Embrace the Portal

[Mikovio]

Gotta adapt or die. The way I see it, if Bradley can have the best Valley NIL collective, this brave new world can help cement us at the top of the MVC by giving us an advantage that Creighton, Wichita, and Loyola never were able to realize. It will cement the haves and have-nots in our conference like never before, and we'll be one of the have's, so to that extent it's something I think we should embrace. I see a lot more winning and titles in our future.

The flip side of this landscape of course is we're more vulnerable to lower P5 squads poaching our players, but even there they've had mixed success doing so (see Leons). Just my opinion but I would take more advantage of our ability to raid low-major teams like we did with Duke Deen. I think kids from the leagues below the Valley are hungrier so I would try to do to those programs what the Georgia's are doing to us. Our success with disgruntled P5 players is mixed at best.

[bradleyfan124]

Let me add.I am going to miss Connor Hickman. Yes he was my favorite (Almar Atlason is my next favorite) but I re-watched the Utah State game. He was instrumental in us winning that game with his court savvy and basketball court sense. That will be hard to replace.

[Stryker]

Let me add.I am going to miss Connor Hickman. Yes he was my favorite (Almar Atlason is my next favorite) but I re-watched the Utah State game. He was instrumental in us winning that game with his court savvy and basketball court sense. That will be hard to replace.

Yep, he was a really good player with high IQ and ability to do tons of small things correct. He was consistent and excellent in a lot of areas. He was one of my favorites as well.

[Canton BU fan]

It's a little different than pure capitalism. The NCAA is a collective unit that sets rules for it's members, much like the NFL, MLB, NBA, etc. The difference with the NCAA is that they cater what they do to a group of their members (but that's a different discussion). Also, students only have 4 years of eligibility and in a purely capitalistic system there wouldn't be any restriction like this. Basically, what has been created is a system where 3rd parties are paying players who have a limited lifespan of earning potential, so they are not making life long decisions, but short term decisions in order to cash in while they can.

Not sure how we got to the current system, but it's a real clever deal the NCAA and the colleges have worked out conning 3rd party NIL's into paying players while they continue to collect all the profits from all the work the players put out.

No idea what the solution is, but this current system is certainly far from perfect.

Where the money should be going is bring down tuition costs. Instead tax money still funds schools plus on top of that there is the tuition forgiveness. Double whammy on the taxpayers.