The WBB Portal situation will probably change significantly in the next two days, but for now fourteen teams of the three-hundred-fifty-one Division 1 women's basketball colleges have feasted on, what ESPN has regarded as, the the top twenty-five players available in the Portal. Two teams have selected multiple players from the top twenty-five ranked pool (USCa is one such team with its selections of Iriafen and VanOelhoffen). One player might gain, along with its newly selected team, but many will be negatively effected by this exodus.
Eight of the twenty-five players remain in the Portal, but we can expect this to change in the next couple of days. And, yes, the Top Five Ranked Players have been signed! Unfortunately, Stanford has not made a Portal selection from the 1,300 players currently in the Portal at this date. I’m sure it’s a very hot topic in the coach's meetings.
This live-market-mentality might be the nature of women’s basketball for the next several years if no restrictions are placed on the comings and goings of players. On the other hand, this two or three years period that we are in, in which all the power is held by the few fortunate skilled players who are regarded as prime prey by some, may soon be looked back upon as "The Old West That Was!" Or new rules and conventions might emerge from this period that replace the current set, rules that seek to renew some of the prerogative of the school, the coaches, and, to be fair, the game itself, so that WBB doesn’t become an ugly replica of itself.
I wish to invite our posters to apply some creative thinking to what those “new rules and conventions” could be. At the beginning of the thread I suggest that some bonafide organization — the NCAA or completely new organization such as a consortium of universities — create a contract. It wasn’t my intent to make the creation of a contract the only talking point on this thread. In my humble opinion, something significant needs to be instituted to redirect Women’s College’s Basketball. Whether that construct be a contract, a required period a player must remain with a team, a salary cap, or something not tried by the professional teams which dealt with this very same issue after Curt Flood changed professional baseball. Some creative solution might be imposed that makes this situation fair and equitable.
I’m sure that the NCAA, universities, coaches, and others interested in preserving the sanctity of the game are already engaged in such a process. Most organizations respond to change by "thinking outside the box" to craft solutions to, what might seem like a catastrophe, with the intention to bring change! There is no reason that the new status quo be accepted as it is!
Eight of the twenty-five players remain in the Portal, but we can expect this to change in the next couple of days. And, yes, the Top Five Ranked Players have been signed! Unfortunately, Stanford has not made a Portal selection from the 1,300 players currently in the Portal at this date. I’m sure it’s a very hot topic in the coach's meetings.
This live-market-mentality might be the nature of women’s basketball for the next several years if no restrictions are placed on the comings and goings of players. On the other hand, this two or three years period that we are in, in which all the power is held by the few fortunate skilled players who are regarded as prime prey by some, may soon be looked back upon as "The Old West That Was!" Or new rules and conventions might emerge from this period that replace the current set, rules that seek to renew some of the prerogative of the school, the coaches, and, to be fair, the game itself, so that WBB doesn’t become an ugly replica of itself.
I wish to invite our posters to apply some creative thinking to what those “new rules and conventions” could be. At the beginning of the thread I suggest that some bonafide organization — the NCAA or completely new organization such as a consortium of universities — create a contract. It wasn’t my intent to make the creation of a contract the only talking point on this thread. In my humble opinion, something significant needs to be instituted to redirect Women’s College’s Basketball. Whether that construct be a contract, a required period a player must remain with a team, a salary cap, or something not tried by the professional teams which dealt with this very same issue after Curt Flood changed professional baseball. Some creative solution might be imposed that makes this situation fair and equitable.
I’m sure that the NCAA, universities, coaches, and others interested in preserving the sanctity of the game are already engaged in such a process. Most organizations respond to change by "thinking outside the box" to craft solutions to, what might seem like a catastrophe, with the intention to bring change! There is no reason that the new status quo be accepted as it is!