Mac transfer thread...

NCAA can't put the toothpaste back in the tube and start over.  They acted too late to deal with a real problem in P5 and CBB.   They needed a full court press on lawmakers as soon as they did this, or before, after waiting too long.  They might have acted earlier phasing in something which might have worked.  It isn't some new development that big time college programs were generating the big bucks and at the same time letting college athletes who generated the income often suffer financial hardship.

Once the opportunity for players to get paid without really doing anything as consideration for those $$ entered the picture, it seems like the Courts feel pinned into a corner into ruling that it's a restraint of free trade for the NCAA to insert obstacles like sitting out a year upon transfer, not being paid when still a recruit before enrolling, the two-transfer limitation, the Terrence Shannon/Pop Isaacs rulings regarding suspensions while awaiting trials, and so forth.

I'd fully expect next we'll see the assault on any academic rules which might be easy legal fodder and just waiting ripe for some party to bring the appropriate litigation. Argument being it hurts players' exposure opportunities and ability to make money to ever potentially be not admitted to a particular school for academic reasons, or suspended for not progressing toward a degree, passing x amount of classes, or even attending classes at all.

Once the ties of sports to university academics are severed, it does open the door, depending on who wants to push the envelope and how far, to transferring teams in the middle of a a school year/basketball season or in the middle of a semester (no need to be even be enrolled in time to take classes) and though common-sense laughable, what's legally to stop NCAA Tourney Sweet Sixteen teams from picking up players from teams eliminated the first weekend, or as someone above mentioned players switching sides in the middle of a game, SO LONG AS the potentially denied player can prove the existence of such rules prohibited his opportunity to accept a large sum of money legally and legitimately offered by a fan or booster of the receiving team.

I thought language in the Shannon ruling was especially eye-opening scary that it seemed to imply that any reduction in playing time (in this case due to auto-suspension school/athletic dept rules on rape charges) which couldn't be recouped (you can't replay the games later after the trial occurred, by which time he was out of eligibility) thereby permanently reduced his exposure to both NBA scouts as well as to "followers" in a social-media sense - kind of hindering "his brand". Well strictly under the logic of those assertions, if he's pulled out by the coach due to 2 quick first-half fouls, or sits 15 straight game-minutes because the coach didn't think he was playing hard or another lineup combination was working better, there would be recourse vs the coach, heaven forbid a transfer's brand is harmed when he doesn't earn a starting lineup slot of a team and only plays 10 minutes.

The longer nothing is done, the less likely any schools who appear to be benefitting from the current chaos will ever to agree to a more centralized system.

I feel like we're arguing over deck chair assignments on the Titanic.

College basketball at the mid-major level that I knew and loved is dead.

At least with the P5 schools, it seems it's pretty common for the portal players to make campus visits to meet with the coaching staffs.  Assume those visits are paid for by the schools?  Any rumors or sightings of any players visiting with Coach Lewis at Ball State?  Seems like its been very quiet outside of Payton.  I was hoping we'd have another commitment or two by now.

If you would like to donate your time or your liver to Lahodys steak house you can just hang there till you see Lewis show up.. but to be real Ive not heard anything

It’s going to be the remnants of the power 5 becoming basically minor leagues and everyone else a separate lower division. The d2 and d3 kids are still out there playing for their school and the love of the game and the scholarship (in d2).