HokieSA

and Vitale started to have his own mag late 80s/early 90s. How awesome was it when they finally hit the magazine rack.. @SteveInBaltimore a shameless plug, just b/c it’s so good and comprehensive: if you’re not already aware, Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook is an excellent buy also.

Curious what kind of minutes he’ll see as the season goes along.

Since it sounds like Neo will run a lot of point, does CMY in this situation draw up new offensive sets built around this unique skill set (that I'm assuming Mike has never quite had in his career in a 6'8" PG), or does Mike basically stick with what he's always run he just has a uniquely skilled PG running them now? I would think Neo will be a matchup problem for a lot of teams and you can get him off the ball too in all sorts of matchups. I really can't wait to see how this team looks.

So many of us football fans are basketball fans too because those of us older who go back to the 80s, MBB was a big deal around VT. You would have loved VTMBB back then because although we never won the Metro in the 80s and while we made the NCAA Tournament twice (lost first round each time), those teams with Dell, Beecher, the Youngs, Keith Colbert..upsetting #1 Memphis State was such a big deal. We were ranked some. The year after NC State upset Houston with Jimmy V, we blew them out in Greensboro. Having Louisville in Cassell during years they won two national championships. Even VT making the semis of the NIT in 1984 was a big deal (the NIT was still a bigger deal back then). Anyway there’s a lot of us big hoops fans that are just dying for some consistency. Despite our handful of visits the last 10 years, we went from 1980-2016 making just FOUR NCAA tournaments. We have still only made what 9 in the last 45 years now? Many of us are desperate to be relevant in MBB.

For anyone who purchased tix for tomorrow thru the VT ticket office (presale)..looking back at my confirmation email it says ticket delivery method is “will call” Does anyone know more on this? Will there be a will call window at the stadium tomorrow? I’m looking for any more detail you might have received because I’m realizing here late on Saturday night before the game, I should have confirmed

Obituary article by Mark Berman

I encourage all to read, but wowsa it is a deep dive into $$ numbers. I have to tip my cap to Whit and his team for putting together and hope the BOV finds it very compelling.

This article references USA Today salary data as of summer 2024 ** Edited by HokieSA at 8/5/2025, 5:06:48 PM

Curious your thoughts/compare and contrast the experience. On TV today it looked like there were parts of the grandstands you were physically blocked from seeing much of home plate.. ** Edited by HokieSA at 8/3/2025, 3:34:54 PM

If we go 3-0 against them, Bryant and Mason I'd be happy...all 3 won 20+ last year.

I know the alumni association plans one (link below)..just curious if Sons of Saturday, TSL? have any plans somewhere either Saturday night or Sunday pregame..

He has been described as the "de facto" GM being the head of Triumph NIL..

But posts like this will suffice lol

** Edited by HokieSA at 4/14/2025, 12:17:04 PM

His father is -extremely- wealthy..I gathered some NIL funding could very well be coming that route. RU certainly has some other means of NIL but if anyone knows this to be categorically untrue please correct me. BTW, the new coach's (Zach Chu) introductory press conference..he actually quoted former VT coach Bill Foster, something like "our goals are a lot higher than 10 feet" (such a typical Foster-ism, lol). I just found it funny b/c Chu is 32 - he was literally all of 4 years old when Foster retired from VT. It was an old school reference for a really young guy.

Inbounds lob that was short for Flagg to snare it that led to dunk off missed 3. That completely negated the momentum Duke had after Houston technical foul. That T and Duke FT made it 67-61 with under a minute. That should have been game set match

A made for TV postseason event to compete with the NIT. Fox Sports had a big hand in creating it.

Big East->ACC->SEC->Big Ten now.

Sencire Harris, 6'3" 160, combo guard, r-Sophomore Amani Hansberry, 6'8" 225, PF, Sophomore Jonathan Powell, 6'6" 180, SG, Freshman DeVries the coach's son was in the portal but is going to Indiana with him

to retain guys on their roster. Not so much enough to go out and grab guys in the portal looking to get “paid.” Could that be different as of now? Maybe. The rev share thing..the university itself certainly does has a lot of $$ in their coffers, maybe can allocate more now. I would hazard to guess all things equal that Nickel and even Collins got more from Vandy last offseason than Young got from High Point here.

I know her title is Chief of Staff but I believe she's fairly intimately involved in all aspects, fundraising/NIL etc

Jeff Goodman tweet

(just under $5mil/year) Villanova is allegedly ready to make Willard a top 10 highest paid coach and Maryland -allegedly- has offered to match that for Willard. So assuming Maryland has that money, and for Buzz if this is about simply upping his salary..that would be such a Buzz thing to do.

NIL is the other part of the equation, do we far out pace them there? No offense to the Rams of VCU, great program and all..but if I’m a Joe Bamisile this gives me even another reason to transfer there - more playing time, easier? path to the NCAA tournament..and same pot of money I can get paid from. If my logic is off please correct..

What am I missing…

The proof will be in the results

I recall him expressing he liked the fact of being at school with football that could generate money on that level (Marquette = no football, no real TV deal/money through the Big East). Now that was 2014 - eons ago when it comes to what's developed with NIL and rev share. Now a days, and I get it - a school withOUT football could be more attractive, for money reasons but the flip side of it..

Oakland men's basketball coach Greg Kampe recalls exactly when he realized that mid-majors had become a farm system for power-conference programs. It was when Kampe lost a standout player who grew up minutes from campus, who attended dozens of Oakland games as a kid and who always hoped to play for the Golden Grizzlies just like both his mom and dad once did. Trey Towsend blossomed from unwanted recruit to Horizon League player of the year during his time at Oakland. The 6-foot-6 forward saved his best for the NCAA tournament stage, piling up 47 points and 25 rebounds in two games last March as the 14th-seeded Golden Grizzlies waylaid talent-laden Kentucky and took NC State to overtime. On the eve of that run, Towsend described playing for Oakland as "a dream come true." Two weeks later, he put his name in the transfer portal. The temptation was too strong with no penalty for transferring and with heavyweight programs offering hundreds of thousands in NIL money if he spent his final college season playing for them. "He's making 20 times what I could give him this season," Kampe told Yahoo Sports of Townsend, who has started 29 games this season for Arizona — a Sweet 16 team. "What do you do? You wish him well. Many of these guys are being told you're not going to be in the NBA, so get your money now and you've got a chance to start your life with a little bit of a bankroll. That's a hard thing to argue against. I can't argue against that with my players." Stories like that exemplify why there's concern in college basketball circles that the absence of upsets in this year's NCAA tournament may be the start of a trend rather than just an anomaly. The modern landscape of college basketball has made it more challenging than ever for the likes of Oakland to compete against deep-pocketed power-conference programs.

That NIL disparity between the P4 and mid majors and P4 plucking kids from mid majors has worsened mid majors level of play. There were a couple cases in 2nd round games where non P4s pushed P4s to the end, Colorado State came within a whisker of beating Maryland. But ur right this telling.

I appreciate GC's insights, and I miss RevZekeVodka's. Personally, my opinion (as I prepare to duck)..I think GC gets a bad rap on here. I've gathered he's a former D1 staff member/assistant (multiple stops), he's mentioned he worked at Radford and I'm a fan of RU and their hoops program. And GC goes back to time around CSG in some capacity. He's still connected and I trust his evaluations - whether I agree or disagree as a longtime hoops fan is irrelevant to me. Both he and particularly other posters coming at him could tone it down a bit but I never feel like it crosses a line or the TOS. I just hope he keeps it comin..

I know the Kentucky men were playing at the same time, but for all the hulla balloo about hiring him..landing GA..they've got some work to do getting fan interest up. You're hosting a sub regional in a basketball-rich state - I just thought that was a low attendance number. For Baylor last year - Cassell was sold out, 8,925. ** Edited by HokieSA at 3/24/2025, 11:40:45 AM

Obviously Jones' circumstances are different, everyone's are different.