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All too obvious way to win the conference

T

thirdandlong

Well-known member
With the ability to pay players with NIL money, there should be no reason why Montana should not dominate the Big Sky in basketball. Unlike football, basketball teams can be upgraded significantly by adding only a couple of star players to a supporting cast of players. Why don't we seek a couple of portal players who have the ability to dominate in this second tier conference, and pay them enough NIL money to get them here? I'm not talking about trying to compete with much bigger and richer schools for the top players. But there are plenty of quality players who would be game-changers at Montana, and we only need two of them, IMO. Thoughts?
 
The basis of your argument is flawed. Having the most NIL money of BSC schools doesn't necessarily change your ability to attract players in the portal.
 
UM is never going to have much NIL money in basketball, and probably not in football either. At schools like UM, NIL money just diverts money from general athletics and academics. Big UM NIL money is not going to just appear, in my view.
 
Big Sage said:
Because Missoula in the winter sucks and playing in front of a nursing home crowd is almost as bad
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You would think Storrs, Connecticut is a garden paradise on earth.

Plenty of arguments by which to take down this conference in terms of basketball. I find that you guys outside of the western metro areas generally don’t care that much, and those of us in those metros have other teams to follow, professional or otherwise.The toughest ticket for any sport in this region is Gonzaga basketball, where you have to drop some dough just to get on a waiting list for returned tickets for single games… and maybe that’s an angle EWU works to their advantage. Shrug.
 
HelenaHandBasket said:
Please explain.
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I think I can cover this. The billboards Oregon State would generally use to advertise ticket sales late last summer were instead devoted to (deep breath) the Dam Nation collective. Yes, this Duck continues chuckling at that name.

Which is to say that nobody is really expanding their donor base to give money directly to athletes when, in the past, there would be tickets bought and donations made to the AD and even the school. OK (thinks about Boise State a bit)… this diversion is likely more true of athletic donations than academic donations. Not by a lot, however.
 
We could sink a bunch of money into it. But the Big Sky is one of the worst basketball conferences in the country. There's not really much return on that investment for the school and there's little incentive for a player to come to Missoula if they've got an offer outside of the conference. Almost all the NIL donors are going to be pooling up for football anyway. Is there even any money from the good ole grizzly collective earmarked for Basketball?
 
IMO it is futile to spend our limited NIL budget on football. Way too many players in football, which dilutes the effort. But in BB, as I posted, we could consolidate our NIL money to sign two studs, and surround them with players with similar abilities to our current roster. I believe we could attract two players with NIL monies which are not as high as you might think. In fact, if we invested in those two players, and the result was that we dominated the Big Sky, advanced to the Sweet 16, and actually started competing on par with some of the power teams in the country, I think our home attendance would double, and the increased ticket revenue would essentially pay for the NIL money spent.
To me, the tremendous success of Gonzaga disproves all of the theories which state that we could never become a national power in basketball. I hear that, because the Big Sky is a weak conference, it would doom any effort in that quest. But, Gonzaga plays in a weak conference too. We used to fill the field house in the 70s and 80s, when Missoula was half the size. But our teams were much more exciting to watch then. There is no reason we should not be able to fill it again, providing the product was better.
 
thirdandlong said:
IMO it is futile to spend our limited NIL budget on football. Way too many players in football, which dilutes the effort. But in BB, as I posted, we could consolidate our NIL money to sign two studs, and surround them with players with similar abilities to our current roster. I believe we could attract two players with NIL monies which are not as high as you might think. In fact, if we invested in those two players, and the result was that we dominated the Big Sky, advanced to the Sweet 16, and actually started competing on par with some of the power teams in the country, I think our home attendance would double, and the increased ticket revenue would essentially pay for the NIL money spent.
To me, the tremendous success of Gonzaga disproves all of the theories which state that we could never become a national power in basketball. I hear that, because the Big Sky is a weak conference, it would doom any effort in that quest. But, Gonzaga plays in a weak conference too. We used to fill the field house in the 70s and 80s, when Missoula was half the size. But our teams were much more exciting to watch then. There is no reason we should not be able to fill it again, providing the product was better.
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I think people should stop using Gonzaga as the measuring stick. Times have changed, and replicating what they did won't happen. You also overestimate the financial resources available, and the process of attracting two "studs" from the portal.
 
I don't agree. I have a friend who works in the athletic department at Iowa. We were recently discussing the amount of NIL money required to sign portal transfers in basketball. Iowa ranks potential signees by a point system, similar to the star rankings on recruiting sites. A 5 ranking might require an annual NIL expenditure of 200k - 400k. But he said the NIL requirements for 4 ranked players drops significantly, to a level of 100k - 150k. And a 3 drops into the 50k-100k level.
But a 3 ranked player is a starter, or key reserve on an elite team who wishes to be a star on another team. Why can't we lay out 100k - 200k to sign two of these 3 ranked players?

Please tell me why "times have changed" so that the Gonzaga thing can't be replicated? If you say that the portal has changed things, then the portal affects Gonzaga the same as it does any other team. To me, the portal actually makes it easier to quickly built a winner in BB, because it is all about money with these players, and any team willing to invest the dollars can buy great players.

I understand the limited finances at UM. But I also know that there are many multi-millionaire alums who might be willing to get on board with big donations in order to make our BB program rise to national prominence. I would be willing to donate to this effort, providing it was organized, and the money pledged was held in escrow until the goal amount was reached. Just my opinion.

It is all about having a vision. And I sometimes think that UM lacks that vision. Many forget that Gonzaga was a member of the Big Sky for many years, and were never better than the middle of the pack. In those days, Montana, Weber, and Idaho State were the powerhouse programs. It is obvious that Gonzaga had vision in the past.
 
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Third, name a few multi-millionaire alums who might want to donate big to UM basketball NIL. You probably out to stick to high multimillionaires, because a millionaire doesn't have enough extra cash to waste on NIL.

You like to brag about how much money you made. Why don't you donate big to UM basketball NIL?
 
TheNorthRemembers said:
We could sink a bunch of money into it. But the Big Sky is one of the worst basketball conferences in the country. There's not really much return on that investment for the school and there's little incentive for a player to come to Missoula if they've got an offer outside of the conference. Almost all the NIL donors are going to be pooling up for football anyway. Is there even any money from the good ole grizzly collective earmarked for Basketball?
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What you are forgetting is television revenue generated by nationally-televised games. Gonzaga makes a boat-load of money from the national TV games. If we elevated to a higher status in BB, we would also enjoy added TV revenue.
 
mthoopsfan said:
Third, name a few multi-millionaire alums who might want to donate big to UM basketball NIL. You probably out to stick to high multimillionaires, because a millionaire doesn't have enough extra cash to waste on NIL.

You like to brag about how much money you made. Why don't you donate big to UM basketball NIL?
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Try reading my post genius. The word "millionaire" is a generic term for folks who are players and can afford to donate significant amounts
 
mthoopsfan said:
Third, name a few multi-millionaire alums who might want to donate big to UM basketball NIL. You probably out to stick to high multimillionaires, because a millionaire doesn't have enough extra cash to waste on NIL.

You like to brag about how much money you made. Why don't you donate big to UM basketball NIL?
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Why don't you donate NIL money targeted only to Native players, which is all you care about? Just think, we could stock our entire team with Hoops-funded Native players!
 
Pounder said:
You would think Storrs, Connecticut is a garden paradise on earth.

Plenty of arguments by which to take down this conference in terms of basketball. I find that you guys outside of the western metro areas generally don’t care that much, and those of us in those metros have other teams to follow, professional or otherwise.The toughest ticket for any sport in this region is Gonzaga basketball, where you have to drop some dough just to get on a waiting list for returned tickets for single games… and maybe that’s an angle EWU works to their advantage. Shrug.
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Storrs is definitely no paradise, I agree. It is, however, only an hour from Hartford, which is really not much better; just bigger. The difference is that UCONN made a name for itself decades ago, so players want to go there. That's not a big revelation to anyone, but it is a fact.

As for GU, they had a vision about 25 years ago that they were going to change their program to be a perennial tournament contender. It did not happen overnight, though. They used the "weak" WCC to their advantage in recruiting. It was a one-bid conference for many years, and that bid went to GU for many years. It must've been 10+ years ago now, but I remember several transfers who were starters on P5 conference teams (USC, Vandy, etc.) who said they transferred to GU because they wanted to play in the Dance. Spokane is not exactly paradise, either. I think UM has a similar opportunity if we can get over the hump in the "weak" BSC. String together tournament bid streaks, and the whole thing could snowball.

I disagree with others who feel that a GU-type thing couldn't ever happen at UM. I prefer a "why not us?" mentality over a "can't be done" mentality. I think we can use our conference as an opportunity if we play it right on and off the court. Sorry for the long post.
 
Third, if you can't honestly see how basketball recruiting and finances have changed in the past 20 years, then there is no reason to continue the discussion.
 
Gonzaga does not have fball and that is the biggest reason Gonzaga exploded in hoops. That winning and investing in that winning product without the issue of funding fball
 
BigSkyBreakdown said:
Gonzaga does not have fball and that is the biggest reason Gonzaga exploded in hoops. That winning and investing in that winning product without the issue of funding fball
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There is no additional "funding needed" from the university to develop a great BB program. The money would be NIL money, from donations. 200K - 400K is all that would be needed. Hell, Hoops could handle that with his Daddy War Bucks cash chest.
 
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