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Subject: Why Enter The Portal?


Author:
M3
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Date Posted: 06:48:03 04/15/24 Mon

It would be interesting to know why Ivy athletes, in any sport, are enetering the Portal

1) Ivy Academics too hard?

2) Crowds too small?

3) Money to be made elsewhere?


The Ivy Portal problem may not be fixable, but you can't fix a problem that you don't know the cause.

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Replies:
[> Subject: Re: Why Enter The Portal?


Author:
observer
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Date Posted: 07:41:59 04/15/24 Mon

Anyone who thinks this has anything to do with classes being too hard has blinders on and his head up his pompous ass.

3>2>1

But there are many more factors.

4) Wanting to win/be competitive against all comers, not just the little sisters of the poor like Merrimack, Sacred Heart and LIU

5) Understanding the lack of competitive balance in the conference which tilts the playing field towards HYP because of institutional wealth/finaid/facilities (ask Brian Earl)

6) Aspiring to national success not league success

7) Aspiring to more appreciation from people on campus - both employees and students

8) Less bus travel, more plane travel.

9) More fun, less protests.
[> [> Subject: Re: Why Enter The Portal?


Author:
Ghost
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 10:41:20 04/15/24 Mon

Excellent summation, observer. If you're an athlete, you want to compete at the highest levels.
[> [> Subject: What a weird Ivy League season


Author:
jerrylh
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 17:45:25 04/15/24 Mon

Hi Observer

Count me as one who has my head up my pompous ass.
The academic pressure at a school like Princeton for a lower quartile student is immense.
Yes, they can get through but can cause significant anxiety and depression.
To say that academic pressure never plays a role in the decision to transfer is just plain wrong.
[> [> [> Subject: pomposity


Author:
observer
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 10:16:07 04/16/24 Tue

I take it you have first-hand knowledge that all these transfers are "lower quartile" students?

Res ipsa loquitur.
[> [> [> [> Subject: Re: pomposity


Author:
jerrylh
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 14:50:29 04/16/24 Tue

Of course not. I never said that "all" transfers are in the lower quartiles. However, you appear to be saying that academic pressures plays no part in transfer decisions.
Do you have any first hand knowledge of that??
I do have some first hand knowledge that even students in the upper quartiles often feel intense academic pressure. I suspect that many student athletes feel it as well.
My belief is that academic pressures contribute to the decision to transfer in some cases. I don't feel that that is an untenable position.
[> Subject: Re: Why Enter The Portal?


Author:
Bengal
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 10:58:32 04/15/24 Mon

M3: I would add, a few kids may believe that they have a chance to play professionally and would enhance those chances if they transfer elsewhere. And there are sometimes people whispering in their ear about it.

Other kids may want to prioritize their playing time over their perceived value of an Ivy degree, especially if they can transfer to an academically strong school.

Occasionally, hopefully rarely, a family situation may infringe on an Ivy athlete's decision because he/she would like to try to be closer to home.
[> [> Subject: Re: Why Enter The Portal?


Author:
Ivy Patriot
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 12:47:50 04/15/24 Mon

Here's why.

If you don't play more than four games as a freshman you maintain your redshirt season per current NCAA rules. You can then graduate in four years and use your fifth year at the next level.

It's a perfect scenario. Your freshman year is essentially a redshirt season allowing you to get bigger and stronger in the weight room while you adjust to college athletics and academics. Then you play three years, collect your Ivy League degree and go on to the big-time with a chance to impress NFL scouts and collect NIL to boot.

What's not to like? If I had it to do over again, that's exactly what I would do.

(A version of this got buried in another thread.)
[> Subject: Re: Why Enter The Portal?


Author:
SpuytenDuyvil76
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 13:56:10 04/15/24 Mon

I don't think the portal will ruin Ivy athletics, in particular, football. How many are entering the portal pre-normal graduation? It would be good to see the stats.

Ivy recruits are extremely well informed. They don't just show up and then realize the crowds at their HS games were bigger. They will have had some inkling about that, as well as a lot of the other distinctive qualities, and challenges, of Ivy sports. For most of these athletes, it is still a step up in competition from what they were used to, and plenty competitive.

On the other hand, a student can arrive on campus and realize this is not the place for him or her. It happens. A person goes through a fair amount of change between 18 and 22 years of age, and if you come to a realization about the direction you want to take along the way, so be it.

I just don't see a ton of people bailing all of a sudden.
These kids go through a lot of vetting by coaches during the recruiting process, which is why I do not foresee a significant change in the years to come. Why put yourself and family thru all that if you really think you could be playing a level above? Go for N'western and Stanford and ND from the outset.
[> [> Subject: Princeton Recruit


Author:
Bengal
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Date Posted: 15:02:24 04/15/24 Mon

It doesn't take a ton of underclassmen transferring to affect materially Ivy athletics (I don't use the term "ruin", at least not yet), especially outside of football. Dingle left Penn and now so has Perkins. Wolf has left Yale. Is Mack leaving H? Is someone leaving Brown basketball? In football will one of P's top RBs transfer out? One did last year, although opinion on the degree of loss that represented varied here.

Some of this remains to be seen, since signing on to the portal does not mean you are definitely leaving. But NIL or the removal of the one year ban on transfers playing immediately or both seems to be a real problem.

And whether this is good or bad, it remains to be seen if this gets balanced out by transfers into the League. P hardly takes any transfers in sports, but one was a 2 year QB starter and another was a multi-year NCAA T&F champion. I don't think either had to do with NIL.

At the moment, the Ivies are not faring well under the new regime, IMO.
[> [> [> Subject: Must have recruiting on the brain


Author:
Bengal
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 15:11:33 04/15/24 Mon

Or I pressed some button with a weird result. This was nothing to do with a Princeton recruit, lol.
[> [> Subject: Re: Why Enter The Portal?


Author:
observer
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 15:02:44 04/15/24 Mon

The Ivies are in danger of giving back all the gains made with the FinAid wars that came out of the consent decree.

The league was headed to D3 throughout the 1980s - Penn used to make noises about going to the ACC, but they needed the halo effect of HYP to goose their USNews standing.

We are in a different environment.

The public at large doesn't hold the 8 schools and their avatars in as high regard as it used to (see Gay, Claudine). The perceived value of the Ivy sheepskin is lower than it has been ever before.

The loss of meritocracy in admissions (see SCOTUS: Students for Fair Admissions), the ramping up of antisemitism and anti-American protesting, the elimination of loyalty to alumni by diminution of legacy programs, the lack of intellectual diversity on campus, motions to tax university endowments... all of these things are hurting the schools in the public sphere.

Money helps, but it isn't everything.

It does no good for the alumni to act like Kevin Bacon in Animal House or Lt. Frank Drebin and insist that all is well and there is nothing to see here.

The fact that the best Ivy freshman basketball player in the league, at the most famous school in the world has decided that it is in his interest not to graduate from Harvard, but rather pursue his interests elsewhere should be a watershed moment.

Instead, people here think that the kid has a screw loose and is an ingrate.

This is only the beginning. Denial ain't just a river in Egypt.
[> [> [> Subject: Re: Why Enter The Portal?


Author:
sparman
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 15:25:38 04/15/24 Mon

"The public at large doesn't hold the 8 schools and their avatars in as high regard as it used to (see Gay, Claudine). The perceived value of the Ivy sheepskin is lower than it has been ever before."

Among a certain segment of the population, sure. But that segment was probably never much interested, and cannot name the specific institutions. IMO highly unlikely an ivy applicant would have applied had he/she shared that view. I would argue their antipathy is directed toward the entire "class" of "elite" private schools, if not any college-educated individual.

Applications to ivies have continued to increase dramatically, resulting in ridiculously low admission rates. And I hear all the time, and perhaps you do as well, about people who wish they could go but cannot for financial reasons or becasue they havge been told they have no chance of admisison.

I doubt the application numbers would be so over the top if the degree value were not still perceived as being so high. And if a generalization about perceived low value were true, then we should be seeing significant numbers of transfers of non-athletes out of ivies.

If you have a negative opinion of these schools, why did you choose to attend?
[> [> [> Subject: Rumor has it...


Author:
Go Green
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 15:42:40 04/15/24 Mon


Word on some message boards are that Georgetown is offering Mack between $750k to $1 million.

Of course, I can't vouch for accuracy...

Could it be that the Ivy can't get guys like Mack in the future? Perhaps. But that doesn't mean that the Ivy is destined for Division III. There is plenty of daylight between the two.
[> [> [> Subject: Re: Why Enter The Portal?


Author:
remember it well
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 15:44:23 04/15/24 Mon

Well said observer. In the words of BD (not our Yale hero) "the times they are a-changin" but our league chooses to stand still.
[> [> [> [> Subject: And what's your solution?


Author:
Go Green
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 15:51:58 04/15/24 Mon


Do you want to start paying guys like Mack and Wolf high six figures in NIL money?
[> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: And what's your solution?


Author:
remember it well
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 17:22:33 04/15/24 Mon

For starters our league should address the challenges caused by the transfer portal and NIL in a manner that shows it is not simply ignoring the impact that this is already having on the quality of our sports teams and the stability of our rosters.
NIL money does not come directly from the schools so Ivy athletes should not be prevented from having the same opportunity for receiving monetary rewards that can come from NIL collectives (name, image and likeness rights). Granted the whole NIL picture is like the wild west with regulations that still need to be formalized. For now the Ivys need to participate in the discussion on NIL and determine how to best implement changes that will allow our student athletes to receive fair compensation for their talents.
[> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: And what's your solution?


Author:
sparman
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 17:40:37 04/15/24 Mon

OK, but what terms, specifically, would you suggest/approve?

I'm seeing a number of people urgig the IL to become more modern, or something, but no specific terms they want the IL to adopt. Details matter.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: And what's your solution?


Author:
observer
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 18:09:15 04/15/24 Mon

People are ignoring the Brown lawsuit.

Scholarships would be a place to start. That would also allow for NIL collectives to not count against finaid.

Also - perhaps a thought about paring down the number of teams so that the major division 1 programs have similar resources to other schools - and aren't hamstrung by those sports which are cost sinkholes. Bus travel is enforced from Boston to Upstate NY because Harvard can't justify spending such funds for every team that plays at Cornell... or vice versa. But is it really right for 6-5 football and basketball players to have to travel 6 hours by coach when other schools like BC can charter to Syracuse?

There are other rules - like the prohibition on multi-team basketball tournaments in consecutive years.

It could also free up funds to pay for opponents to visit Jadwin or participate in multi-team tourneys instead of complaining "nobody wants to play us"

But no, the powers that be are infallible.
[> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: There are three basic options


Author:
Go Green
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 06:20:50 04/16/24 Tue


1) Don't offer any NIL money

2) Offer non-competitive NIL money that may or may not be enough to keep guys from going to other mid-majors and

3) Offer competitive NIL money that may or may not keep Mack and Wolf from going to Power conferences.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: There are more than three basic options


Author:
observer
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 09:42:49 04/16/24 Tue

4) Offer athletics scholarships which can't be decreased by independent NIL monies (in select sports, subject to gender equity)

5) Invest more in select sports (subject to Title IX) to compete with the national Division 1 marketplace in student-athlete perquisites (training table, travel, gear) and promotion - even if it means diminishing the funds available for sports like rowing, fencing, squash, etc.

6) Eliminate archaic rules on scheduling (starting later than other NCAA D1 conferences, limitations on multi-team tournaments) and travel

Either act like a D1 program, or get out of the sandbox.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: There are more than three basic options


Author:
Go Green
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 11:02:20 04/16/24 Tue


4) and 6) won't make a difference.

Scholarships are already baked into our competitors' packages. We're going to have to come up with NIL cash on top of any scholarships. At best, scholarships may help us keep players from mid-majors. They won't help us keep players from the Power Conferences.

Schedules have been around forever. The only thing that's materially changed is the NIL deals.

5) Lots of luck robbing Peter to pay Paul in the Ivy. In any event, I seriously doubt that Wolf and Mack are transferring because they liked the swag more at UM and (presumably) Gtown.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: There are more than three basic options


Author:
observer
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Date Posted: 11:18:03 04/16/24 Tue

The suggestion that it's all about money is taken.

But to your point:

Scholies that don't disappear with NIL income (unlike Ivy Financial Aid) is MORE MONEY for the student-athletes.

Scheduling for maximum tv exposure isn't in their interest? Especially in the NIL era?

Playing more Power 5 opponents in Hawaii or the Bahamas (or the 1-AA football playoffs) isn't in the players' interest in the NIL era?

The Ivy fan base loves holding on to rules established by dead white conservative men and now held in place on football and basketball by progressive women...

So odd. Cultish in a way.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: There are more than three basic options


Author:
observer
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 09:55:00 04/23/24 Tue

https://www.thefp.com/p/kids-skip-ivy-league-for-southern-schools

It's happening. Don't forget to cash out your CDO swaps before you end up like Bear Stearns.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Interesting article


Author:
sparman
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 10:08:12 04/23/24 Tue

Although I had to laugh a little at the notion that southern colleges differ from northern ones because it is the latter group that has "ghosts of dead white men."
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: There are more than three basic options


Author:
joiseyfan
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 14:40:42 04/23/24 Tue

Rather than get into a sentence-by-sentence deconstruction of the Bari Weiss universe, let’s just say that Joisey, which since time immemorial has exported more students than any other state — not %, numbers, more bodies than either New York or California, for example — has been sending kids west, south, north, and east for many decades. The idea it’s much better publicized now is all to the good, because they should go where they fit, not where they or their parents live, or THINK they should want to go.

The idea that this will have any discernible effect on the Ivies in the near future is a misguided fallback on the idea that there is some magic list of 2000 students that compose an ideal Harvard class (for example). In fact, the ideal class is one of thousands of selections of 2000 of the 25,000 fully-qualified applicants. There have been 10-20% of admittees who have been turning down Harvard forever, and it’s part of the game.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Shooting the Messenger


Author:
observer
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 08:58:33 04/24/24 Wed

I know Bari Weiss isn't your cup of tea, so...

https://www.natesilver.net/p/go-to-a-state-school

There are way too many ostriches in this room.

Change or Perish.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Depends on the messenger


Author:
sparman
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 09:57:33 04/24/24 Wed

We all have our own anecdotal sources. Mine differ a great deal from yours.

A poll of opinions held by Americans who don't much believe in things like science or education doesn't carry weight with me. If a poll showed a majority of those polled think the moon was made of cheese or that God has a summer house on Jupiter - as I suspect some parts of the country may fervently believe - I wouldn't rush to claim NASA should initiate a cheese mining program or a Jupiter pilgrimage. I note that Silver said he applied to Harvard. I'm willing to bet it's an 85.365% probability that had he been accepted, he would have attended (BTW, some nationally prominent conservative writers local to my area have been sending their kids to ivies.)

I agree that if one's goal is to "find oneself", an ivy school may not be the place and state schools can be a better choice. But that's nothing new. And from what I see, the typical student usually has some pretty clear ambitions when they attend.

As for the amount of premium, this article completely misses the fact that a majority of ivy students don't pay full freight, which even cursory research reveals.

He may have a point that there are disappointing trends recently. Some of us recall challenging political times of long ago. Silver is a bit too callow to know much about how colleges navigated those times. I think it's a bit early to pronounce the patient is dying.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Ask Danny Wolf and Malik Mack


Author:
observer
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 10:18:53 04/24/24 Wed

If the Ivy degree was still held in the same esteem, would we be seeing the undergrads transferring out?

It's one thing for the grad transfers to accelerate, but if a Yalie and a John feel that the time on campus ain't worth the degree... what then?
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: It's not like they went to Hofstra or Valpo


Author:
Go Green
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Date Posted: 11:05:53 04/24/24 Wed


If you think that Ivy degrees are worth THAT much more than U of Michigan or Georgetown, all power to you.

But I wouldn't expect your view to be universally shared.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: It's not like they went to Hofstra or Valpo


Author:
observer
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 11:16:20 04/24/24 Wed

Many here do.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: "Many" and "here" are doing some awfully heavy lifting there


Author:
Go Green
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 12:14:41 04/24/24 Wed


Among the posters on the Board who share your views that Harvard and Yale are light years ahead of Michigan and Princeton, we're talking what?

10 guys? 20?
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Wish this Board had an "edit" feature part 678


Author:
Go Green
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 12:26:00 04/24/24 Wed


Michigan and Georgetown.

:)
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Ask Danny Wolf and Malik Mack


Author:
Anthony
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 12:54:02 04/24/24 Wed

If five years from now Danny Wolf is playing in the NBA, he's probably going to think that transferring to Michigan was a good idea, even though he knows that making it to the NBA from Yale was and is a possibility.

If ten years from now Wolf is still in the NBA, we'll all think that transferring was a good decision.

But if five years from now he's playing in Europe and ten years from now he's got a mundane desk job somewhere in Corporate America while his friends from Yale are thriving in their careers and getting together at the Yale Club in Manhattan, he's going to be wistful.

So we'll see.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Ask Danny Wolf and Malik Mack


Author:
Ghost
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 14:00:37 04/24/24 Wed

Somehow I think the Michigan grads working on Wall Street would love to have him at their firm when he graduates, much less playing on their Lawyers League hoop team
https://www.quora.com/Is-the-University-of-Michigan-a-good-school-to-get-into-Wall-Street
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Ask Danny Wolf and Malik Mack


Author:
sparman
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 14:26:03 04/24/24 Wed

If the ivy degree is universally held in low esteem by undergrads, why are nonathletes not universally transferring out?

And why did you attend?
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Ask Danny Wolf and Malik Mack


Author:
observer
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Date Posted: 14:55:07 04/24/24 Wed

Because the degree signified intellectual capacity in the employment marketplace when I and others attended.

Too many here would see a dead canary in a coal mine and blame the canary for dying.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Ask Danny Wolf and Malik Mack


Author:
Ghost
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 15:05:43 04/24/24 Wed

Surely the Ivy League experience is different for athletes and non-athletes. Maybe someone has a study they can contribute to the discussion, but let's take Danny Wolf as an example. He's played two years at Yale, won an Ivy Championship and now wants to consider (at least) a potential professional basketball career. Where is his best chance of realizing that dream? If he stays at Yale, he'll be practicing every day against an inferior player. He'll play 3-4 guarantee games versus high level D1 opponents where he'll have a chance to showcase his skills. If he goes to Michigan, not only will be at a comparably academically strong institution (and its' alumni network), but he'll facing a physically equal opponent in practice EVERY day (good for improving your skills), get top quality coaching (I love James Jones and his staff but let's give Michigan's staff a slight edge in player development) have the BEST facilities available for development, be on a campus that embraces D1 athletics with a Big Ten football game at home six times a year, hefty NIL pocket money, a considerable Northeast/Jewish population and the elimination of the what if? question for the rest of his life if he doesn't do this? So let's not diminish the Ivy League degree, let's embrace the seizing of an opportunity that very few Ivy League (to start) students ever get.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Ask Danny Wolf and Malik Mack


Author:
sparman
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Date Posted: 16:38:18 04/24/24 Wed

I agree completely about differences between athletes and nonathletes, but IMO that supports the argument against generalizing about lessening appeal of the degree drawn from a currently high number of athlete transfers or current campus protests.

And to our observant colleague, the conclusion about the degree opening doors to your desired career path is exactly why many HS students have looked, and will continue to look, to the ivies, notwithstanding Mr. Silver's general opinion (which BTW expressly acknowledged the value of the degree in certain very common ivy graduate paths).
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Ask Danny Wolf and Malik Mack


Author:
Ghost
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Date Posted: 18:23:23 04/24/24 Wed

You and I are good but let me set up a hypothetical. You are overseeing the hiring at a financial institution. Would you look more favorably at a graduate from Davidson, Northwestern, Boston U who played four years of basketball vs an Ivy League grad who did not participate in athletics?
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Ask Danny Wolf and Malik Mack


Author:
sparman
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 20:17:55 04/24/24 Wed

My spouse oversaw that function at such an institution for a while. I am told they looked for ivy grads, assuming other factors were good. If someone was top of class at other schools they might be viewed comparably. Athletics could help, depending on what they did, because it could show organizational and team skills, etc., but were not a primary factor. Of course each department has its own profile - investment banking very different from floor trading, for example.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Ask Danny Wolf and Malik Mack


Author:
joiseyfan
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Date Posted: 21:06:52 04/24/24 Wed

My spouse must have hired three or four hundred senior editorial and financial staffers for billion-dollar corporations and consultancies over the years. I never heard her refer to athletics as a differentiator (although possibly a plus). In contrast, she was maniacal about hiring graduates who could write effectively and in multiple forms, ESPECIALLY financial hires. She was constantly turning down honors accounting grads from programs you would know, who couldn’t compose a two-paragraph memo.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Ask Danny Wolf and Malik Mack


Author:
Ghost
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Date Posted: 14:30:58 04/26/24 Fri

Interesting hearing the perspective from two women, I wonder if guys might look at it a bit differently. Thanks for the responses.
[> [> [> [> Subject: I mean...


Author:
Go Green
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Date Posted: 15:53:45 04/15/24 Mon


Plenty of guys on this Board are absolutely aghast that Dartmouth basketball's union is asking for minimum wage...
[> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: I mean...


Author:
An Observer
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Date Posted: 16:10:04 04/15/24 Mon

I'm not aghast as much as I hope they fail completely.

Let's put it this way. Of all the college presidents in America, which one is most likely to pull a Ronald Reagan to PATCO (Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization), "You're all fired and your union is hereby decertified"?

Based upon the very limited data so far, I would nominate Ms Sian Beilock.

I can't believe all that has happened in American higher education in the past year. After sixty years of the pendulum only swinging in one direction, there are the first signs of green shoots, of the pendulum finally starting to swing in the other direction.

I'd like to see President Beilock err on the side of making a strong statement, "For one academic year only, we're dropping varsity men's basketball as an extracurricular activity. We'll maintain and continue to pay the coaching staff, charging them with building and leading a reconstituted team in 2025-26."

America turns its lonely eyes to you, Sian Beilock. Godspeed.
[> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: I mean...


Author:
RedWin
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Date Posted: 16:41:22 04/15/24 Mon

No doubt the NIL changes things but in reality Ivy League players have always had the option to transfer and at least get an athletic scholarship.

Yale's Ezekiel Larry is a very good college defensive end, but at 6'2 " 240 lbs he has almost zero chance of playing in the NFL. To give up a Yale education for a little NIL money is nuts! In addition, if Larry is a first team All-Ivy defensive end his last two years at Yale, he may get an NFL look, but send him to a major FBS program and he's just another DL player at that level.

Dozens of NFL players have come from the Ivy League over the years, but even many very good FBS players don't make it beyond the NFL pre-season. I would much rather leave camp with an Ivy League degree than a communications degree from some major FBS program. Stanford or Duke may be the exception, otherwise you'll be working at Enterprise or selling Viagra after graduation.
[> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Personally, I think its inconsistent...


Author:
Go Green
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 17:22:58 04/15/24 Mon


For Ivy fans to oppose unionization efforts because playing for an Ivy team is an honor and a privilege....

... but still want the Ivy to step up to form collectives to pay players big NIL money.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Personally, I think its inconsistent...


Author:
Bengal
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 17:41:11 04/15/24 Mon

You can think that if you want to, but this is apples and oranges. On the one hand, you have college athletes claiming an employer-employee relationship that does not exist. On the other, a voluntary effort to pay college athletes ostensibly for their NIL. I am not in favor of the Ivies going the big bucks route just yet, but it requires constant review and some steps in that direction may be necessary. I find it a bad situation and don’t really have answers.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Personally, I think its inconsistent...


Author:
An Observer
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 20:10:35 04/15/24 Mon

I oppose unionization efforts for the exact opposite of the reasons you cited. To wit,

As Bengal said, college athletes are not employees of their universities. Period. As a lawyer, you should appreciate that more than most.

I hope that all eight of the Ivies will not initiate or assist any efforts by their alumni or local businesses to pay their athletes. NIL deals might be legal, but I want as few of them as possible in my conference. If Yale beating Auburn is to be the last ever victory of an Ivy League team in the NCAA men's basketball tournament, so be it. It was a great, dramatic win -- I still get jitters thinking about it. Like hitting a half-court shot at the end of practice, Yale-Auburn was "one to end on."

I think we'll be fine. As a conference, we won from time to time when we didn't have a single player who could start for the opposing team in March Madness. It may not be quite as fun, but sometimes you don't get everything you want in life, a lesson I hope those Dartmouth players learn the hard way.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Personally, I think its inconsistent...


Author:
Son of Eli
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 08:17:38 04/16/24 Tue

If one believes in meritocracy what is wrong with student athletes being treated differently than the rest of the student body? They represent the best of the student body, now more than ever. While many other students are denigrating the reputations of their institutions through radical political positions and protests based on marxism and antisemitism, athletes bolster their school reputations through their diligence and dedication to their craft. It is right and proper for them to have the opportunity to earn athletic scholarships and NIL money.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Personally, I think its inconsistent...


Author:
Tiger69
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 12:09:10 04/16/24 Tue

Gee, Son of Eli, I think you’re onto something 🤔. Since football players represent the peak of meritocracy and “the best of the student body” as well as “bolster their school reputations”, we should be throwing money and extra perks at them — perhaps a degreed Dept. of Sports., so they wouldn’t have to mix with those other less worthy radicals, protesters, history and physics majors and the like.. We must learn from the Alabamas, Georgias and L.S.U. whose players clearly represent the leaders of tomorrow 😁.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Personally, I think its inconsistent...


Author:
remember it well
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 15:20:38 04/16/24 Tue

I think you could have made a more constructive set of opinions without the sarcasm. I share SOE's admiration of our Ivy student athletes. With all due respect to Alabama, Georgia and LSU why not learn from Stanford, Duke and Northwestern.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: I understand your point but...


Author:
Go Green
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 08:54:45 04/17/24 Wed


But to me, it's a very open question whether Stanford and Duke are in a Power Conference in five years.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: I understand your point but...


Author:
Ghost
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 11:16:15 04/17/24 Wed

Neither will be left behind as they represent the best of the best, especially Stanford, which is annually in the Top 5 for the Director's Cup, which symbolizes across-the-board excellence.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: The Big 10 didn't seem to care


Author:
Go Green
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 11:25:45 04/17/24 Wed


If the Big 10 didn't want Stanford, why would the Big 12? And would Stanford even be able to stomach being part of the Big 12?

As for Duke, UConn has won back-to-back titles and is a good bet to win a third. And... no (football) Power league wants them.

(Of course, all this is predicated on the ACC imploding in the next few years...)
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: The Big 10 didn't seem to care


Author:
joiseyfan
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 12:39:22 04/17/24 Wed

I’m really excited to replicate Duke basketball and its five members of the transfer portal.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: I understand your point but...


Author:
Ghost
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 11:42:33 04/17/24 Wed

The Big 10 didn't want Stanford? Can you provide some proof of that? I wasn't aware of those discussions. Perhaps Stanford and Cal together looked at the ACC as a better option (weather, new rivalries with Duke/UVA/UNC). Certainly better academic institutions than the Big XII. UConn is geographically undesirable.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: I understand your point but... This Is How It Worked for Millennia


Author:
An Observer
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 11:56:18 04/17/24 Wed

Of course the Big Ten didn't want Stanford.

Two years ago, the Big Ten was like Genghis Khan or a Mormon husband in a polygamous household. The Big Ten looked at all the pretty girls and the not-so-pretty girls of the Pac 12 and decided that he wanted to sleep with USC and UCLA.

Then all the other girls said, "Hey, look at my beautiful hair and perky breasts."

The Big Ten took another look and said, "Yes, I can see that. The one in Seattle and the one in Eugene do have attractive figures. I like the special dresses you put on for me. Okay, you two can come, too."

Everybody else was left behind. Including without a doubt the really smart but not so pretty girl in Palo Alto.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: I wouldn't have used those terms, but...


Author:
Go Green
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 12:21:46 04/17/24 Wed


What AO said.

Stanford is actually PAYING the ACC to let them play in the conference. Usually it's the other way around.

There's no shortage of discussion on the topic. Feel free to google "Why the Big 10 didn't want Stanford" or something comparable to catch up if you wish...
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: I wouldn't have used those terms, but...


Author:
Ghost
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 12:27:04 04/17/24 Wed

I believe you, but don't you find that hard to believe? Maybe they didn't want the prettiest girl coming to the dance, which is what Stanford would've been. And how could they not invite Duquesne (only kidding, of course)?
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: I wouldn't have used those terms, but...


Author:
An Observer
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 12:35:53 04/17/24 Wed

Stanford is the smartest girl at the dance -- by far.

But she ain't pretty.

And the market has once again, as it has for the last 200,000 years of human existence, voted on whether it wants the smart girl or the pretty girl.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: I wouldn't have used those terms, but...


Author:
Ghost
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 14:04:02 04/17/24 Wed

I did Google it, on your suggestion, and it came down to media market size, that the Bay Area was not large enough. Was Portland (Oregon/Oregon State) or Omaha (Nebraska) large enough? Have a feeling they didn't want two outstanding academic places, including the premier academic/athletic place, infringing on enrollment.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: I wouldn't have used those terms, but...


Author:
An Observer
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 14:38:59 04/17/24 Wed

I think that the Big Ten had two considerations: local media market size AND attractiveness of football brand name.

You are correct that, from the perspective of all sports, Stanford is the most successful athletic department in the country.

One thing that I've never understood is why Ivy athletic departments and Harvard in particular are so proud of sponsoring so many sports. Literally, nobody cares about women's rugby. Why would any school sponsor women's rugby, other than to get more female athletes on campus to offset football for Title IX purposes?

What was shocking (at some level) is when Stanford announced that it was dropping about a dozen sports for financial reasons. So even if you're winning national championships in a sport like water polo or sailing or rugby, it's difficult to justify the financial cost, not to mention of course the REAL cost, the slots at the admission office.

So the market has once again spoken. Nobody -- as in the Big Ten or any other conference -- finds your hair to be beautiful or your breasts to be perky because you have a national championship water polo team. Football talks. Everything else walks.

That's why USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon were deemed attractive while Stanford was not.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: I wouldn't have used those terms, but...


Author:
Ghost
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 14:55:03 04/17/24 Wed

Excellent points, for sure. To try and answer your question about sponsoring so many sports, from my experience in the league and talking with admissions people, is that diversity in the undergraduate pool is a prime motivator. I remember discussing this with our admissions guy and he said, "we could fill this place with nerds who score 2300-2400 but what kind of a place would we have?" It's the extra curricular stuff that gets one applicant the edge- being on the debate team, doing community service work, playing in the band, being on a team- those things lift one over another. Maybe playing a non-glamorous, non-revenue sport shows a level of commitment to other students and to the school that the nerdy, 2380 SAT student who's spending his/her free time in the library, doesn't. And they're all paying customers, right?
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Incoming ...


Author:
sparman
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 14:59:02 04/17/24 Wed

"Literally, nobody cares about women's rugby."
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Incoming ...


Author:
Ghost
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 15:10:38 04/17/24 Wed

Except those 25 paying customers who may be leaders in student government or 4.0 students lifting the entire department's GPA. Remember saying the same thing about women's basketball 20 years ago? Or about fencing three weeks ago?
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Incoming ... The Market is Not Interested in Equity or Fairness or Being Nice


Author:
An Observer
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 15:27:22 04/17/24 Wed

I'm not defending the status quo, far from it. But human nature is human nature. And history is history.

Here's a fascinating factoid from the Grey Lady herself:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/15/magazine/dating-after-50.html?searchResultPosition=1

According to a 2018 study by two professors at the University of Michigan who analyzed 186,000 messages between heterosexual subscribers on an unnamed "public and large" online dating website, at what age do you think a man peaks in his attractiveness to women?

Need to think about it for a second? This would include I presume the usual desired attributes of physical attractiveness but also professional accomplishment, maturity and economic means.

The answer is 50. A man peaks in his attractiveness to women at age 50.

After sifting through the same database of heterosexual subscribers on the dating website, the Michigan researchers found that women peak in their attractiveness at. . . .

Wanna guess?

18. A female subscriber on Match or Tinder or whatever peaks in her attractiveness to male subscribers at 18, the earliest age at which she is legally allowed to join, and declines uninterrupted from there.

Well, the 50-year-old man is the Big Ten and the SEC. The 18-year-old woman is football.

The twenty-five players on the women's rugby teams and the fans who follow them are 50-year-old women, which the New York Times in this article calls "invisible."

It's not fair. It's not right. But once again, the market has spoken.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Incoming ... The Market is Not Interested in Equity or Fairness or Being Nice


Author:
Ghost
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 15:50:11 04/17/24 Wed

Who cares if it's not a spectator sport. How many years did we/do we endure empty gymnasiums (WBB) or empty stands at field hockey venues or fencing salles? Are we basing the continuance of these sports on revenue generation, fan attendance or the fact they bring a different, diverse group of students to campus?
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Incoming ... The Market is Not Interested in Equity or Fairness or Being Nice


Author:
An Observer
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 16:16:55 04/17/24 Wed

I'm not disagreeing with you as much as I'm saying the market disagrees with you. In this case, the market is the conferences with the money and the leverage, that is, the Big Ten and the SEC.

I'm certainly with you in the following way:

Over the very very very long run, what determines the prestige of a university?

In the short run, it might be bumped up by a winning football or basketball team, but only a little and not for long.

In the longer run, a university's prestige is impacted by Nobel Prizes its faculty wins and Rhodes Scholarships its seniors win.

And like it or not, fair or not, a university's prestige is impacted by its ranking in the US News Best Colleges list. That's why schools like Columbia and Penn have gamed the system so aggressively.

But in the very very very long run, a university's prestige is determined most directly by the achievements and renown of its graduates.

I hope that science advances so much that all of us could still be around in a century. Ivy League and other elite universities are doing so much social engineering in their student bodies right now that I am fascinated by how and how much their alumni achieve and accomplish over the next century.

There might not be too much difference between them because certainly all of the Ivies are playing out of the exact same playbook. The same desire for diversity, the same political screen and so forth.

But I wonder whether the alumni of, say, 2024 Ivies will contribute and achieve the way that the alumni of 1964 Ivies did. What about 2024 HYP and 1964 HYP? There are a lot of other variables in the mix, too, of course, but I want to see what happens in the long run to these whining, hyper-left-leaning students. I don't think it will be pretty.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Incoming ... The Market is Not Interested in Equity or Fairness or Being Nice


Author:
Ghost
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 16:38:51 04/17/24 Wed

I can't disagree with you and I have a feeling that's mutual. The Ivies have NEVER related anything in Athletics to the market. Never invested (in a big way) in upgraded/new arenas for their most visible sport, basketball, had to twist/break some arms to get a four team tournament, play only 10 football games with a limited number of practices, on and on. But to attract a more diverse student body, YES, that's worth the investment in a coaching staff, uniforms, travel, practice gear, etc. Give me 28 full paying, academically qualified students who might normally go to Wesleyan, Tufts, Skidmore or Catholic U to play (insert sport here) and we'll have them play here.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Incoming ... The Market is Not Interested in Equity or Fairness or Being Nice


Author:
An Observer
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 16:51:20 04/17/24 Wed

One thing we agree on is that we're not disagreeing with each other.

But I will point out that, unlike when I applied to college, the Ivies these days have no problem attracting and matriculating diverse student bodies along whatever dimension of diversity we want.

With ample financial aid and very low admissions rates, the Ivies today truly are "assembling" their student bodies in one of the grandest social engineering experiments ever undertaken, maybe the most ambitious ever.

Seriously, what historic social engineering experiment ever is more ambitious and broad in scope than what the Ivies and Ivy Plus universities are doing right now?

The only question is whether one of those desired dimensions of diversity is female rugby players.

I'm afraid that's the one where you and I don't see the world the same way.

That's okay. Different strokes for different folks.

I will say that I am confident the administrators at Ivy League universities, right or wrong, spend very little time thinking about how to improve our student bodies relative to Wesleyan or Tufts, as fine as those two universities are.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Incoming ... The Market is Not Interested in Equity or Fairness or Being Nice


Author:
David Perry (Not in a While)
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 22:53:34 05/05/24 Sun

Sorry, but the historian in me has to point out that the Ivies related a whole lot of things in athletics to the market. . .up until about 1930. :-)
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Incoming ...


Author:
sparman
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 19:53:04 04/17/24 Wed

Anyone who has been around here for a while knows what I am talking about.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Incoming ...


Author:
Rufus T
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 11:52:28 04/18/24 Thu

Could not agree with you more Sparman. So predictable what will trigger a bloviating response
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Too easy...


Author:
Go Green
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 17:24:22 04/17/24 Wed


https://www.nbcsports.com/olympics/news/usa-womens-rugby-qualifies-paris-2024-olympics

USA! USA!
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Incoming ...


Author:
Tiger69
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 10:33:53 04/24/24 Wed

Woman rugby player to An Observer, “Hey, you gotta problem?”.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: I wouldn't have used those terms, but... The Return of The Dowry


Author:
An Observer
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 12:31:30 04/17/24 Wed

In what form is Stanford paying for the privilege of flying 3,000 miles across the country on a Tuesday morning to play a mid-week basketball ga

Is Stanford not receiving a full-share of the ACC's television revenue distribution?

Don't tell me that Stanford is actually paying cash out of pocket for the privilege of flying 3,000 miles.

Think about how hard it's going to be to recruit to Stanford now. Still a world class academic institution of course, arguably now the world's "greatest" university. But if you as a student-athlete (remember that term?) actually plan to attend classes to take advantage of those academics, you now know that virtually every away game is a three-day turnaround for you, including six hours of time zone changes. Anybody else here ever find out on a Monday that they needed to be on the West Coast for a Wednesday meeting, knowing that they needed to be back in the office for a Friday meeting?

Who wants to deal with that every other week?
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: I overspoke


Author:
Go Green
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 12:50:04 04/17/24 Wed


My apologies. Stanford is playing in the ACC for free.

https://www.si.com/college/stanford/football/two-reasons-stanford-joining-the-acc-at-a-discounted-rate-makes-sense-for-both-parties

They are not paying out of pocket for the privilege for playing in the ACC (although they probably would have had the ACC demanded it).
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: I overspoke


Author:
Ghost
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 14:06:39 04/17/24 Wed

That's more like it.....
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Michigan


Author:
remember it well
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 12:21:38 04/17/24 Wed

Speaking of the Big Ten, Michigan football just got hit with 3 years probation for recruiting infractions
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Personally, I think its inconsistent...


Author:
joiseyfan
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 16:35:32 04/16/24 Tue

RIW —

Tiger69’s sarcasm is mildly understated, apart from Eli’s view being against maybe five or six explicit league policies.

If you want Northwestern, go to Evanston.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: It’s not the 1950’s anymore.


Author:
Son of Eli
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 22:01:20 04/16/24 Tue

The Anti Defamation League just issued their Campus Antisemitism Report Card. Columbia and Cornell got D’s. Harvard was graded with an F.

Me thinks the Ivy League has more pressing issues regarding their academic reputations than whether athletes can receive NIL money.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: It’s not the 1950’s anymore.


Author:
An Observer
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 22:21:55 04/16/24 Tue

The ADL, like any observer, will have its own biases.

Barnard D
Brown D
Columbia D
Cornell D
Dartmouth C
Elon A
Harvard F
Princeton D
Penn D
Yale D

So basically, Elon ++, Dartmouth + and Harvard -.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: It’s not the 1950’s anymore.


Author:
Son of Eli
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 23:43:21 04/16/24 Tue

Duke B
University of Florida B
University of Arizona B
University of Miami B
University of Central Florida B
Florida State University B

The Ivy League can learn something from these schools.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: You say you're a big Beilock fan


Author:
Go Green
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 08:29:49 04/16/24 Tue


The entire point of her WSJ piece was that paying athletes completely undermines the student experience.

There is nothing in her op-ed that is remotely consistent with endorsing an NIL collective.

So if she's being intellectually honest, we should not expect Dartmouth to be forming NILs anytime soon...
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: You say you're a big Beilock fan


Author:
An Observer
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 09:35:43 04/16/24 Tue

Yes, I understand and agree.

Do you have me confused with Son of Eli?
[> Subject: Re: Why Enter The Portal?


Author:
Uptown
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 10:29:23 04/17/24 Wed

I am as proud to be a Columbia grad as anyone. But we are naive to think of the Ivies as the be all and end all of higher education. Cf Stanford, Berkeley, Michigan, UVA, etc. Ad nauseum.
[> [> Subject: Re: Why Enter The Portal? Duke


Author:
Spizz1976
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 14:57:02 04/17/24 Wed

I see from the recruiting reports that Duke basketball is poised to land another top freshman recruiting class. Lots of basketball talking heads are predicting a rosy future for Duke basketball.
This may be a short-term windfall, but I think that the recent developments of NIL and transfer portal dominance will yield a long-term downward trajectory for Duke basketball.
Duke strives to compete academically with the Ivy League, although its basketball program, while wildly successful by many measures, is pretty disgraceful in academic performance.
However, Duke basketball's challenge will be that NIKE's dominance in AAU leagues and development has now given way to direct player compensation through NIL's. For years, Duke basketball has been ruled and funded by NIKE but, going forward, that funding and recruiting source will dry up leaving Duke to compete with the other power teams with NIL compensation.
This loss of NIKE dominance, coupled with the likely fragmentation of the ACC as a conference, will leave Duke with less resources, diminished recruiting reach, and no clear path for conference affiliation.
Duke will face challenges competing with the big State (government) schools for NIL compensation resources because, as a private school with academic ambitions, its ability to raised NIL revenues will compete with its soliciting alumni contributions to its endowment.
[> [> [> Subject: Re: Why Enter The Portal? Duke


Author:
Ghost
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 15:35:21 04/17/24 Wed

Duke has the BEST atmosphere in America to play in along with a basketball history second to none. If you think their base will allow them to fall behind in the NIL race, you are badly mistaken. Why hasn't it already happened? They have the #1 player in the country coming in.
[> [> [> [> Subject: Is Duke Basketball Nebraska Football?


Author:
An Observer
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 16:02:07 04/17/24 Wed

Who is the single most important person in the history of the University of Nebraska?

That answer is unambiguous: Tom Osborne. Because of what Osborne achieved inside the confines of Memorial Stadium, today the University of Nebraska is secure, financially and otherwise, as a member of the Big Ten.

The Big Ten was interested in Nebraska for its football brand name at the time. What the Big Ten failed to recognize is that Nebraska has none of the natural advantages of the other big anem programs in America. I'm talking about access to the prime recruiting areas of Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania in the "old" Big Ten footprint and of course Texas, Louisiana, Florida and California outside of that.

For four decades, Tom Osborne took "nothing" and made national champions out of it. Once Osborne retired, Nebraska reverted to what it would have been all along without Osborne. Nothing.

Nebraska isn't even a member of the AAU anymore, the other banner which the Big Ten like to tout that all of its members satisfy.

If the Big Ten were to re-constitute itself today, would it invite Nebraska? The Big Ten would be more likely to invite Harvard.

The question is, "Is Duke Nebraska?'

I believe that Mike Krzyzewski is an outstanding basketball coach. He had more natural advantages in Tobacco Road than Osborne did in the Nebraska cornfields, and he too made the most of them, also culminating in multiple national championships.

But once again the world has shifted. Will Duke be able to stay Duke without Krzyzewski?

I'm not sure.

But certainly part of the answer depends upon what happens to the ACC. Will it continue to exist? Will it look more like the SEC or more like the Big East?
[> [> [> [> [> Subject: Osborne


Author:
Go Green
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 06:26:37 04/18/24 Thu


He was never busted, but there were allegations that he turned a blind eye to rampant steroid use by his players during NU's heyday.

https://www.amazon.com/Big-Red-Confidential-Nebraska-Football/dp/0809245809
[> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Osborne


Author:
An Observer
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Date Posted: 11:35:23 04/18/24 Thu

I have never heard the allegations of steroid abuse, but it's true that Nebraska was the first major college program to fully embrace strength and conditioning as an art and science. Nebraska's offensive line was huge, strong and quick.

Besides Boyd Epley's revolutionary training techniques, were there steroids involved?

It's a messy business.

Osborne also received some criticism for the light touch he took in disciplining Lawrence Phillips after Phillips demonstrated repeatedly that he had serious issues with impulsivity and anger management, culminating in alleged assault on his Husker volleyball girlfriend. Would a football player of less ability been treated so gingerly?

It's a messy business.

Of course, elsewhere on this board we are debating how aggressively we Ivies should pursue NIL collectives so that we can keep promising players like Dingle, Mack, Perkins, Wolf and Nana from transferring out.

I have no interest in playing that game. Do you know why?

It's a messy business.

Once you're in that quagmire, you had better be prepared to bring it. And I don't wanna.
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Osborne


Author:
Rufus T
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Date Posted: 12:17:35 04/18/24 Thu

When the Nebraska Cornhuskers were on their tear in the mid-1990s under Osborne, they had players credibly accused of rape, players getting DUIs and assaulting women, and players literally charged with murder. Tom Osborne essentially hid the gun that was allegedly used in the commission of a felony. TOM OSBORNE HID THE GUN. Five words that seem utterly insane when you type them out.

As far as steroid usage.....google Dave Rimington and Dan Steinkuhler. Two notorious users who won Outland trophies under Osborne
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: i googled them


Author:
holtsledge
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Date Posted: 15:36:51 04/18/24 Thu

and this is just a snapshot
American Football

"In an American report, an ex-dealer described the use of steroids on the Nebraska football team as 'massive' and estimated the number of users around 85%. Additional evidence of this unbridled consumption came from a number of journalistic studies involving players Dean Steinkuhler (1961), Dave Rimington (1960), Danny Noonan (1965), Neil Smith (1966) and Lawrence Pete (1966), something they also later admitted."
[> [> [> Subject: Re: Why Enter The Portal? Duke


Author:
Spizz1976
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Date Posted: 17:24:11 04/17/24 Wed

In response to Ghost's comments, I predict that Duke basketball's erosion will be gradual and over time. The fact that Duke just landed the #1 recruit from high school is not an indicator because that recruit is a continuation of the one-and-done phenomenon and we all know that this recruit will head to the NBA after a single season.

There will continue to be high-profile one-and-dones but the NIL money / transfer portal usage is gradually making one-and-dones less significant in favor of well-compensated veteran collegiate players. This is where Duke will gradually lose ground.

NIKE is no longer a big player in funding and recruiting. Ghost predicts that Duke's base will generously fund NIL's - maybe or maybe not. However, alumni contribution to NIL collectives will inevitably complete with alumni contributions to endowments. I don't know if Duke administrations will like this since Duke wants to compete academically with Ivies whose alumni contributions go almost entirely toward endowments.

The large State schools do not face this dilemma, since there endowments are less significant with academic funding coming from taxes.
[> [> Subject: Re: Why Enter The Portal?


Author:
Bob S
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Date Posted: 17:34:52 04/17/24 Wed

The problem with NIL Collectives is that they may not be tax deductible per the IRS. Also some individual athletes within the Ivy League are making decent money on individual NILs meaning several thousand a month according to an insider.
[> Subject: P Men’s Basketball


Author:
Bengal
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Date Posted: 17:32:16 04/21/24 Sun

Whatever the answers are to the question, P men’s basketball now has 4 players in the portal. Two are freshmen and one is a 6’10 soph, all
of whom had very few minutes, and one is soph who is a definite contributor off the bench ( and the son of 2 P basketball alums, one of whom coached there).

While it is not clear if they all are going to wind
up elsewhere, it is a striking number. I know that bigger non-senior contributors have transferred out of other Ivy programs.

To me, it is a tumultuous situation for Ivy athletics. I don’t think this four year unrestricted free agency for college athletes is good for college sports. The constant churn in rosters, the need to recruit athletes even after they join your team.

As far as little used underclassmen go, at each of our schools we have seen any number of players become contributors in their upper class seasons. Some obviously don’t want to wait and I suppose some may feel they will always just ride the bench and prefer a better chance to play a sport they love.

My tentative suggestion is to reinstate the once longstanding requirement of sitting out a year if you transfer.

I don’t know whether that would pass legal muster but I think it would slow down some of the transfer traffic. And no, I don’t think in exchange for schools who cut a break in admissions standards to admit an athlete or pay their way with an athletic scholarship or both that this would be unfair to the athlete.
[> [> Subject: Re: P Men’s Basketball


Author:
Ghost
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Date Posted: 18:34:36 04/21/24 Sun

All fair points. When we had the one year sitting out rule, the NCAA was forced to contend with numerous 'exception' cases (ill parent, economic considerations, homesickness) and couldn't say no. Plus some coaches didn't want to grant the 'release' for student-athletes. So where the schools used to have some leverage, now it's all towards the student-athletes. And, without any regulations on transferring, we have free agency or where can I play more/make more on NIL $.
[> Subject: Jack Scott to...


Author:
Bengal
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Date Posted: 18:59:48 04/26/24 Fri

...Wm & Mary and Brian Earl. I wonder if this was sorta, kinda the plan all along, or whether Jack decided he wanted to play elsewhere and the Wm& Mary play developed only after that? The latter would be more consistent with the Earl-Henderson friendship. A loss for Princeton.
[> [> Subject: Re: Jack Scott to...


Author:
Tiger81
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Date Posted: 10:58:04 04/27/24 Sat

Agree this is a disappointing loss for Princeton, and a baffling one. Jack Scott was a key player for Princeton last year and was positioned to be in the heart of the rotation next year. He is the son of two Tiger hoops alums and is going to a school that has never been to the NCAA tournament and is facing a turnaround under Coach Earl. Unlike Mack and Wolf, who went to big-time programs to seek out elite competition, NBA exposure and NIL windfalls, this move is a head-scratcher.
[> [> [> Subject: Re: Jack Scott to...


Author:
Bengal
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Date Posted: 10:35:46 04/28/24 Sun

Yeah, we had essentially a 7 man rotation last season, and he was one of the two with the most time playing off the bench. His experience/contributions will be missed. Mitch, the staff, and the the players did a remarkable job last season given the lack of height and depth. Our women’s team had both. We’ll see how these squads develop with graduation and any other losses. I am especially looking forward to seeing how Amanze does.
[> [> Subject: Vernon Collins to Western Carolina


Author:
Bengal
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Date Posted: 11:55:09 05/09/24 Thu

[> [> [> Subject: Re: Vernon Collins to Western Carolina Like Taking A Flaming Torch to Your Own Life


Author:
An Observer
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Date Posted: 12:42:37 05/09/24 Thu

No offense to the fine students and alumni of Western Carolina University, but I have never heard of their college. And I used to live in North Carolina.

Can you imagine introducing yourself as a new player to your teammates in the fall? "Hi, I'm Vernon, I'm a transfer from Princeton." Possible replies would be, "Hi, I'm Willie. I transferred from Oxford" and "Hi, I'm Jerome. I started at Cambridge initially, then transferred to the Sorbonne and now here I am at WCU."

If I were a job interviewer and I came across an applicant who told me, "I originally matriculated at Princeton, but then transferred to Western Carolina," I would mentally ding him right there and then. Seriously, I wouldn't want to hire an employee who had that kind of judgment. If he can't manage his own life, I sure don't want him managing my assets.

I really feel for young Mr Collins. I wonder how many months or years will pass before he realizes that he has just made a terrible decision on possibly the most important choice he has had in his life so far.
[> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Vernon Collins to Western Carolina Like Taking A Flaming Torch to Your Own Life


Author:
Gregory
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Date Posted: 13:03:38 05/09/24 Thu

Good points and I personally agree, but here are a few other considerations:

1) In his personal culture a prestigious degree may not mean the same thing as it does to you. Not everyone in America views a top Ivy League degree as the highest achievement, or even a worthy goal.

2) One cannot underestimate the extent to which Mr. Collins may feel that he doesn't fit in to the culture on the Princeton campus (pure conjecture). Going to his new institution close to home may be his personal 'safe space'.

3) He may be struggling academically (pure conjecture).

4) Not sure this weighs on Mr Collins, but the prestige of the top universities has been eroded this Spring with the protests (Some more than others. Columbia has been destroyed). A Princeton degree may not mean as much now or in the future as it has in the past.
[> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Vernon Collins to Western Carolina Like Taking A Flaming Torch to Your Own Life


Author:
An Observer
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Date Posted: 13:25:33 05/09/24 Thu

I would guess that it's mostly (1) and I am not here to say that everybody in America or anywhere else should share my values.

I am here to say, however, the probability is fairly high that young Mr Collins wakes up one day at age 22 or age 25 or age 30 and says to himself, "I wonder if having a degree from Princeton might have made a difference in my life." Maybe age 50 or age 60.

I'm getting near the age where my peers, academic and professional, are confronting the decisions they have made over the course of their lives.

One thing I realized early on that some of them are now realizing is:

You Don't Need to Make All Good Decisions in Your Life, But You Better Have A Good Batting Average on the Few Important Decisions.
[> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Vernon Collins to Western Carolina Like Taking A Flaming Torch to Your Own Life


Author:
Ghost
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Date Posted: 13:38:15 05/09/24 Thu

He's an athlete, correct? Has a limited time to complete his athletics experience? Not a bad place to do it
https://catamountsports.com/sports/2018/6/19/211718866.aspx
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Vernon Collins to Western Carolina Like Taking A Flaming Torch to Your Own Life


Author:
An Observer
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Date Posted: 14:01:58 05/09/24 Thu

I can't opine on the basketball opportunity at WCU and of course there is some chance (conjecture) that Mitch Henderson told young Mr Collins, "I gotta be honest with you. I love having you here and on the roster, but I doubt you'll actually see the court during games."

But who faces more pressure over the next two years?

Danny Wolf who left a great academic institution in Yale, but is going to a premier athletic institution in Michigan with big crowds and Fox Sports/BTN coverage where the education is also top flight. . . .

*OR*

Vernon Collins who left a great academic institution in Princeton, but is going to Western Carolina?

If Danny Wolf never suits up in the NBA, at least he can say, "I gave it a shot."

And if Wolf makes it to the NBA, he will have justified his decision.

What's the upside scenario for Vernon Collins? Can he be a star at WCU? I don't know and that's where Henderson's assessment comes in. But I don't know if a guy who can't crack the line-up at Princeton is going to star for the Catamounts.

Don't forget that Princeton just said they're going to maintain a legacy preference. Someday, Collins will need to justify this decision to himself. . . and maybe his kids.
[> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Vernon Collins to Western Carolina Like Taking A Flaming Torch to Your Own Life


Author:
sparman
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Date Posted: 13:18:31 05/09/24 Thu

I suspect he learned he was not interested in a career in finance.
[> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Vernon Collins to Western Carolina Like Taking A Flaming Torch to Your Own Life


Author:
joiseyfan
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Date Posted: 13:41:15 05/09/24 Thu

Certainly no coincidence in his returning home for his final two seasons. Hope he and his family enjoy his future efforts.
[> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Vernon Collins to Western Carolina Like Taking A Flaming Torch to Your Own Life


Author:
An Observer
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 14:27:51 05/09/24 Thu

He's not the first student, athlete or otherwise, who transferred to a college closer to home.

But I'm reminded of a story told in our family about my grandmother. This happened back in our country of origin, not the US. Back in that day and that country, it was very rare for a woman to even go to college, almost unheard of.

But she pestered her father, my great-grandfather, until he allowed her to leave home for college. Keep in mind that we're talking about the early twentieth century.

During her freshman year, she got homesick and called to come home. Her father replied, "You can come home, but fools make trouble for themselves."

She took his words to heart and stayed on to graduate, eventually becoming one of the most prominent women in her country.

When I left for college, my parents tore down the wall between their bedroom and my bedroom.

Sometimes, a parent's job is to say, "No, you can't come home."
[> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Vernon Collins to Western Carolina Like Taking A Flaming Torch to Your Own Life


Author:
Spizz1976
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Date Posted: 16:16:09 05/09/24 Thu

lots and lots of unfounded conjecture being loosely thrown around on this topic. I agree that Vernon Collins is taking a step down on academic prestige, if that is more important to him than a basketball opportunity.

As for his returning home, that is not quite accurate. I see that Collins is from Chocowinity, N.C., a small town in the eastern part of North Carolina. Western Carolina U is in Cullowhee, a small town buried in the mountains of westerly NC. It is still a significant drive home.

I have no clue as to Mr. Collins's ambitions or priorities but I will say that Western Carolina U is located in a drop dead gorgeous part of this country, within rural mountainous terrain, near lots of waterfalls, and the beauty of nature. He could do far worse than choosing that location , if any of that matters to him
[> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Princeton isn't a dump


Author:
Go Green
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Date Posted: 17:27:49 05/09/24 Thu


I have no doubt that you are correct that WCU is in a beautiful area.

But I seriously doubt that he is going there for better scenery.
[> [> [> Subject: Re: Vernon Collins to Western Carolina


Author:
Sr. Punter
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Date Posted: 17:06:35 05/09/24 Thu

Collins will have "attended Princeton" on his resume. With the understanding that the Ivies are harder to get into than to stay in, I wonder if the actual degree is all that important.
[> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Vernon Collins to Western Carolina


Author:
observer
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 17:21:40 05/09/24 Thu

Exactly. The getting in is the tough part. Graduating from these places - where they cancel exams because of emotional trauma from watching police enter a window - isn't exactly difficult these days. They don't even expel you for saying you want to kill your classmates because they believe that some countries have a right to exist.

The ground is shifting under your feet, old boys. It's not to late to notice that.
[> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Vernon Collins to Western Carolina


Author:
Old Blue
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Date Posted: 17:21:43 05/09/24 Thu

Gentlemen; The decision to matriculate at another institution after an ancient eight school from the outside looking in can be a real head scratcher.All one can do is wish each athlete the best of luck and hope each student is receiving the best overall advice.
[> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Vernon Collins to Western Carolina


Author:
Tiger69
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 10:16:01 05/10/24 Fri

No point in making conjectures about Vernon’s reason(s). He is still, unless he opts out, a Tiger for life. Who knows? He may take a year or two and decide to come back? From personal experience, I know that Princeton is very supportive of undergrads who withdraw in good standing, and offers encouragement to those who wish to return.

Best wishes to Vernon in finding his own preferred path at a challenging time in life.🐅🐅🐅
[> [> [> [> Subject: "If That Plane Leaves For Asheville and You're On It, You'll Regret It."


Author:
An Observer
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 13:25:02 05/10/24 Fri

Back in the ancient days when people of my age applied to college, Harvard would send admitted applicants a formal certificate, aesthetically appealing and suitable for framing, which stated that the named individual had been admitted to Harvard College.

I guess Harvard had a pretty good idea back then that getting in is the hard part.

I am genuinely sad for Vernon Collins, because I am so confident that someday he will regret his decision. In the immortal words of Rick Blaine, "Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon -- and for the rest of his life."

It didn't have to be this way.

Somebody in his life -- maybe Henderson, maybe his best friends at Princeton, most naturally his parents -- should have stopped him.

That is one thing of many things which I disrespect about the current generation of young Americans. There's a political correctness about life choices that says all decisions are correct, all choices are equally valid.

NO.

All decisions are not equally correct. All choices are not equally valid. And young Mr Collins is going to find that out, probably as early as next winter arrives when he discovers that Western Carolina is not the answer to all of his basketball dreams.

We on this board know that getting into Harvard is tougher than graduating from Harvard. But he doesn't want to explain this to everybody who will be judging him down the road, from graduate schools to employers to the pretty young thing that he's trying to pick up from the bar. "You know, I got into Princeton and went for two years. Do you want to come back to my apartment and see my Princeton notebooks?"

For the rest of his life, just as Ilsa did after she got on that plane with Viktor Laslow, Vernon Collins will have on his resume that he graduated from Western Carolina University, not the #1 ranked university in the country.

Somebody needed to slap him across his face and say, "Hey, you idiot. Here's what you're going to do. You're going to tell Coach Henderson that if you don't have a legitimate shot at getting real minutes, you want to become the team manager for the next two years. You're going to spend two more years in Tigertown, getting your degree and hanging out with your friends. But you'll have saved your athletic eligibility. Then once you've got that sheepskin in your hand, you're going to call Western Carolina or Michigan or Georgetown and you're going to one of them as a grad transfer with a Princeton degree."

This easily available option has less downside and more upside than his choice. Therefore, his choice is the wrong one.
[> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: "If That Plane Leaves For Asheville and You're On It, You'll Regret It."


Author:
Lurker
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 20:46:57 05/10/24 Fri

Look, this is going to come out as an attack and i really dont mean it as such, but between your take that NIL will bring nothing but harm to communities of color and that not earning an ivy degree is a 100% mistake you may just want to take half a step back and consider not everyone shares your views and values

I enjoy reading many of your posts and I guess we are here to express our opinions. But it seems you never consider the world does not bring the same set of history, experiences and assumptions as you do to the issues of the day

My last ivy football fan season is right around the bend. Wish my guy could have scored some of those sweet NIL bucks. But i am looking foward to seeing how the lions do this Fall and shortly thereafter writing my final tuition check. Basketball talk always gives me heartburn anyway
[> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: "If That Plane Leaves For Asheville and You're On It, You'll Regret It."


Author:
An Observer
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 14:32:25 05/11/24 Sat

As I said earlier in this thread, I agree with your point completely. There are 330 million people in this country and 8 billion of us around the world. That's a lot of personal histories and personal experiences which shape each individual.

Having said that, I do believe in playing the odds. Each player who transfers or drops out or quits the team but becomes team manager for two years may be making the best decision for him or herself. But, out of 100 Vernon Collins's who transfer from the #1 university in this entire country to a school which I had never heard of before this week, 80 of them are making a bad mistake.

I hope that *THIS* Vernon Collins is one of the 20.

Congratulations on being so close to writing your last tuition check. I wish your son and the Lions a healthy and fulfilling season.

Here's a song that I find quite meaningful. I hope it has the same effect on you. Enjoy your last season of Ivy football. All my best as you approach the finale against Cornell, AO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBDN8yWyNYU
[> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: "If That Plane Leaves For Asheville and You're On It, You'll Regret It."


Author:
Spizz1976
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 14:39:27 05/13/24 Mon

This Vernon Collins transfer to Western Carolina story has been a dominant issue on this Board during the past week. However, I cannot find information on the NET beyond Collins' enlisting on the Transfer Portal anywhere except on this Board!
How do we know, or have reason to believe, that Western Carolina is anywhere in Mr. Collins' thoughts or ambitions?
[> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: He said so himself.


Author:
Go Green
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 15:03:43 05/13/24 Mon


https://twitter.com/VerbalCommits/status/1788448752354922619
[> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Tweet also has a bible verse


Author:
Terrace72
[ Edit | View ]

Date Posted: 19:36:42 05/13/24 Mon

First Peter 5:10--And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

So was his time at Princeton his period of suffering?


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