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Message: [QUOTE="Fly Rodder, post: 5358631, member: 2133"] This is long winded, but TL:DR, NIL doesn't trump a committed coaching staff. Competitive is one thing but it is not synonymous with every player being a bidding war. Not every player is entering the transfer portal. If you look at the top transfers from last season, they are almost entirely from lower P5 and mid majors and teams with coaching changes. The best players from top-30 schools likely left due to playing time or losing a starting job to a better player. A starting guard from Alabama left for Kansas and rumor was this was known in January because he didn't play defense among other things things and Bama had a top frosh coming in at his position. Roach from Duke went to Baylor because Duke had Knueppel coming in and Roach was losing his starting job. Same with Mitchell and Flagg/Malauch/Brown. Top programs lose guys because they already have a better replacement coming in. At Syracuse they lost Edwards and Maliq because they were underestimating their contributions, weren't prepared, or working hard enough to keep their most valuable players. Think about this from Maliq's perspective. His friend Justin Taylor (who is getting 8-10 mpg and NOT shooting threes at JMU) started over him at PF(!). Then when he absolutely had to play Maliq, Red started him at C and Maliq was one of the very best defenders in the ACC. His reward?[I] Congrats Maliq, we know you've been here two seasons and worked your ass off, but as a junior you're going to back-up a freshman and a grad transfer C. You might start as a senior (ETA: but we likely have another top PF HS recruit)[/I]... [I]Cool? By the way, your buddy the guard who started over you? He's not good enough so he's transferring[/I]. Would you have bounced too? Especially when a program like Duke comes calling? That's not an NIL issue, that's a not understanding which players are your most valuable (not necessarily the best, but the most effective/valuable). Money talks, but commitment from a well-run program is going to keep the key players from sniffing around other coaches. Identify core talent and lock it up, develop a couple of frosh and bring in sophs from lower programs who've shown they can play D1 ball, and stay away from replacing the entire roster every off-season. [/QUOTE]

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