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Arkansas MBB has zero scholarship players returning - cctop - 04-09-2024

Adding to the list of programs like Stanford who have to rebuild from scratch this year, the last MBB commit at Arkansas has asked to be released from his letter of intent:

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/arkansas-roster-count-officially-hit-002146632.html

Of course, new Arkansas head coach John Calipari might just bring the entire team with him from Kentucky.

Here's an interesting perspective that both Kentucky and Arkansas are happy with Calipari moving:

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/john-calipari-leaving-kentucky-for-arkansas-is-a-shining-moment-for-both-programs-who-each-get-a-fresh-start/

RE: Arkansas MBB has zero scholarship players returning - needle - 04-09-2024

This graphic below shows roster info for each of the Elite Eight teams. It's a very small sample size, but it shows that Purdue, Duke and Tennessee had great seasons aided/in spite of having very strong year-to-year roster continuity. Obviously, it is laughable to try to draw a parallel between Stanford and those basketball programs in 2024, but I found this graphic overall to be more encouraging than discouraging:

https://www.reddit.com/r/CollegeBasketball/comments/1bs9mjx/every_elite_8_teams_starting_lineup_by_where_they/

Also, take a look at the NC State roster composition. Some posters here believe that a majority of college sports fans are turned off by the constant roster turnover. I highly doubt that NC State men's basketball fans' love for the 23-24 team was diminished in any way, shape or form by not having a single starter on the NC State roster last year. We root for laundry, people!

RE: Arkansas MBB has zero scholarship players returning - Goose - 04-09-2024

(04-09-2024, 12:22 PM)needle Wrote:  We root for laundry, people!
Indeed we do root for laundry. However, many of us do that under the assumption the players are playing for that same laundry. That was a pretty good assumption when essentially the only benefit they derived was a free ride at the school whose laundry they play for. Obviously that is no longer the case. For that reason, many will become lots less supportive and less willing to root for that laundry. Some people will be fine with it and root for the laundry anyway, much as people root for the Warrior's laundry. However, some won't, and those that do can be under no illusions that "their team" has anything in common with the fans because of the "laundry". In the end, IMO that is going to matter.

RE: Arkansas MBB has zero scholarship players returning - jacket3ree - 04-09-2024

We need more laundry (uniform) discussions.

Talk about burying the lede: Calipari is at Fayetteville now? Where have I been?

(Should probably stop watching title games in bars where there is no sound.....)



Players have far more in common with other players (teammates and opponents) than they do with their fans. I've never thought otherwise. Reminds me of people finding out you went to School X and ask if you knew so and so.  'Out of 12,000 students? No.'

RE: Arkansas MBB has zero scholarship players returning - PVTree - 04-09-2024

I'm going out on a limb and say that Arkansas will have a very good year next season despite having zero players today.

RE: Arkansas MBB has zero scholarship players returning - lex24 - 04-09-2024

What a joke major college  sports is becoming.

RE: Arkansas MBB has zero scholarship players returning - BostonCard - 04-09-2024

(04-09-2024, 12:22 PM)needle Wrote:  We root for laundry, people!

Short term, sure.  Had an elite guard transferred to the women's team and made the difference between a sweet sixteen loss and a trip to the final four, I'm sure we would have all cheered loudly.  But long term, my interest in rooting for the laundry (and, more broadly collegiate athletics) has dramatically fallen as I've witnessed players transferring in and (mostly) out.  How much sweeter has Kiki Iriafen's development awesome season been because we've been here and witnessed her development.  As Lex notes, major college sports is a joke at this point, specifically because it has become about the laundry and not about the putative students wearing the laundry.

BC

RE: Arkansas MBB has zero scholarship players returning - Mick - 04-09-2024

I've never rooted for laundry. I've rooted for great athletes doing great things, but I've always felt a much deeper, much more personal commitment to players with whom I've shared an academic space. I took an advanced calculus class that I had no business taking, and pulled out a passing grade through intense work over the last three weeks. The guy who gave me that news was the power forward on our basketball team, we shared a number of classes. He was a seven-foot high jumper in high school, I jumped against him (he didn't even start jumping until I had long bowed out, quite a humbling experience). 

A guy I played basketball and football against in high school was a wide receiver on our crummy little D2 team. He was a very smart guy who became a GC of one of the largest technology companies in the world. My frosh year girlfriend, who later coached D1 basketball, was the best basketball player on the women's team. I have two dozen other connections with athletes from my school, many of whom I kept in contact with...which is the same for everyone else on this board, I suspect.

I felt that way about Steve Nash, four year basketball player at my college, and along those lines, I really enjoyed watching him play against Brevin Knight and Jason Kidd. They stuck it out, went to class. Nash was SCU's last NBA 1st round pick until Jalen Williams, who played and attended class there for three years. Paid for tickets to see both of those players and countless others.

I don't feel as strongly about Brandin Podziemski. Yes, he's a good player. He rode the bench for his frosh year at Illinois, played a mercenary year at Santa Clara then jumped to the NBA and has enjoyed a measure of success with the Warriors. He's not in my top five favorite players on that team. He's not even my favorite rookie, that would be Trayce Jackson-Davis, a four year player at Indiana who graduated.

It's fine by me, I don't care if McEnroe plays for a year or Tiger plays for two and makes millions. Good for them. I'm just a lot less interested in supporting the mercenaries than I am in the guy who never played in the pros but helped me celebrate a 99 on a calculus final that everyone else has forgotten by now.

RE: Arkansas MBB has zero scholarship players returning - Goose - 04-09-2024

(04-09-2024, 06:47 PM)Mick Wrote:  I've never rooted for laundry. I've rooted for great athletes doing great things, but I've always felt a much deeper, much more personal commitment to players with whom I've shared an academic space. I took an advanced calculus class that I had no business taking, and pulled out a passing grade through intense work over the last three weeks. The guy who gave me that news was the power forward on our basketball team, we shared a number of classes. He was a seven-foot high jumper in high school, I jumped against him (he didn't even start jumping until I had long bowed out, quite a humbling experience). 

A guy I played basketball and football against in high school was a wide receiver on our crummy little D2 team. He was a very smart guy who became a GC of one of the largest technology companies in the world. My frosh year girlfriend, who later coached D1 basketball, was the best basketball player on the women's team. I have two dozen other connections with athletes from my school, many of whom I kept in contact with...which is the same for everyone else on this board, I suspect.

I felt that way about Steve Nash, four year basketball player at my college, and along those lines, I really enjoyed watching him play against Brevin Knight and Jason Kidd. They stuck it out, went to class. Nash was SCU's last NBA 1st round pick until Jalen Williams, who played and attended class there for three years. Paid for tickets to see both of those players and countless others.

I don't feel as strongly about Brandin Podziemski. Yes, he's a good player. He rode the bench for his frosh year at Illinois, played a mercenary year at Santa Clara then jumped to the NBA and has enjoyed a measure of success with the Warriors. He's not in my top five favorite players on that team. He's not even my favorite rookie, that would be Trayce Jackson-Davis, a four year player at Indiana who graduated.

It's fine by me, I don't care if McEnroe plays for a year or Tiger plays for two and makes millions. Good for them. I'm just a lot less interested in supporting the mercenaries than I am in the guy who never played in the pros but helped me celebrate a 99 on a calculus final that everyone else has forgotten by now.
Couldn't agree more. The people wearing the laundry matter, at least to many of us. In many cases, we can't know them personally. They are several generations after us. However, if they stand for the same type of "student athletics" that we personally experienced, it is pretty easy to generate enthusiasm for their efforts. If they are "employees" they have little in common with our experience. Some may be fine with that and root for the "laundry" as one may for the 49ers or the Warriors. However, while I might pay through the nose to watch a game, in no way do I "care" about them. They are entertainment, nothing more. I certainly won't donate any money to them.