Do on average in terms of defensive efficiency is kind of
compressed? Right there you really that's
really good, but. There's not a tremendous
difference. In terms of that number and say
being the 20th best defense, you know, in 2021 the 20th best
defense was allowing 9 or .91. Points per possession this year.
The the 20th ranked defense was averaging 95.4 points per
possession, so you're seeing a drift away.
From like a hyper focus. On defense now offensively, Duke
was the most efficient offense in the country this year at 129
point. One so essentially.
About 1.3 points per possession on offense, adjusted for
opponent. You go down the list and you
know Tennessee, who was 17th in the country in offensive
efficiency, had an offensive efficiency rating of 120.5 when
you go. Back to last year. 120.5.
Would have been good for. 9th. Or 10th in the country in
offensive efficiency, you know, 120 point. 5.
In 2023 would have been good for. 3rd in the country.
In offensive efficiency and, and you can kind of go back and and
that's been the. Pattern.
So this year was. Odd, because it was very.
Much. A year where we once.
Again, had very hyper efficient offenses at the top levels.
And this feeds into the next thing which is nil in the
portal. A lot of the reason.
Why teams have been able. At the top levels of basketball.
In my. Opinion to have more success.
Offensively, while maintaining a certain level of defensive
efficiency. Is because they've been able to.
Plug holes with ready made players.
Players that they've gotten on transfers, either lateral
transfers from either power, other power conference teams.
Or players like Cam Spencer. Who come up from a lower level?
And end up. On a team where they can really
contribute. We saw Indiana.
Try to do a similar thing where. You know most of.
Their transfers this year were. Lateral.
Moves from, you know, Washington.
State which was a power. Conference team as of.
Last year from Arizona, you know, from Stanford.
That that, you know, that was the idea behind.
What Indiana was doing Luke Goody coming over from Illinois.
This is an interesting shift and and I do.
Think that this is probably where the.
Biggest impact is happening. On the upsets in the.
The underdogs. There are still.
Some good individual players, we saw some of them playing.
For some of these teams. Obviously everybody who fell in
love. With Bennett.
Sturtz from Drake this year. Colorado State had some.
Really. Good contributors.
That was, you know, it was really.
Fascinating to watch them come. Together as a team over.
Time. You know, but.
Even they were using some transfers, you know, they, they
brought in a Purdue transfer in Ethan Morton and you know they,
they brought in a transfer in Nick Clifford who was one of
their. Best players this year from
Colorado and. You know, he wasn't just one of
the best players on their team, he was one of the best players
in the country by the end of the year in terms.
Of efficiency, so. You do have some filtration.
Up. And this is, to some degree,
it's like a different version of what happened in the NBA when
the NBA was like. We don't want any more.
One and done's. Why did the NCAA do that?
You know the ultimately there's one of the NBA do that.
Sorry. Ultimately, there's a bunch of
different arguments that. Have been made some of.
Which? Center around the idea that too
much money was being paid to to rookies and and guys who hadn't
proven anything but I've always looked at.
It from the perspective of. The NBA, as with most.
Other leagues wants to reduce. Risk and uncertainty by having a
sense of who they're bringing onto their rosters and what they
can do against good competition before just plopping them in
there. This has always been.
One of the biggest? Challenges in college
basketball. Because so much of the focus for
so long was on recruiting. And who are you bringing in and
recruiting and are you getting 5?
Stars or are you? Getting four stars or are you
getting, you know, the the sweet?
Spot types of players. Those players.
Ranked between 30 and 80. And yet we know from having
watched IU and having watched other teams in the Big 10 in the
Upper. Reaches of college basketball
that. It's not a guarantee that.
Those players necessarily will translate.
Into being the best basketball. Players, we also know there's a
ton of flaws. Within the evaluative process of
looking at basketball players, you know when Tyrese Halliburton
is a three star that ends up at Iowa State.
Or you know, you can go through the list.
Of a bunch of different. Types of players who end up
being really, really amazing. What you find is that.
You know the either either, you know players.
Blossom at different times or. Players.
Are perhaps under under heralded.
Because they're in a spot. Where they're not playing
against best competition. So I think what we're seeing
here is college coaches now that the transfer portal is fully.
Open and has been used. For a few years are.
Using it as a way to not worry as much about trying to hit on
every recruit. You still want to bring in some
recruits, but a lot of it now in terms of roster building is,
well, if we can bring a guy in who's proven something at a
lower level when we think that his game translates, why
wouldn't we just do? That as opposed to rolling.
The dice on a high school player that might transition to the
next level effectively, or might not.
You get older players that way you get.
Players that have some experience at the D1 level.
You get a chance to. See what they can do and.
There's a. Again, there's a reduction in
risk. Through that process, because
you were a pretty good idea if you have a good system.
Who is going to plug into that system and who can do the things
for your team that are? Effective.
What that does, though, is it takes a lot of the players that
are at lower levels. And it moves them up so that now
they have a shot at competing against top competition rather
than languishing wherever they were at.
You think about the way that the.
System used to work. With coaches having to.
Focus so much on recruiting. It was very.
Difficult to. Factor in transfers Junior
college. Players being a different story,
but transfers in general, like if you're having, if you have a
certain number of scholarships. Every year.
And you're giving those scholarships out to incoming
recruits you're not going to just set aside.
A couple of. Those and think well maybe
they'll be transfers. It was really hard to even know
who was going to transfer in those circumstances now with
people having the portal to utilize and being.
Able to get their their. Name out there as someone who's
interested in moving officially. It allows for a lot more upward
movement, and it means that coaches now have another thing
to factor in. But I think most coaches.
When given the opportunity. Would rather go get the guy from
a lower level who perhaps got. Overlooked in the recruiting
process or blossomed and you know, rather than necessarily
always rolling the dice on a new.
Recruit, which means though, that you get a lot of.
Players that don't stay. Where they're at?
So like Jani Broom's a great example of this.
This is a guy that played his first two years of college.
At Morehead State, not at Auburn.
You know, he he wasn't a recruit from there.
Chad Baker Mazzara is a great example.
Went from Duquesne to San Diego State to Auburn and you know.
So there, right there. Is kind of a double whammy where
you have an A10 school you've got, you know?
Going up to a higher. Level with a Mountain West
school and now he's in the SEC. A lot of people don't like this.
A lot of people. And as we've seen with the
tournament, they'll say to themselves.
Well, that harms the product. We enjoy that harms the upsets
and harms the ability for the underdog.
To win it is still. Possible.
And you know, we did see that a little.
Bit in this tournament. You know, Colorado State got on
a run as a really good. Coach that a really good.
Plan and system and they beat several teams that.
Were better than they were. Obviously Drake with Ben
McCollum had a system that worked really well and they were
able to bring that into the NCAA tournament and you know, they.
They, you know, obviously they. Beat Mizzou.
Who was a better? Team on paper and you know, see.
It is still possible to do it? But I do think that it's going
to get harder and harder because the.
Moment you have a player that shows that they are playing
above the level of the. Team that they are playing for
initially in college, the team that may have recruited them the
hardest. The team that gave them a solid
offer when a power conference team didn't the moment that.
Player starting to show a level of promise.
The likelihood. Is they're going to end up at
that next level up and we saw it with Indiana State.
Last year. You know, you know, with with
Robbie Avila and. You know he, he follows.
Josh Schertz to Saint Louis it and that disappointed.
A lot of people, but. That's the natural progression
of things, because in the pecking order.
Of college basketball. Playing for an A10 team is going
to be. Above.
The. Station of playing for a
Missouri Valley team, and we're hearing it.
With with Bennett Sturtz, right? Now, where he's likely to follow
Ben McCollum to Iowa. So.
It makes it very difficult and you almost.
Have to catch lightning in a bottle that given year.
With the idea that you're probably.
Not going to be. Able to sustain, I don't.
Have as much of a problem with this.
I mean it does. It is unfortunate in terms of.
Being a spectator for the NCAA. Tournament and not having the.
Upsets, but the flip side of it is it's a lot better for players
to be able to develop at higher levels.
And get better coaching if you've demonstrated.
That you get recruited to a Morehead state, but physically.
And in terms of your understanding of the game,
you're just significantly better than where you.
Started. Why should it be so difficult to
go? Somewhere where you can get
better coaching and get. Access to better facilities.
And get. More exposure for your.
Game that's always been the. Part of you know the.
Whole NCAA like. We're here to.
Watch out for student athletes thing that's always wrong hollow
to me because if you're there for student athletes.
You should make it easy for them to go.
Get what they need and it's and you know, people.
Who are like, well, you have to be loyal to your school.
I'll note that schools cut players all the time.
Scholarships are one year renewables.
They're not guarantees for four. Years.
And. Regular students if you're
really. Going to call them.
Student athletes transfer all the time, wherever they want,
with no restrictions. And they'll often do.
It because they have legitimate. Career reasons or they have
family reasons. Or it's just nobody else's.
Business, it's just something. That they're interested in
doing. Maybe they need a change of
scenery. So I think that that's.
Playing into it a lot. Is you have upward mobility of
players and you should this is really how it.
Works in the soccer world. Globally, you know a player
that. Signs their initial contract for
a League One team or a Championship team in in England.
If they demonstrate themselves to be superior than that level,
they're going to move. Up really quickly because.
They need to like, they need to play.
At those higher levels and this. Is where I think sometimes the
American version of. How we do sports.
Development has been. Really screwed up because.
It's been so heavily focused on what's good for the teams and.
What's good for the coaches, not necessarily what's best for
players. Trying to develop themselves,
you know, and for every John Morant who plays his entire.
Career at a lower level. And still shines through and
gets drafted. There's plenty of players who
probably never reached their full potential because they were
stuck at a level. Where they didn't get enough
exposure or didn't get the right kind of coaching or the right
type of competitive atmosphere and you know, ultimately all of
this in part. Has to be about the.
Development of players and moving them up the.
Ladder. That's what you should be.
Doing in a sports environment, not making it.
So that you are locked in to what you.
Were as an 18 year old when you may be a completely different
type of player when you're 20 or 21.
Anyway, that's my take on that. The one other thing I'll note
from what Noah asked is how realignment has affected things.
And there was a note. That I saw like this.
Is the the smallest concentration of conferences
having teams in the Sweet 16 that we've had and and old maybe
ever? And if you you look.
You go down the list. It's, you know, ACC.
One team Big 12. SEC Big. 10-4 conferences.
That's it. What I do think?
Is interesting and a. Little bit I think worth.
Noting is the teams that you know this.
Year the. Teams that are in these
conferences, there's really as you scan through the.
List. There's really only three.
Of them. That you could legitimately say
are the product directly of. Conference realignment.
BYU, which you know. Danced around a bunch of.
Different leagues for a while is is certainly.
One of those teams. And you know.
BBYU. Joining the Big 12 was certainly
a big one, but keep in mind like.
You know BYU has. Moved around conferences a bunch
in basketball because of their uncertain.
Status with football and whether.
They want to be independent or whether they want to be.
With a another conference. They were in the mountain.
West for years then. They were in the West Coast
Conference for a decade. Now they're in the Big 12.
I don't look at that. As being.
Necessarily an artifact of. Of the you know the.
Consolidation of things, but it is worth mentioning.
Arizona, obviously would. Have been in the PAC 12 and now
they're in the Big 12. You look at the rest of the.
Teams that made it and. I think they were the only old
PAC 12. Team that made it.
To the Sweet 16. The third team that's worth.
Mentioning is Houston, but. Again, Houston has been a.
Special case for a while because Houston to some degree they got.
Lost in the shuffle a long time ago, they were in.
Conference USA for years they. Moved to the American, which is
where Connecticut. Was for a while.
And then? They got an opportunity to join
the Big 12. So there's your three from this
year, you know, I would actually.
Argue that in college basketball, the biggest damaging
moves from conference realignment have not been.
The consolidation of the big. Conferences as much as it's been
the loss of teams in the the next tier of conferences and
that's generally only been one or two teams per conference.
So as an example, the Missouri Valley Conference, I mentioned a
couple. Of.
Weeks ago on the podcast and Missouri.
Valley used to be reliably. A multi bid league but then they
lost Creighton to the Big East when the big.
East Re established itself as a purely.
Basketball conference in the mid twenty 10s and then they.
Lost Wichita State, who of course went.
To a a final four and was the number one.
Seed. They lose both of those.
Teams in about a five year span and even the teams that they
tried to replace. Them with like Loyola?
End up bouncing for other pastures now Loyola I think is
in the Atlantic. Ten.
Well, that was. That hurt the Mount, the
Missouri Valley, and the Missouri Valley now is just not
a. Very good conference.
It's still got some interesting. Basketball, but in terms of.
Top end It doesn't really. Have the well funded programs.
That can compete at the national level the way they had a decade
ago. The Mountain West is kind of.
Undergoing a similar thing. Obviously they they had BYUA.
Long time ago and they lose them and then you know they.
They. Still got San Diego State.
But. They're, you know, now they're
in a position where. You know, they've they've.
Clustered a lot around about four or five programs within
that conference and. It's it's kind of.
Worked out for them over. Time, but you look at.
Them and you're already you know you've you've heard that.
There's going to be bouncing, you know, out of that into.
The the reconstituted PAC 12. Or the Mountain West or
whatever, like it happens. It's going to happen if it
hasn't. Happened already so.
The Atlantic 10 is another good example of this, where the
Atlantic 10. Lost, you know, a couple.
Of teams in in. Xavier and in there was one
other and and Butler. Butler was only.
There for a year. They also lose Temple.
Like those were the teams. That were regularly going to the
NCAA, well they're all gone now and the Atlantic 10 does not
have a lot of well funded athletic.
Departments, so they can't really.
Put. A a good product out there.
Consistently and the teams again that they used.
To fill those. Gaps like George Mason, Loyola,
they're just not at the level I think Duquesne was at or no,
Duquesne's been there for a while, but they they just
haven't added the types of teams that you would need in order to.
Compete consistently those teams have.
Started to matriculate up. So it's a bunch of.
Factors and and look I think ultimately until and unless
there is a standardization of employment contracts for college
basketball players you're. Going to have this situation.
Where you're going to have this constant upflow of not.
Just players, but also. Programs as they try to cluster
around the best conferences. This is probably an artifact of
the idea that. Division One basketball.
Got a little bit too. Big and I always try to remind
people of this. Like when?
The NCAA Tournament. Expanded to 64.
Teams in 1985. There were only about 200 and.
52160 Division One teams. There's 100 more.
Of those teams. Now than there were before.
And the money has concentrated. More and more at the.
Top, but that is to some degree. Kind of a misconception, yes.
Conferences have kind of. Glommed together with each
other. But a lot of the teams that have
been added over the course of the last 40 years.
Have not been. Particularly well funded.
They've not been particularly well established and often times
they're pulling in players that might not otherwise be playing
Division One basketball. Obviously you got 100 teams, you
add 1200 players that weren't playing it before.
So, you know, is it alarming? I don't.
Know that we can say it yet necessarily.
I do think that the smaller conferences will coalesce around
a different model financially. Will that be?
Competitive. I'm not entirely sure.
If you have employment contracts, you might be able to
keep a player around for an extra season.
That will help with upsets, but I do think it's a little early
to. Shovel dirt on the NCAA
tournament and say, well, if you're not going to have any
upsets anymore, we need a little bit more time to.
See how all of. All of this stuff plays out, but
that's essentially why the tournament looks like it does.
Right now and if you go through the.
Rosters and you look at the way that the coaches.
And the teams and the players were approaching these things.
I think you'll see some of the patterns that I've been talking
about here anyway. That'll wrap it up.
I wanted to keep. This one.
Relatively short and for Crimson cast I guess 40 minutes is
relatively. Short, but we'll be back.
As there's more IU news coming, we'll have transfer portal news,
we'll have coaching staff news, all of that coming.
Up relatively soon my. Thanks to our presenting
sponsor, Home Field Apparel and my thanks to all you.
Folks, as always for. Listening in, we'll catch you
folks. On the flip side, stay never
daunted. Bring back the bison.
It's all everybody.