[chimera]

Those that were expected to enter the transfer portal have already announced.. hopefully that’s it, but we do have to anxiously wait about 2-3 more weeks. Hopefully, that’s it for now and the culture for SWBB can improve drastically for the better. It’s a sad day when we have to hope we can have a team next season.

It's over.  I bet we see more in the portal.  Once an exodus starts, players see the team will not be good and add to the outgoing hoard.  Probably too late to save things even with a coaching change right away.  I still wish they would fire Paye.  Crappy coaching, as we could all see, with players so unhappy they leave en masse shows that she doesn't have what it takes, not even close.  It was always going to be a tough uphill battle to stay a top 10 team with money and the portal the keys to winning.  If Paye did better we could have had a top 25 team that made the NCAAs for the next few years, giving the program time to adjust to the new era.  Instead Paye tanked the program to the point it needs a total rebuild.  In this era there is a good chance a rebuild doesn't get us back to relevance.  It was fun while it lasted.  

As for me, I no longer invest emotionally in college athletics.  I don't blame players for getting the most money they can.  That is the way of the world.  I still can't hack the sad fact that nobody, but nobody cares all that much about loyalty to a school or a team.  Coaches are in it for a job.  Now players are too.  They all come and go so fast we never get to know them much or see them develop individually or as a team.  Or we watch them develop, get good and then leave to play their best ball elsewhere.  So what of fans, what do we do?  If players and coaches don't really care about the team aside from their own personal interests, why should we care about the team or about them?  I say the heck with all of it.  I will follow out of curiosity and habit only.

Chimera I always have enjoyed your comments over the years. 
I too am totally bummed. 
My attempt to get through it is to enjoy the beauty of the game and the enormously talented. 
I don’t really care who wins and I miss that but it’s ok and … my blood pressure is down.

Thank you.  I have not posted much the last few years because I can no longer attend in person.  I don't find the games beautiful to watch, unfortunately for me.  The game has gotten more physical and less free flowing over the years.  I did enjoy watching the Valkyries last season and other WNBA teams.  I will do some of that this year.  At least the WNBA has rules so that everyone is not a free agent each and every season so the rosters have some stability.  The quality of play is much better, as it should be.  Just bugs me that some college kids who will never do much in the WNBA get paid more than pros who are much better at basketball.  300+ teams fighting for players and boosters with bucks have created a strange system that way overvalues most of these college athletes.  Everyone also seems to forget they get scholarships worth almost 100k a year at some schools.  Sophs in HS have agents now.  I have lost the love, probably for good.

[chimera]

Those that were expected to enter the transfer portal have already announced.. hopefully that’s it, but we do have to anxiously wait about 2-3 more weeks. Hopefully, that’s it for now and the culture for SWBB can improve drastically for the better. It’s a sad day when we have to hope we can have a team next season.

It's over.  I bet we see more in the portal.  Once an exodus starts, players see the team will not be good and add to the outgoing hoard.  Probably too late to save things even with a coaching change right away.  I still wish they would fire Paye.  Crappy coaching, as we could all see, with players so unhappy they leave en masse shows that she doesn't have what it takes, not even close.  It was always going to be a tough uphill battle to stay a top 10 team with money and the portal the keys to winning.  If Paye did better we could have had a top 25 team that made the NCAAs for the next few years, giving the program time to adjust to the new era.  Instead Paye tanked the program to the point it needs a total rebuild.  In this era there is a good chance a rebuild doesn't get us back to relevance.  It was fun while it lasted.  

As for me, I no longer invest emotionally in college athletics.  I don't blame players for getting the most money they can.  That is the way of the world.  I still can't hack the sad fact that nobody, but nobody cares all that much about loyalty to a school or a team.  Coaches are in it for a job.  Now players are too.  They all come and go so fast we never get to know them much or see them develop individually or as a team.  Or we watch them develop, get good and then leave to play their best ball elsewhere.  So what of fans, what do we do?  If players and coaches don't really care about the team aside from their own personal interests, why should we care about the team or about them?  I say the heck with all of it.  I will follow out of curiosity and habit only.

Chimera I always have enjoyed your comments over the years. 
I too am totally bummed. 
My attempt to get through it is to enjoy the beauty of the game and the enormously talented. 
I don’t really care who wins and I miss that but it’s ok and … my blood pressure is down.

Thank you.  I have not posted much the last few years because I can no longer attend in person.  I don't find the games beautiful to watch, unfortunately for me.  The game has gotten more physical and less free flowing over the years.  I did enjoy watching the Valkyries last season and other WNBA teams.  I will do some of that this year.  At least the WNBA has rules so that everyone is not a free agent each and every season so the rosters have some stability.  The quality of play is much better, as it should be.  Just bugs me that some college kids who will never do much in the WNBA get paid more than pros who are much better at basketball.  300+ teams fighting for players and boosters with bucks have created a strange system that way overvalues most of these college athletes.  Everyone also seems to forget they get scholarships worth almost 100k a year at some schools.  Sophs in HS have agents now.  I have lost the love, probably for good.