Greendylan

We will play 3-6 bad teams, and that will allow us to feel like we are a solid team. We aren't. Cal is a below average team that looked like a top-10 team. They will finish in the bottom half of their conference, and if we finish near the top of our conference, then that will just show the P5-G5 disparity. We might improve throughout the year, but regardless, the season story has been written: we are a bad team that will only beat really bad teams.

6-6 6-7 after bowl game

When it comes to the $200 million number that is being bandied about as extra money that SMU boosters have to inject into the program (or, let's say hypothetically NT has this money--just for this thought experiment), I would not support using that to buy our way into a "power" conference that may within the next few years lose its A5 status and plausibly could end up dissolving altogether. This feels like TCU to the Big East all over again, and if TCU had mortgaged their entire future just to secure that invite, then they may not have been in any position to then earn a Big XII invite--or would have been unsuccessful once entering that level of play. If we had a $200 million budget surplus among monied donors, I would prefer that the money go toward creating a massively successful NIL collective. It's like the Saudi soccer teams: They aren't trying to get a team into the EPL; they're just buying good players. Now, if that money could go toward getting into a more stable, actually top-level conference (Big 10, SEC, or Big XII), then it would probably be a wise investment. I just don't think the ACC fits the bill at present. Just my thought...

Reece with the winning shot!

Sara's Secret Stadium

Dryce has phenomenal craft cocktails and some sleek, modern-West-style decor. I used to live walking distance from Ye Olde Bull and Bush, and it's a fun little place--classic English pub (but without food).

Yes, this is exactly the point. I think there are two different perceptions when one of our star players (backups seeking playing time is a different situation) enters the portal seeking "greener pastures." Some of you are looking at is as disloyalty because you perceive that it's someone who just wants to play at a "bigger" program--one that wouldn't give him the time of day in the past, prior to "using" NT as a stepping stone. But, that perception is outdated. In reality, if we have a highly successful season, all of our starters and certainly the CUSA/NIT MVP have the opportunity to make WAY more NIL money by leaving. If any of you had an unpaid intern at your office, and your company, which gave him a start and has been good to him, offered one additional year as an unpaid intern, but he had an offer to make a 6-figure salary as an intern for a different, equally reputable company for that same year, would you consider him disloyal--or simply logical? It'll hurt to see Tylor Perry in another college's uniform, but I can't blame him, and hell, he's done more for our basketball program than practically anyone who has worn our uniform, so let's not forget that. My problem is with our NIL collective, as it does not seem to be even remotely competitive with our peers. We aren't going to hang onto every player, but we should be able to identify a couple stars in both football and basketball each season whom we target for retention, and I do not get the impression that this is happening at all. As soon as a player accrues any market value above 0, we seem to throw our hands up in the air and conclude, "welp, he's going to move on to bigger and better things!"

He actually has an excellent track record as a recruiter, and I have a lot of faith in him. Still, the major recruiting these days is done by the NIL collectives, not the coaches. I know we're going to lose a lot of bidding wars for our top players, but I really hope our NIL program at least tried to offer him everything they could. All the championships in the world don't mean anything in terms of sustained success if we're trying to throw together a roster of volunteers and have them compete against top-dollar professionals.

I have a sneaking suspicion that they didn't try all that hard to prevent this news from leaking--just needed some plausible deniability for when McCasland asks their AD what the hell happened. Oh well, we have a championship game to be excited about, and that's pretty much occupying all my attention today.

Utah Valley was the home team.

If you look at the numbers across the nation, attendance is pretty ugly for most teams hosting first-round NIT games.

To be fair, North Texas didn't even fire Benford before his contract was up. And, Benford's performance makes Jalie look like Pat Summitt by comparison.

That's not how it works.

I'll say UAB wins. With Jelly healthy, they have the most overall talent in the conference, I think. He won't necessarily play as lights out as he did against NT--and he might not get away with the flops--but he doesn't have to be unstoppable for them to win. FAU deserves the hype and top-25ish ranking (on and off), but they have shown some vulnerabilities in the past month.

Well yeah . . . now it's way worse. This has entered historically bad territory.

This feels a whole lot like the semifinal loss last season.

You might be right, but are you assuming that UAB wouldn't drop much in NET after losing? I wouldn't want our Q1 win over them to disappear.

I think it's likely. I can't guarantee it without knowing how other games will play out, but it makes a lot of sense, especially if we were to pick up one more solid road win. In this week's AP poll, Kent State, Southern Miss, and College of Charleston each received between 2-4 votes. Those 3 are all below NT in NET ranking, they all have similar records (2 of the 3 also have 5 losses), and they're all from conferences currently rated lower (according to RPI) than CUSA. It's not an exact science, but I feel like those examples above are a decent barometer of what NT should/shouldn't expect.

You are not wrong. UAB could conceivably lose a couple and slide down to 4, but I think it's way more likely that they will remain at 3 and MTSU at 4. It would be a very good thing for FAU to stumble and North Texas to win the regular season championship. Not likely to happen--but that would be the best case scenario for these final few games.

Well, sure, we may differ on what we consider to be "big" consequences of the NET ranking. To me, being a 12 seed instead of 15 is huge. And, I think getting up out of the 60s/70s to have a shot at the NIT is big. But yes, I see your point.

I don't quite understand this logic. If we were to win the CUSA tournament, then ratings/rankings would be critical in determining our seed in the NCAA tournament. And, we are by no means a lock for the NIT at this point. Ratings also matter in that regard.

I think there's a good chance that all the home teams except UTSA win tonight. And yes, I know it's still early, but positioning for the CUSA tournament is starting to take shape, and it's really important this season to finish in the top 3. Finishing 1st is always nice, but if we were to get the 2nd seed, I would feel like we had just as good a chance as anyone to win it all.

D2?

Ah, Bower! I've been trying to remember that name all afternoon. Quite the parallel...

I'm slightly surprised NT is favored.