Alex Kline

[IthaCuse]

There we go, the beloved NIL excuse.

We had plenty of money to assemble a roster for this season. You can speak to the challenges of the future, that’s fine. But we had the dough this year.

This is why I have such contempt for the level of knowledge of the "board insiders". There is actually zero evidence that this is true, yet it is accepted as a statement of fact around here because people who were fed lines from people inside the program repeated what they were told. Here is the reality: Our portal class was ranked 7th in the ACC and 36th overall. There are roughly 70 P4 teams, meaning our portal class was roughly middle of the pack. We returned two players and brought in zero freshmen who were expected to make an immediate impact. That indicates a level of NIL funding which is below that of the average peer.

Again, I totally understand why you would want to believe this. Red has taken teams that should be in the 20-24 win range and turned in seasons with 5-10 wins below that. Saying NIL is not currently sufficient to compete at the top level is NOT AN EXCUSE for how Red has objectively underperformed with this roster. However, the simple reality is that we did NOT have the NIL funding this year to compete at the level that Syracuse basketball fans have become accustomed to competing at.

But please, continue to buy false narratives that are planted intentionally prior to the season to try to convince you to support a sinking ship. That has clearly worked out great so far.

 

[althea]

You are comparing our end of season NET last year to our current NET as we are positioned to lose at LEAST 4 of our final 6 games. By the time the season ends the NET ranking will be closer to 90. Which is exactly what I have said: Marginal improvement.

FWIW. We are not going to drop 40 spots if we lose to Duke, North Carolina, etc.

You are not going to do well on this site attacking the board "insiders". There are people that post here that have knowledge of what is happening within the athletic department that you and I don't have. You would be wise to listen to them.

 

[Scooch]

This is why I have such contempt for the level of knowledge of the "board insiders". There is actually zero evidence that this is true, yet it is accepted as a statement of fact around here because people who were fed lines from people inside the program repeated what they were told. Here is the reality: Our portal class was ranked 7th in the ACC and 36th overall. There are roughly 70 P4 teams, meaning our portal class was roughly middle of the pack. We returned two players and brought in zero freshmen who were expected to make an immediate impact. That indicates a level of NIL funding which is below that of the average peer.

Again, I totally understand why you would want to believe this. Red has taken teams that should be in the 20-24 win range and turned in seasons with 5-10 wins below that. Saying NIL is not currently sufficient to compete at the top level is NOT AN EXCUSE for how Red has objectively underperformed with this roster. However, the simple reality is that we did NOT have the NIL funding this year to compete at the level that Syracuse basketball fans have become accustomed to competing at.

But please, continue to buy false narratives that are planted intentionally prior to the season to try to convince you to support a sinking ship. That has clearly worked out great so far.

It’s been reported publicly what our NIL spending was this season. Do you know what it was?

 

[orange79]

This is why I have such contempt for the level of knowledge of the "board insiders". There is actually zero evidence that this is true, yet it is accepted as a statement of fact around here because people who were fed lines from people inside the program repeated what they were told. Here is the reality: Our portal class was ranked 7th in the ACC and 36th overall. There are roughly 70 P4 teams, meaning our portal class was roughly middle of the pack. We returned two players and brought in zero freshmen who were expected to make an immediate impact. That indicates a level of NIL funding which is below that of the average peer.

Again, I totally understand why you would want to believe this. Red has taken teams that should be in the 20-24 win range and turned in seasons with 5-10 wins below that. Saying NIL is not currently sufficient to compete at the top level is NOT AN EXCUSE for how Red has objectively underperformed with this roster. However, the simple reality is that we did NOT have the NIL funding this year to compete at the level that Syracuse basketball fans have become accustomed to competing at.

But please, continue to buy false narratives that are planted intentionally prior to the season to try to convince you to support a sinking ship. That has clearly worked out great so far.

Settle down.

If you don't want to believe the insiders, fine. Put them on ignore. But they are right more often than they are wrong. Much more often.

What would you like for "evidence"? Red to provide you a balance sheet of NIL expenditures?

Believe what you want. But knock it off with the attitude toward other posters. We're having a discussion here, not a fight out behind the bar.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

This is why I have such contempt for the level of knowledge of the "board insiders".

Yeah I prefer listening to the people on the board that are upfront about their sources being imaginary.

 

[RedtheGOB]

This is why I have such contempt for the level of knowledge of the "board insiders". There is actually zero evidence that this is true, yet it is accepted as a statement of fact around here because people who were fed lines from people inside the program repeated what they were told. Here is the reality: Our portal class was ranked 7th in the ACC and 36th overall. There are roughly 70 P4 teams, meaning our portal class was roughly middle of the pack. We returned two players and brought in zero freshmen who were expected to make an immediate impact. That indicates a level of NIL funding which is below that of the average peer.

Again, I totally understand why you would want to believe this. Red has taken teams that should be in the 20-24 win range and turned in seasons with 5-10 wins below that. Saying NIL is not currently sufficient to compete at the top level is NOT AN EXCUSE for how Red has objectively underperformed with this roster. However, the simple reality is that we did NOT have the NIL funding this year to compete at the level that Syracuse basketball fans have become accustomed to competing at.

But please, continue to buy false narratives that are planted intentionally prior to the season to try to convince you to support a sinking ship. That has clearly worked out great so far.

I agree 100% with you. I Argued it all morning with a dude on another thread.

Simply put I said who cares about the last ten years. This offseason for a new HC, staff, and roster will we spend as much as UVA who is a clear 5th in the ACC in spending?

He dodged and deflected for 10 posts before admitting we would not.

The guy from the athletic said we were a clear 3rd tier in NIL in the ACC. That buys us a tourney resume to just get in. That does not buy rankings or even sweet 16’s a lot of this fanbase expects.

We need much better coaches and much better players to be a true contender because right now we’re spending to be an 8-11 seed in the tournament.

I posted the interview from the guy from the athletic in the other thread. Someone that actually knows what’s happening outside of CNY.

* I trust the insiders here immensely for local info and they are right a lot. Where we line up in the pecking order across D1 overall I think they may not be as informed as people that report on college sports for a living.

 

[IthaCuse]

I agree 100% with you. I Argued it all morning with a dude on another thread.

Simply put I said who cares about the last ten years. This offseason for a new HC, staff, and roster will we spend as much as UVA who is a clear 5th in the ACC in spending?

He dodged and deflected for 10 posts before admitting we would not.

The guy from the athletic said we were a clear 3rd tier in NIL in the ACC. That buys us a tourney resume to just get in. That does not buy rankings or even sweet 16’s a lot of this fanbase expects.

We need much better coaches and much better players to be a true contender because right now we’re spending to be an 8-11 seed in the tournament.

I posted the interview from the guy from the athletic in the other thread. Someone that actually knows what’s happening outside of CNY.

* I trust the insiders here immensely for local info and they are right a lot. Where we line up in the pecking order across D1 overall I think they may not be as informed as people that report on college sports for a living.

Clear third tier in the ACC sounds about right. Our portal rankings indicate that we are somewhere around middle of the pack in terms of what we spent on the portal, and since we had just two guys returning that meant we overall spent less than the average P4 program.

People don’t want to admit that because it is an ugly thing to face. It’s hard to admit that John Wildhack is likely correct in the reasoning which partly fueled his decision to retire, that being the notion that it’s not sustainable for Syracuse to compete at the highest level in either major sport in the NIL era. Because that means facing the possibility that a core aspect of what makes our region unique is going to die if nothing changes.

I’ve been accused of having an agenda or being a hater for pointing this out, as if I want it to be true as someone who was a season ticket holder for almost a decade until COVID and went to my first basketball game the day they named Jim Boeheim Court when I was 8. But really I just want to see the university do something about this. We can still make the moves we need to make to save basketball. I hope we do.

 

[RedtheGOB]

Clear third tier in the ACC sounds about right. Our portal rankings indicate that we are somewhere around middle of the pack in terms of what we spent on the portal, and since we had just two guys returning that meant we overall spent less than the average P4 program.

People don’t want to admit that because it is an ugly thing to face. It’s hard to admit that John Wildhack is likely correct in the reasoning which partly fueled his decision to retire, that being the notion that it’s not sustainable for Syracuse to compete at the highest level in either major sport in the NIL era. Because that means facing the possibility that a core aspect of what makes our region unique is going to die if nothing changes.

I’ve been accused of having an agenda or being a hater for pointing this out, as if I want it to be true as someone who was a season ticket holder for almost a decade until COVID and went to my first basketball game the day they named Jim Boeheim Court when I was 8. But really I just want to see the university do something about this. We can still make the moves we need to make to save basketball. I hope we do.

New chancellor so new AD coming. It was time for Wildhack to go regardless. No big conspiracy there imo.

The program can get back to being close to what it was but it needs homerun hires and tons more money. I dont see top of the league expectations being met unless something crazy happens. Tourney every year should be automatic tho.

 

[IthaCuse]

New chancellor so new AD coming. It was time for Wildhack to go regardless. No big conspiracy there imo.

The program can get back to being close to what it was but it needs homerun hires and tons more money. I dont see top of the league expectations being met unless something crazy happens. Tourney every year should be automatic tho.

When I refer to Wildhack leaving because we’re not able to sustain high level competition in this era of college sports it is a paraphrase of an interview he gave on Cuse Sports Talk. He said that only a handful of schools can sustain this, and proceeded to say that was in part why he was deciding to retire.

 

[Bulldog04]

This is why I have such contempt for the level of knowledge of the "board insiders". There is actually zero evidence that this is true, yet it is accepted as a statement of fact around here because people who were fed lines from people inside the program repeated what they were told. Here is the reality: Our portal class was ranked 7th in the ACC and 36th overall. There are roughly 70 P4 teams, meaning our portal class was roughly middle of the pack. We returned two players and brought in zero freshmen who were expected to make an immediate impact. That indicates a level of NIL funding which is below that of the average peer.

Again, I totally understand why you would want to believe this. Red has taken teams that should be in the 20-24 win range and turned in seasons with 5-10 wins below that. Saying NIL is not currently sufficient to compete at the top level is NOT AN EXCUSE for how Red has objectively underperformed with this roster. However, the simple reality is that we did NOT have the NIL funding this year to compete at the level that Syracuse basketball fans have become accustomed to competing at.

But please, continue to buy false narratives that are planted intentionally prior to the season to try to convince you to support a sinking ship. That has clearly worked out great so far.

I’m confused by this. I for one “was” the biggest supporter of Red and staff because I know the guys and go to practice and all that stuff. But I’ve also been in the camp the entire year saying “if they don’t win with this roster we know who to blame”.
They had a lot of money this year. The staff alone raised about $9m on their own and were doing events and meet ups basically every day. I usually play quite a bit of golf with a certain coach and I barely saw him all offseason because he was raising money. I will say like I said earlier, they didn’t spend every dollar they raised for NiL. They thought a few guys were asking stupid money and I kind of agreed. On paper this roster was great. Keeping Donnie was huge. He got offers near $2m to go elsewhere and took a massive pay cut because he believed in the roster and the team. But this was unfortunately a coaching circumstance. Don’t know what else to tell you …

 

[IthaCuse]

I’m confused by this. I for one “was” the biggest supporter of Red and staff because I know the guys and go to practice and all that stuff. But I’ve also been in the camp the entire year saying “if they don’t win with this roster we know who to blame”.
They had a lot of money this year. The staff alone raised about $9m on their own and were doing events and meet ups basically every day. I usually play quite a bit of golf with a certain coach and I barely saw him all offseason because he was raising money. I will say like I said earlier, they didn’t spend every dollar they raised for NiL. They thought a few guys were asking stupid money and I kind of agreed. On paper this roster was great. Keeping Donnie was huge. He got offers near $2m to go elsewhere and took a massive pay cut because he believed in the roster and the team. But this was unfortunately a coaching circumstance. Don’t know what else to tell you …

I believe you were told all of these things. What I don’t believe, and what is far too often accepted as fact on this board, is the notion that they are true. It reads like spin to me, and the results bear that out. If we spent $9 million on NIL when it was publicly reported that only 8 programs nationwide hit the $10 million number we wouldn’t have bad the #36 ranked portal class. All of this narrative has turned out to be a bunch of nonsense.

 

[Bulldog04]

I believe you were told all of these things. What I don’t believe, and what is far too often accepted as fact on this board, is the notion that they are true. It reads like spin to me, and the results bear that out. If we spent $9 million on NIL when it was publicly reported that only 8 programs nationwide hit the $10 million number we wouldn’t have bad the #36 ranked portal class. All of this narrative has turned out to be a bunch of nonsense.

I’m literally being told by the coaching staff at the beginning of the year about all the NIL so if we can’t believe them then who do you want to believe ? It’s literally coming direct from the sources involved. This isn’t new information once the team started losing

 

[Sherman20]

2 things I know for a fact as well - Red said no to a few guys Kline wanted to spend a lot on and they didn’t spend their entire NiL budget this season because “they didn’t want to overpay certain guys”

Wow. I was wondering about this. It’s like JB saying no to Jalen Brunson, Monte Morris and SGA.

 

[IthaCuse]

I’m literally being told by the coaching staff at the beginning of the year about all the NIL so if we can’t believe them then who do you want to believe ? It’s literally coming direct from the sources involved. This isn’t new information once the team started losing

“The campaign staff said the candidate was in position to win the election”

“The executive team said the company was in position to massively boost productivity”

“The chancellor has new resources that will improve Syracuse’s academic rankings”

Of course the coaches wanted you to believe the team would be very good this year and that the roster was something beyond what we’ve had. What are they supposed to say? It’s more of the same?

 

[pearl31]

“The campaign staff said the candidate was in position to win the election”

“The executive team said the company was in position to massively boost productivity”

“The chancellor has new resources that will improve Syracuse’s academic rankings”

Of course the coaches wanted you to believe the team would be very good this year and that the roster was something beyond what we’ve had. What are they supposed to say? It’s more of the same?

Good lord. If you can't see this roster is objectively superior to last year you're either not paying attention or don't know what the hell you're talking about.
A lousy coach can, and does, cause a good roster worth significant NIL $ to lose a bunch of games it would win with a good coach.