Censored by Laurie

commits to Oregon State. wish him well. so far in 2 college seasons he's been a part of all of 14 wins...that's a tough existence

plus the cost of eggs these days

all hat, no cattle

here's a fun one...I wonder if half the active posters here would even recognize this name: Bryce Zephir has just transferred from Montana State to Syracuse. if that name is at best vaguely familiar, let me fill you in... '20-21 - Chipola JC. - averaged 6.1ppg '21-22 - UNT - played in 11 games and scored a total of 12 points '22-23 - UNT - the odd redshirt your second year '23-24 - Salt Lake City CC - averaged 10.5ppg '24-25 - Montana State - 5.3ppg in 29 games and that's a resume that lands you a scholarship at a former national champion. fair play to Bryce for keeping a college career going and getting to see a large swath of the US doing it

I guess it’s just the Christian in me

totes. maybe 27 in half a semester is completely the norm, right?

you're right...I missed a big one with SDSU. mea culpa. yes, this year's Final Four was all #1 seeds. but then so was 2008...years before anyone could conceive of NIL or the transfer portal. the bolded part is spot on.

I didn't read a thing but here is my opinion on it seems to sum you up pretty well.

I guess if 12.5% is a lot to you...sure...keep doubling-down

If only half your bravado were intelligence you’d probably be half-decent contributor here…but instead here we are. lets even include Gonzaga and Houston in the conversation…there’s an average of about 2 mid-majors reaching the sweet 16. 1 season of 0 mid-majors when your average is 2 for a decade-plus isn’t really significant. Had that average been 4 or 5, ya, then maybe that’s a bigger deal (though statistics it could just be an outlier)

oh I definitely think there's some power conference collusion going on in seeding...taking from your above post, that Dayton/Nevada game stands out, especially when you have UT/Colorado State and UF/Colorado on 7/10 lines...but what are you meant to do when 3 of your 5 seeds are middies like SDSU, St. Mary's, Gonzaga? 5s have to play 12s and 12s are usually the top programs in the mid-major tier. I mean, I guess you can split hairs that a 5 could've been a 4 (the 4s went 3 of 4, with 2 advancing to at least the Elite8 or a 12 should've been an 11 (the 11s went 3 and 4 as well, all against power conference foes). the 5/12s here read way less of protectionism and more of just math in the end, all I'm really trying to convey is that, ya, maybe the mid-major cinderella is dead, but the evidence of one year's tournament isn't enough to make that definitive determination. and while maaaaaybe the days of building around 4 years-at-one-school players does feel like it's near done, I don't think keeping key parts of a roster together for 2-3 seasons at a Mid-Major is out of the question...relationships still count for a lot in this game. I firmly believe that we'd have a roster of at least Floyd, Newell...maybe B-Lo...and a couple of the bench kids back this season if Hodge hadn't been hired away. and goodness knows that all the CSU kids aren't getting million dollar deals to come to UNT...no clue on their NIL situations, but by and large those kids are here because of Robinson

I'm so sick of this narrative. how often do you really think Mid-Majors make the Sweet 16? Middies in the Sweet 16 2024 - San Diego St., Gonzaga* 2023 - Florida Atlantic, Princeton (15 seed) 2022 - St. Peter's (15 seed) 2021 - Oral Roberts (15 seed), Loyola-Chicago 2019 - Gonzaga* 2018 - Loyola-Chicago, Gonzaga* 2017 - Gonzaga* 2016 - Gonzaga* 2015 - Wichita State, Gonzaga* 2014 - Dayton, San Diego St. 2013 - Wichita State, LaSalle, Florida-Gulf Coast (15 seed) 2012 - Xavier (still in A-10 at the time) take Gonzaga out of the math and you're basically at 1 per year...with maybe extra qualifiers for Xavier and SDSU...so zero isn't really a statistical anomaly...basically '16, '17, '19 were all zeroes, pre NIL/portal. one tournament does not make a trend.

sigh...this is a different person 🤦‍♂️

definitely taking an odd path if he is actually our level D1 player: Graduated HS in 2020...I can't find that he had D1 offers out of HS...also can't find what happened to his '20-21 season, because next time he shows up is as a freshman at Brunswick CC in '21-22 where he was awesome (18ppg, 9.5rpg, 69nice%FG)...he then sat out the '22-23 season, maybe injured(?)...signed at FGCU for the '23-24 season but didn't really contribute (2ppg, 2rpg in 7 minutes/game)...and then put up great numbers at the D2 level last season. so presumably he'd have two seasons of eligibility left. don't really know what to think here...I kinda feel like where at the point in our recruiting stage where we need to be finding 100% starters...I think if he graduated in '22 and you showed me just those JUCO/D2 numbers I'd be pretty excited...but the circuitous path coupled with the under-whelming performance at FGCU is at least a bit of a red flag, one I'd be more into taking a flier on if we still had 8 spots instead of 5 available.

I wonder if basketball was actually at the root of their dissent...