Latest from NU hoops: BOOM
- Thread starter NUCat320
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Perfect. We’re now one piece away from another really good squad. Too bad Blackmon chased $ instead of winning.
I can’t fault him one bit for “chasing $”.
Blackmon isn’t considered a high end professional prospect and at Miami he will still get to play in a premiere conference while also making enough money, if invested wisely, to significantly help him long term.
A career playing basketball in Europe is solid living for basketball players that are not deemed NBA caliber, but it’s not for everyone. I’m happy for Blackmon and every college athlete that will be able help secure a more stable future thanks to the NIL.
We don’t know all the specifics…how far apart were the competing NIL offers? Was the Miami offer significant enough to offset the long term value of an NU degree? Apparently Blackmon felt it was.
That’s absolutely true. We don’t know the offer. I was mostly responding to the sentiment of the “chasing $” comment.
Assuming he came to Evanston, would Blackmon finish with a degree from NU? Given the increasing demands of college athletics, many transfers don’t complete their coursework/decide to choose a different path when their eligibility is exhausted.
I think the selling point of a Northwestern degree can still carry weight when recruiting prospective high school athletes, but I’m not so sure that pitch would be as effective with short term transfers.
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Phenomenal! We’ve filled both needs we entered the offseason with and done so very well. This kid is a step above the filler depth centers we’ve brought in the last two years IMO and has the potential to really compete with Hunger for the primary spot behind Matt. Leach is obviously a huge get.
The last spot is open for any piece that can help!
The last spot is open for any piece that can help!
On paper this a much better get than Verhoeven or Preston.
Lots of similarities to be honest with you. Perhaps I’m taking the weather here for granted, but the appeal of the lake and the change of seasons in Evanston is a positive in my book. Chicago and Miami are both great cities.
I had trouble with Blackmon. I don’t know him and I don’t want to judge, but I just had a feeling he was not the right cog. Our players are not chasing NIL. They want the degree and they want to win regardless of playing time. I’m sure they all would love more money and I hope the NU universe is trying its best to give them competitive packages, but I think they bought in to Collins. That is why we did not lose players when we lost our best player. I wish Blackmon well, but if he could not buy into Collins and NU, I am fine not having him.
Glad we got our center. Now just one more needed to round off the team. So, who is next on our list?
Collins is not a miracle worker. We need NIL and need it to be somewhat competitive. We had that for Boo. He would not have accepted $0.
Your assumption is NIL was the difference. I say players either buy in to Collins or they don’t. Plenty of schools have more NiL money and unless you really know what NU offers versus others in NIL. Come on. If our rich alums can build a football stadium, redesign Welsh-Ryan, and build a state of the art athletic training facility, I really do think we are not that poor in NIL. Miami does not have the constant B1G media contract like we do. I think it came down to Blackmon thinking he was a better fit for them. The same reason we got Fitzmorris.
And as far as Collins not being a miracle worker, I beg to differ. He took us to the tourney and then a few years later, everyone wanted him gone including the AD. How he responded was to give us back-to-back March Madness appearances with the best two records ever for NU. In the mean time, NU will be competitive in NIL.
You don’t know my extended and unique personal history in defending Collins…lol. I am just saying he needs a competitive NIL program or we are in real trouble. And again - I am quite sure Boo would not have stayed for $0. I hope you are right that we are / will remain competitive.
In my mind we were probably not that far off NIL wise. Or we would not have been in the mix through the end. Which, if true, is a good sign. We might not be a NIL juggernaut but we can hang.
I had concerns that maybe we were pushing it, offering this guy a lot more than we usually do and what that would do to the chemistry of the group. It’s one thing to do that to Boo, it’s another to a guy with no history with the school.
Group will not feel resentful going forward seeing Barnhizer being the top (paid) dog. But it’s normal to feel uncomfortable paying a lot to journeymen or somewhat journeymen.
Depends what you mean by “competitive.” We are probably never going to win BECAUSE of NIL, but we are also at a point where we win IN SPITE OF NIL. We have made some decently high dollar offers to potential transfers.
Unless a certain uncle was just running his mouth, talking about NIL, implying NU was close to Miami's offer...
Its called bluffin' fellas! (and it worked!)
Or, alternatively, NU actually was fairly close to Miami's offer.
We don't really know, but I'd hesitate to base anything on the innuendos of that crafty bastard, who possibly doesn't even exist!
LMAO. I'm sorry. Damn facts. What the hell has Larranaga ever won? I mean he's only GOTTEN to the Final Four a couple times. Never actually WON IT.
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