BREAKING: Elijah Hawkins to transfer

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LegalGopher said:
So hard to be a Gopher fan now. My SO is from Bloomington, Indiana and her whole family supports IU. Might have to wear the candy strip pants from now on. Went to Assembly Hall to watch IU take on Kansas last season and it was an unreal experience. They are one of the schools that has to money to compete at least
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And IU only has 2 NCAA tournament wins vs single-digit seeds in the last 21 years
 






Yuck. To announce that he's returning nearly a month and a half ago and then still turn around and leave. Did Hawkins graduate then....so he's free to transfer without sitting?
 






This is the ground even the pro sports with the most liberal free agency rules have been unwilling to tread: unlimited free agency every year. And for good reason: chaos isn't what anyone wants...and yet here we are. Even the schools that have means and are doing it better than the others: I can't imagine anyone enjoying having to navigate this landscape. It's a nightmare scenario for practically everyone involved--except, of course, for athletes that can cash in. And, of course, we backed into this "system" so players could get paid. The question is whether the sport gets so out of hand that it ends up killing the goose that laid the golden egg.
 

stocker08 said:
Yuck. To announce that he's returning nearly a month and a half ago and then still turn around and leave. Did Hawkins graduate then....so he's free to transfer without sitting?
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Yep - it's 100% no limits free agency. It is entirely likely you'll see teams pick up ringers mid season or for the tournament. I honestly believe this will happen.
 

MplsGopher said:
The only real, significant NIL money that will ever go to Gopher athletes is when the U athletic dept can pay directly for it using TV revenue.

As it should be.

That day can’t get here soon enough.
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That is the only legitimate money also. The entire rationale behind the court rulings for athletes being compensated was the premise that they are an important contributor to a university's large revenue streams from TV contracts.

That is the only money they are entitled to under that premise. Name, image, and likeness compensation is totally unrelated and between individual athletes and outside interests.

The courts and proponents for athletes' compensation all know full well that 99% of DI athletes have no NIL value to any legitimate buyers of their name. It has all been premised on the TV contract money being partially used to compensate players.

The next step will be for taxpayers to sue a public university on the basis the university cannot legally sponsor professional athletes. A public university has no charter to feed, house, train, provide facilities, trainers, doctors, nutritionists, uniforms and equipment, travel expense, arenas and stadiums, and a massive TV audience to market the athletes' skills toward future earnings. Illegal.

The simple solution will be for colleges and universities to declare competing athletes as employees and compensate them accordingly from the money they are helping the university to earn through television contracts.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Not sure firing the coach at this point would accomplish much of anything other than having more guys jump into the portal while you go through the hiring process in order to bring in a new coach after most of the key portal guys already have new homes.

At this point you may as well ride out the upcoming year with Johnson, maybe make the move before the end of the season if the team fails and try to get a jump on getting a new coach early.
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LOL.
Yesterday: "You can't fire Johnson. We have to keep the players."
Players leave.
Today: "You can't fire Johnson. All the players will leave."
 



from Marcus Fuller in the Strib:

A more lucrative NIL opportunity elsewhere is believed to be the reason Hawkins decided at the last minute to leave.

somebody with more money is buying themselves a point guard.

and this is what MN can look forward to - a place where people can go to showcase themselves so they can jump somewhere else for a bigger payday.

can't count on players sticking around - even if they say they're sticking around. can't plan on building a program, because you can't count on having players for more than 1 year.

two choices: find a bagman and buy yourself a team, or resign yourself to becoming totally irrelevant in the world of college hoops.
 

Yeah, I was 99% out the door on CBB and this just further proves I'm making the right choice. When I was recruited and played, your word meant something. It means nothing today, and worse, college athletics are becoming professional sports with less rules and lesser quality of athletes, so wtf is the reason to watch? It's pointless to follow.

On top of that, we have a noob as a head coach with ZERO name recognition, horrid W/L record and no NIL to play with compared to the competition. Just a bunch of 🤮
 

Wet_Blanket_Guy said:
Have you seen their recruiting class? The guys they lost wouldn’t have played.
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I have. They lost a couple starters though. Obviously the bench guys they lost wouldn't have played. But they just added Gillis, who's probably worse than the starters they lost.
 

kix4kix said:
Hmm, so you are saying PJ is working within the same rules at the same school and getting it done, no excuses?

Well said
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I think it’s easier with football considering the budget is probably higher, and one player leaving doesn’t derail the season (unless it’s like.. a 5 ⭐️ QB keeping a team afloat).

I’m not comparing the two, PJ has his shit figured out and Ben doesn’t. But one player leaving the football squad wouldn’t have the same impact as Hawkins leaving the basketball squad. At least that’s my opinion
 


Gophers7633 said:
I have. They lost a couple starters though. Obviously the bench guys they lost wouldn't have played. But they just added Gillis, who's probably worse than the starters they lost.
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The one and done era turned out to be rougher for Duke and Kentucky than they thought. Putting together a cohesive basketball team out of 1 year all stars is tough going. The NIL era may be different as teams put players together that are high end players with experience.
 

Dakota2 said:
That is the only legitimate money also. The entire rationale behind the court rulings for athletes being compensated was the premise that they are an important contributor to a university's large revenue streams from TV contracts.

That is the only money they are entitled to under that premise. Name, image, and likeness compensation is totally unrelated and between individual athletes and outside interests.

The courts and proponents for athletes' compensation all know full well that 99% of DI athletes have no NIL value to any legitimate buyers of their name. It has all been premised on the TV contract money being partially used to compensate players.

The next step will be for taxpayers to sue a public university on the basis the university cannot legally sponsor professional athletes. A public university has no charter to feed, house, train, provide facilities, trainers, doctors, nutritionists, uniforms and equipment, travel expense, arenas and stadiums, and a massive TV audience to market the athletes' skills toward future earnings. Illegal.

The simple solution will be for colleges and universities to declare competing athletes as employees and compensate them accordingly from the money they are helping the university to earn through television contracts.
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There would have to be a pay scale, which is what we've needed all along.
 

Panthadad2 said:
Universities are in a quandary. Big time athletics drives donations and marketing awareness as well as TV/gameday revenues. Do the donations continue if the athletes and sports are separated from the universities?
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Universities in the power conferences are doing fine - the dollars they're getting from TV contracts are huge. You won't see a change in the current structure being driven by the ADs and Chancelors of major universities as they love that dependable, contracted revenue stream, nor will it be from the coaches (they're getting paid ever more by the ever-increasing TV contracts), nor the top visible players that are getting the NIL dollars. Change will happen to the lower-level conferences as those schools are going to be left behind in athletics, and eventually they will just drop athletics altogether and focus on education. And change could happen if fans stop going to and watching games. That eventually cuts the pipeline of cash that's flowing to the schools, but that'll take quite a while to occur.
 

topos said:
Have you been living under a rock? There is no sitting for anyone.
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Apparently I have.

Unlimited free transfers to go along with no rules for NIL boosters contacting players on other teams needs to be fixed. Simply can't continue along this path without doing damage to the league.
 
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GoldenMAV30266 said:
I think it’s easier with football considering the budget is probably higher, and one player leaving doesn’t derail the season (unless it’s like.. a 5 ⭐️ QB keeping a team afloat).

I’m not comparing the two, PJ has his shit figured out and Ben doesn’t. But one player leaving the football squad wouldn’t have the same impact as Hawkins leaving the basketball squad. At least that’s my opinion
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It is different sports and smaller roster = more player impact, but the environment changed in Football as well, and just like Bball the horizon is no longer 4 years, but 1

Point blank, PJ has adapted and Ben hasn't
 

Bad Gopher said:
This is the ground even the pro sports with the most liberal free agency rules have been unwilling to tread: unlimited free agency every year. And for good reason: chaos isn't what anyone wants...and yet here we are. Even the schools that have means and are doing it better than the others: I can't imagine anyone enjoying having to navigate this landscape. It's a nightmare scenario for practically everyone involved--except, of course, for athletes that can cash in. And, of course, we backed into this "system" so players could get paid. The question is whether the sport gets so out of hand that it ends up killing the goose that laid the golden egg.
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It’s become a workers’ paradise. Maybe there’s a lesson to be learned there.
 


kix4kix said:
It is different sports and smaller roster = more player impact, but the environment changed in Football as well, and just like Bball the horizon is no longer 4 years, but 1

Point blank, PJ has adapted and Ben hasn't
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Ummm....this is almost entirely due to NIL....which neither PJ nor Ben have much control over.
 

Full Speed Ahead said:
Universities in the power conferences are doing fine - the dollars they're getting from TV contracts are huge. You won't see a change in the current structure being driven by the ADs and Chancelors of major universities as they love that dependable, contracted revenue stream, nor will it be from the coaches (they're getting paid ever more by the ever-increasing TV contracts), nor the top visible players that are getting the NIL dollars. Change will happen to the lower-level conferences as those schools are going to be left behind in athletics, and eventually they will just drop athletics altogether and focus on education. And change could happen if fans stop going to and watching games. That eventually cuts the pipeline of cash that's flowing to the schools, but that'll take quite a while to occur.
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It will change though. I gave up my season tickets for next year, not because Ben is returning as coach but because I can't stand this new environment. In the past I would have been at every Big Ten tourney game if it was in Mpls. This year I went to one.

That money will quit flowing as it becomes AAA basketball. People have loved college because of the relationship with the players over time. Few people watch minor league baseball, the G-league, etc. because it is minor league, and the players come and go. And, they won't watch college basketball as it becomes minor league.
 


Tucker32 said:
It will change though. I gave up my season tickets for next year, not because Ben is returning as coach but because I can't stand this new environment. In the past I would have been at every Big Ten tourney game if it was in Mpls. This year I went to one.

That money will quit flowing as it becomes AAA basketball. People have loved college because of the relationship with the players over time. Few people watch minor league baseball, the G-league, etc. because it is minor league, and the players come and go. And, they won't watch college basketball as it becomes minor league.
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Agree with everything said here. College basketball has degraded significantly in product, and part of it is the reasons you stated. Loyalty goes both ways, fans won't care if every year theres a new docket of kids coming in.

They can literally drive a mile to Target center to get a far superior product with the same "loyalty"
 

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