Why RGV? Maybe $400 million donors at other Power 4 schools?

[WhiteTrash]

Can MU compete with BYU? The LDS is loaded.  Can we expect that 25 schools will have higher payrolls than MU?

Apparently we can't even compete in the top 100.

[forgetful]

Meanwhile MSU is mandating a 9% across the board cut for academics, with significant layoffs, pauses to graduate programs, and cuts in research funding.

$153M of that $401M would have been enough to not need any budget cuts at all.

[Biggie Clausen]

Henry Ellenson chose Marquette over Michigan State and Kentucky.

Joey Hauser chose Marquette over Michigan State, with Kansas showing interest late.

Dawson Garcia chose Marquette over Indiana.

True, although Henry and Joey already had brothers in the program at Marquette, so I'd argue they were special cases.  Then again, I forgot that Greg Elliott - at least according to some Scoopers - was Izzo's top target in that year's recruiting class, and possibly - again, according to some Scoopers at that time -  the most coveted recruit of Izzo's entire career.  That's just how it was in the Wojo era. 

[Pakuni]

Can MU compete with BYU? The LDS is loaded.  Can we expect that 25 schools will have higher payrolls than MU?

The LDS isn't funding BYU athletics any more than the Vatican funds Marquette athletics.

[WhiteTrash]

Meanwhile MSU is mandating a 9% across the board cut for academics, with significant layoffs, pauses to graduate programs, and cuts in research funding.

$153M of that $401M would have been enough to not need any budget cuts at all.

They better not cut the budget for criminal defense attorneys.

[GoldenEagles03]

Just my opinion but I feel like some fans:
1. underestimate the financial resources of MU.
2. underestimate the competitive nature of MU players.
3. think that 'no transfers' is the hill Shaka will die on.

It is very hard to watch this and think he'll use the portal.

https://youtu.be/rt5IdhD3SRQ?si=0EQEaBFzhr1e7BgP

[MU82]

True

Yes. Thanks.

[Zog from Margo]

The LDS isn't funding BYU athletics any more than the Vatican funds Marquette athletics.

AJ Dybantsa has a $7 million dollar nil deal. Can MU compete? Everyone seems fine with MU not being able to compete with Duke, UK, KU, etc. I doubt they can compete with BYU. I'm trying to figure out the reasonable expectations for MU in the New World.

[Pakuni]

AJ Dybantsa has a $7 million dollar nil deal. Can MU compete? Everyone seems fine with MU not being able to compete with Duke, UK, KU, etc. I doubt they can compete with BYU. I'm trying to figure out the reasonable expectations for MU in the New World.

Yes, MU can compete without recruiting the #1 player in the country, just as it has for the past 50 years.

[Zog from Margo]

Yes, MU can compete without recruiting the #1 player in the country, just as it has for the past 50 years.

But was MU competing with BYU or Utah for top players 50 years ago or 10 years ago? Is MU a top 25 payroll?

[burger]

The question is.....Do we have any alumni with high 9 or 10 digits after their names....

7 digits is almost middle class these days...

Whatever happened to that Strong guy????

[Billy Hoyle]

AJ Dybantsa has a $7 million dollar nil deal. Can MU compete? Everyone seems fine with MU not being able to compete with Duke, UK, KU, etc. I doubt they can compete with BYU. I'm trying to figure out the reasonable expectations for MU in the New World.

BYU has five billionaire donors within a 20 mile radius of campus, and that does not include the the "cookie man" in Logan (a USU grad) who stepped up to keep Sitake from going to Penn State. BYU is an extreme example. Right now we're not keeping up with other Big East schools and seem to be falling behind Dayton and SLU.

[Billy Hoyle]

I suspect if MU had someone come in with, hell, just a $100 million dollar donation for Men's Basketball, you may see a different approach.  In the linked article Kansas got a $300 million donation, Illinois a $100M donation.

You can fantasize all you want and think MU has a bunch of mega wealthy alums that care about basketball, but the truth is as compared to Power 4 schools - yeah, not so much.

So, what we can do is brand ourselves as a place where you won't get recruited over, we will invest in you, and give you time to develop as a player and person.  As the recruits quality increases (and it has with Nigel, Adrien, Sheek, Egbouno), maybe you can compete with Power 4 schools with payrolls of $20M and big time donors of $100M+.

Bucky fans in the 80s and early 90s: "we're not winning because our academic standards are too high."

Some MU fans today: "we're not winning and shouldn't expect to because we're poor. RVG forever!"

RVG has now become a brand, and whether it's working or not (with "not" the leader in the clubhouse) MU seems to be insistent on protecting the brand, considering the investment they've made into it based on the number of RVG products being pushed front and center in the Spirit Shop and online. Right now I expect Shaka and MU leadership to insist on dying on the RVG hill, using that like the "academic standards" BS Bucky and other schools used to run with.

God forbid they loosen up slightly on the "RVG" stuff and bring in one or two transfers. How would that make us look at a program and institution, especially with the President out pushing the RVG line as if it makes up a superior program?

[NCMUFan]

Bucky fans in the 80s and early 90s: "we're not winning because our academic standards are too high."

Some MU fans today: "we're not winning and shouldn't expect to because we're poor. RVG forever!"

RVG has now become a brand, and whether it's working or not (with "not" the leader in the clubhouse) MU seems to be insistent on protecting the brand, considering the investment they've made into it based on the number of RVG products being pushed front and center in the Spirit Shop and online. Right now I expect Shaka and MU leadership to insist on dying on the RVG hill, using that like the "academic standards" BS Bucky and other schools used to run with.

God forbid they loosen up slightly on the "RVG" stuff and bring in one or two transfers. How would that make us look at a program and institution, especially with the President out pushing the RVG line as if it makes up a superior program?

Winning makes people forget quickly.

[Viper]

So what you're saying is that Wojo was an elite recruiter.

Wojo could definitely recruit. If his coaching matched his recruiting, he'd probably still be here.

[Viper]

There's two sides to every coin. Say a kid gets a big NIL deal and he has a few bad games. He gets some pressure on the twitter and starts tanking hard. His money is gone next year and he's banished to DIII.

On the Marquette model you avoid the lightning in a bottle kid who is going to basically use Marquette until a true blue blood comes along or go to the NBA. Shaka is trying to have a stable roster with good timing across scholarship classes. Does that model look great right now? Sure doesn't. But this is a long term strategy. There is going to be growing pains. Is the RGV thing tacky? Sure it is. But look at the mission statement of Marquette.  The BOT are focused on a balanced team.  NO headlines in the Chicago Tribune about rape.  Remember Buzz and the sexual assaults? You don't get a chance to really vet a player, meet his family, do the homework on the character of a player.  If Winning was everything you get into the portal. If building a winning culture was everything you start at home and double down on development. Kids who come from families that value being a balanced and good human being will continue to choose Marquette.  The trick is that they need to be 40% from the three point line. 

100%. Hit some shots and we're 8-2. The freak-out factor would be chill

[Pakuni]

But was MU competing with BYU or Utah for top players 50 years ago or 10 years ago? Is MU a top 25 payroll?

What's with the BYU obsession? That's one program, and a unique one at that.

Like everyone else here, I don't have access to MU's books or know exactly how much money the athletic department has to spend on roster construction. But based on everything I've already written in this thread, I believe MU has the ability to acquire the resources needed to field a consistent winner on the basketball court. If they don't, it's not because the resources don't exist. It's because the program isn't capturing them.

[Pakuni]

Speaking of RGV, a not-so-flattering item about Shaka in Busting Brackets yesterday:

No. 2: Shaka Smart's approach to the transfer portal.

Marquette is bad and, right now, projects to be one of the worst teams in the Big East and, subsequently, one of the worst power-conference teams in the country, and it could all have been avoided.  The Golden Eagles had a loaded roster last season that won a ton of games under head coach Shaka Smart; the only problem was that those players were seniors and out of eligibility.  Well, coach Smart did what every other coach did: adapted to the rules and used the transfer portal with NIL to build a roster, right?

No, in fact, Coach Smart has made it clear how much he thinks the transfer portal is killing the game and how much he loathes it.  If that were not enough, Coach Smart flat-out refuses to talk to any agents. I understand that agents can be frustrating to deal with, especially when trying to get the most money for their players, but that is the way of the college basketball world, especially for players that Marquette is going to be after.

As a result of the refusal of both of these key roster-building principles in the age of NIL, this Marquette team.  It is one thing to stand on your principles, but when everyone else is playing within the rules and building a roster through the transfer portal, it's going to be either adapt or lose your job.  If coach Smart doesn't start using the portal, Marquette might turn into DePaul, and then coach Smart will be out of a job, like it or not. This is how the game is building rosters.

https://bustingbrackets.com/shaka-smart-and-potential-tournament-in-dubai-lead-the-week-of-bad-beats-basketball

[Pakuni]

100%. Hit some shots and we're 8-2. The freak-out factor would be chill

Miss some shots and we're 3-7, with losses to Central Michigan and Valpo.

[Billy Hoyle]

Miss some shots and we're 3-7, with losses to Central Michigan and Valpo.

wrong. The only outcomes that would change are those games we won. That Valpo's best player left the game injured with 10 minutes to go with Valpo leading and controlling the pace was inconsequential.

[MU82]

C'mon, Scoopers. One of y'all must know this per$on ...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/mackenzie-scott-donates-7-2-billion-in-latest-giving-spree/ar-AA1S1Jqe?ocid=nl_article_link

[NCMUFan]

Speaking of RGV, a not-so-flattering item about Shaka in Busting Brackets yesterday:

No. 2: Shaka Smart's approach to the transfer portal.

Marquette is bad and, right now, projects to be one of the worst teams in the Big East and, subsequently, one of the worst power-conference teams in the country, and it could all have been avoided.  The Golden Eagles had a loaded roster last season that won a ton of games under head coach Shaka Smart; the only problem was that those players were seniors and out of eligibility.  Well, coach Smart did what every other coach did: adapted to the rules and used the transfer portal with NIL to build a roster, right?

No, in fact, Coach Smart has made it clear how much he thinks the transfer portal is killing the game and how much he loathes it.  If that were not enough, Coach Smart flat-out refuses to talk to any agents. I understand that agents can be frustrating to deal with, especially when trying to get the most money for their players, but that is the way of the college basketball world, especially for players that Marquette is going to be after.

As a result of the refusal of both of these key roster-building principles in the age of NIL, this Marquette team.  It is one thing to stand on your principles, but when everyone else is playing within the rules and building a roster through the transfer portal, it's going to be either adapt or lose your job.  If coach Smart doesn't start using the portal, Marquette might turn into DePaul, and then coach Smart will be out of a job, like it or not. This is how the game is building rosters.

https://bustingbrackets.com/shaka-smart-and-potential-tournament-in-dubai-lead-the-week-of-bad-beats-basketball

Thanks for sharing.
Interesting times for men's MUBB.

[Zog from Margo]

What's with the BYU obsession? That's one program, and a unique one at that.

Like everyone else here, I don't have access to MU's books or know exactly how much money the athletic department has to spend on roster construction. But based on everything I've already written in this thread, I believe MU has the ability to acquire the resources needed to field a consistent winner on the basketball court. If they don't, it's not because the resources don't exist. It's because the program isn't capturing them.

BYU is just an example of a program that came out of the blue to land a top talent and they likely will continue to land top talent because they have lots of money. I agree that MU has not been an elite destination for recruits since Al retired. MU has not competed for recruits with Duke, UNC, KU, UK, etc. and won't in the new era of paid players. What I'm trying to get a handle on is how MU's player payroll stacks up to other schools. Is it reasonable to expect MU to regularly outperform schools that pay more? BYU and Utah are examples of schools that MU has often been better than in the past but now look like they will be able to pay more.

[Billy Hoyle]

C'mon, Scoopers. One of y'all must know this per$on ...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/mackenzie-scott-donates-7-2-billion-in-latest-giving-spree/ar-AA1S1Jqe?ocid=nl_article_link

Considering Michigan got Larry Ellison to pony up $13 million for NIL because his latest wife is a UM grad, certainly someone here could land Mrs. Scott and convince her to donate a hefty sum to MU hoops.

[Viper]

Miss some shots and we're 3-7, with losses to Central Michigan and Valpo.

im trying to think positive 😉