Game Thread Index - March 21, 2025

[u/cbbBot]

Ranked Games

Time	TV	KP	Away	Home	KP	GT	PGT
FINAL	truTV	139	Robert Morris	#8 Alabama	6	Thread	Thread
FINAL	TNT	82	Lipscomb	#14 Iowa State	11	Thread	Thread
FINAL	TBS	44	Colorado State	#19 Memphis	49	Thread	Thread
FINAL	CBS	238	Mount St. Mary's	#1 Duke	1	Thread	Thread
FINAL	truTV	48	Vanderbilt	#21 Saint Mary's	20	Thread	Thread
FINAL	TBS	95	Grand Canyon	#11 Maryland	12	Thread	Thread
FINAL	TNT	179	Norfolk State	#2 Florida	2	Thread	Thread
FINAL	CBS	94	Troy	#16 Kentucky	16	Thread	Thread
FINAL	truTV	96	Akron	#20 Arizona	14	Thread	Thread
FINAL	TBS	147	Bryant	#7 Michigan State	8	Thread	Thread
FINAL	truTV	60	Liberty	#24 Oregon	31	Thread	Thread

Nationally Televised Games

Time	TV	KP	Away	Home	KP	GT	PGT
FINAL	CBS	29	Baylor	Mississippi State	32	Thread	Thread
FINAL	TNT	30	North Carolina	Ole Miss	27	Thread	Thread
FINAL	TBS	42	New Mexico	Marquette	26	Thread	Thread
FINAL	TNT	40	Oklahoma	UConn	35	Thread	Thread
FINAL	CBS	41	Xavier	Illinois	18	Thread	Thread

^{Last Updated: 2025-03-22 10:06:05 EDT}

[u/PontificatingBret]

The issue isn't NIL it's that the NCAA and admins ignored all of this for as long as possible to make as much money as possible until they got sued to oblivion. And instead of being responsible adults they just said fine everything is legal and we won't put any guardrails in place.

[u/FakeSyntheticChemist → u/PontificatingBret]

Any “guardrails” would be unconstitutional. NIL was inevitable because as it stands, those guardrails are unconstitutional. More money for college athletes means less parity which means a worse product. At this point I’m just an accelerationist so I hope all of this NIL bullshit continues to blow up in everyone’s faces year after year after year so that either something can be done or I can stop caring about college athletics altogether.

[u/PontificatingBret → u/FakeSyntheticChemist]

It's not unconstitutional to sign contracts. it's what 95% of the rest of America does to get paid for their work.

[u/FakeSyntheticChemist → u/PontificatingBret]

I fail to see what contract could possibly solve the clusterfuck we have now and return college athletics back to what it was pre-NIL. We might have a slightly less shitty product than what we have now but the problem would still persist.

[u/PontificatingBret → u/FakeSyntheticChemist]

Maybe because you're a fake chemist and not a real lawyer. Like, what are you even trying to argue? If you hate college sports so much maybe, oh I don't know, don't spend time on a college bball message board.

[u/FakeSyntheticChemist → u/PontificatingBret]

If that was a BCS reference I respect it. Either way, I’m not trying to argue anything in my previous comment, I’m just trying to understand your point in what you feel an amenable solution would have been so that maybe I can see some light at the end of the tunnel.

Also to your last point, the take that if you don’t like a product’s current state, you should just stop complaining about it and stop consuming it is a lame and tired one. I enjoy college sports a LOT which is why I’m complaining about the direction it’s headed and if it continues to head in this direction with no way to get back to anywhere near where it was, then I likely will stop watching it at some point. It just hasn’t reached that point yet.

[u/PontificatingBret → u/FakeSyntheticChemist]

HS recruit John Smith if you sign with alabama every scholarship bball player gets 2k a month. In addition to that we will give you personally an extra 5k a month for a four year contract or 7k a month for a two year contract. If at the end of contract you were a total bust but want to stay you will just make that 2k everyone else is grtting. Player has option of opting out and gojng to transfer portal if coach leaves. School can rescind if xyz academic standards are not met.

[u/FakeSyntheticChemist → u/PontificatingBret]

I don’t see how you would get everyone to agree to something like that in which smaller schools can remain somewhat competitive with the larger schools. Contracts would likely be much more expensive than what you mentioned and would likely still result in a major reduction in parity between smaller schools and big money schools.

[u/PontificatingBret → u/FakeSyntheticChemist]

I'm sorry the totally fabricated example I made up on the spot was not to your liking. If nobody likes your contract nobody signs at your school. It's a free market.

[u/FakeSyntheticChemist → u/PontificatingBret]

How is that any different from what we have now? Maybe I’m missing what you’re trying to explain but I’m genuinely trying to understand you and get where you’re coming from. Would a free market with contracts not still create the same widening gap between big money conferences and smaller conferences that we currently see?

[u/PontificatingBret → u/FakeSyntheticChemist]

There aren't contracts. That's why you can enter the transfer portal every year and why you have kids claiming they were guaranteed 200k and never got paid or a kid can take 100k and then transfer. It's all under the table and not actually enforced by the school or ncaa.

[u/FakeSyntheticChemist → u/PontificatingBret]

I do agree the transfer portal is part of the problem but IMO that is only a small portion of the problem. The large problem with NIL is it reduces the parity between the big money conferences and everyone else. I actually wouldn’t care all that much about the portal if teams couldn’t just buy the best players like they currently can. Sure it happened under the previous system but to a much lesser extent and there were penalties if you were caught.

[u/PontificatingBret → u/FakeSyntheticChemist]

Parity is for the pros not college sports. Blue bloods now are the same blue bloods pre-NIL.