FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[finsleft]

This is interesting. And now the Fed's are subpoenaing Nike and Under Armor's AAU reps as well. It's something that many assumed existed but the FBI with all its might and subpoena power was able to connect the coordinated scheme between college coaches, shoe companies, agents / financial advisors, and the recruits/families/handlers. This is the Balco of college basketball. What happens with it will change the sport. As you note above, will it be deregulation and paying players or a more restrictive focus on the rules by the NCAA. Right now it feels like no-mans land somewhere in between, especially for D1 hoops where a player or two can mean a Final Four appearance.

Its not too hard to connect the dots to the other trouble makers. If a college has had a number of one and dones that played for AAU teams that have the same shoe contract that they do, that presents a whole lot of smoke.

So now we're waiting for the other ... shoe to drop?

[AO]

Sidenote:  St. Scholastica is 3-0 in the UMAC and outscoring opponents 132-48.  How terrible is the UMAC? 

We've been better?  How many MIAC alumni were playing in the NFL yesterday?  St. Thomas might have an FCS transfer at RB, but the UMAC has an SEC transfer at RB.

Yeah, it's probably as bad as it's been, but better days are ahead.

So you are basing the quality of an entire conference on 1 player? 

I think you may have missed some intended sarcasm.   

Or perhaps I'm missing yours?

Maybe I missed it - just sounded like he was comparing the 2 conferences on the sole reason that the MIAC has a FCS transfer and UMAC has a SEC transfer. But if it was meant as sarcasm, then my apologies. (so hard to tell when no emoticons are present)

UMAC > MIAC 

[BDB]

I heard on the radio that in honor of Hugh Hefner all flags are to be flown at full mast.

[57Johnnie]

I heard on the radio that in honor of Hugh Hefner all flags are to flown at full mast.

+k.

[DuffMan]

I heard on the radio that in honor of Hugh Hefner all flags are to flown at full mast.

Giggitty.

[Boys of Fall]

Probably not saying anything new here, but the cause of this most recent NCAA fiasco is money, and the outcome will be driven by money.  Unlike MLB and the NHL, the NBA and the NFL don't have "minor" leagues.  These two leagues use colleges for player development and assessment.  The NBA/NFL save a lot of money with this arrangement, and the colleges make a lot of money.

What's interesting to me is that college athletics seem to be more about the marketing of a college/university than it does about student development.  Does having a better basketball or football team allow a school to better educate the vast majority of their students to be doctors, lawyers, teachers, accountants, etc.?  Probably not, but it probably does help draw students to different schools.

[AO]

Probably not saying anything new here, but the cause of this most recent NCAA fiasco is money, and the outcome will be driven by money.  Unlike MLB and the NHL, the NBA and the NFL don't have "minor" leagues.  These two leagues use colleges for player development and assessment.  The NBA/NFL save a lot of money with this arrangement, and the colleges make a lot of money.

http://gleague.nba.com/

[scottyeagle93]

Probably not saying anything new here, but the cause of this most recent NCAA fiasco is money, and the outcome will be driven by money.  Unlike MLB and the NHL, the NBA and the NFL don't have "minor" leagues.  These two leagues use colleges for player development and assessment.  The NBA/NFL save a lot of money with this arrangement, and the colleges make a lot of money.

What's interesting to me is that college athletics seem to be more about the marketing of a college/university than it does about student development.  Does having a better basketball or football team allow a school to better educate the vast majority of their students to be doctors, lawyers, teachers, accountants, etc.?  Probably not, but it probably does help draw students to different schools.

Having a better sports team might have a small impact on a school's ability to educate because marketing the college/university doesn't market solely to students; it also markets it to their alums.  There was a discussion a couple of pages back about how alums are more likely to give money following a win by the football team, so it provides some assistance in those educational pursuits depending on where those donations are used.  This donation pool may just be a drop in the bucket, but schools tend to solicit donations using this strategy so it may be a more significant source of revenue than I think. 

[sjusection105]

  I'll be interested to see how the Johnnies will bounce back after their loss last Saturday.  I have a feeling that they'll come out firing on all cylinders.

I wish you had that feeling last Saturday.....

[scottyeagle93]

Any predictions on how St John's will bounce back after their loss against St Thomas? They've been in this position, having to win out in hopes of receiving a playoff berth, each of the past three seasons. With the magnitude of the rivalry, as displayed by the record attendance at Target Field, would the NCAA be inclined to seed SJU & UST (assuming both make the playoffs) where they could meet again? If so, would that be a second round matchup as in 2015 or would they place them in separate brackets?

The geographical limitations make it unlikely the AA would put them in separate brackets. But in this case, too, with St. Thomas having lost a game already, it's even less likely because there wouldn't be a reason to "protect" UST from a rematch since they aren't a top seed. They wouldn't get a 4-5 rematch in the first round but perhaps a situation where they are the 2 and 3 seeds and meet again in the second round. Seeding is kind of irrelevant, especially in this part of the country, because the map will dictate the matchups.

* if both teams win out. Fun fact -- Concordia is more than 500 miles from UW-Oshkosh and that would rule them out as a first-round matchup.

Wartburg, BVU and Luther are also the only IIAC schools within the Concordia 500 mile footprint. All the contenders in the MWC are out of their radius, too. If someone other than Wartburg wins the IIAC, and the Cobbers win the MIAC, we could see a MIAC/UMAC & NWC/SCIAC or ASC/ASC quad. Very unlikely, but fun to think about.

Additionally, Macmurray could very well win the UMAC, placing that league's champion out of Concordia's radius too.

[Boys of Fall]

Probably not saying anything new here, but the cause of this most recent NCAA fiasco is money, and the outcome will be driven by money.  Unlike MLB and the NHL, the NBA and the NFL don't have "minor" leagues.  These two leagues use colleges for player development and assessment.  The NBA/NFL save a lot of money with this arrangement, and the colleges make a lot of money.

What's interesting to me is that college athletics seem to be more about the marketing of a college/university than it does about student development.  Does having a better basketball or football team allow a school to better educate the vast majority of their students to be doctors, lawyers, teachers, accountants, etc.?  Probably not, but it probably does help draw students to different schools.

Having a better sports team might have a small impact on a school's ability to educate because marketing the college/university doesn't market solely to students; it also markets it to their alums.  There was a discussion a couple of pages back about how alums are more likely to give money following a win by the football team, so it provides some assistance in those educational pursuits depending on where those donations are used.  This donation pool may just be a drop in the bucket, but schools tend to solicit donations using this strategy so it may be a more significant source of revenue than I think.

Agreed, and that is my point.  As long as colleges use big time athletics for marketing and alumni donation purposes while treating the players as amateur student athletes this type of issue is a risk.

[art76]

  I'll be interested to see how the Johnnies will bounce back after their loss last Saturday.  I have a feeling that they'll come out firing on all cylinders.

I wish you had that feeling last Saturday.....

Me too. 

[GoldandBlueBU]

  I'll be interested to see how the Johnnies will bounce back after their loss last Saturday.  I have a feeling that they'll come out firing on all cylinders.

I wish you had that feeling last Saturday.....

Me too. 

If BU's defense shows up well like they did against the Cobbers, they'll be able to keep it close for a quarter, or a quarter and a half, but I'd be pretty surprised if Bethel is able to put up more than 1 or 2 TD's on the day.  I'll go with something in the neighborhood of 42-14 in favor of the Johnnies.

[art76]

If BU's defense shows up well like they did against the Cobbers, they'll be able to keep it close for a quarter, or a quarter and a half, but I'd be pretty surprised if Bethel is able to put up more than 1 or 2 TD's on the day.  I'll go with something in the neighborhood of 42-14 in favor of the Johnnies.

I'm hopeful that it is a little closer - in the neighborhood of 28 to 17, but BU has a lot of youngsters out there still learning how to fill the shoes of their predecessors.

[SJUrube]

I'd like to see an empty back field, 4 split wide to the right, Clark alone on the left and deep routes from everyone...and rinse and repeat.