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Heard an interesting conversation today.

One person was saying, in a perfect world, elite athletes would select universities so that each conference would have equal good teams. All things being even, the chance to make the post-season or win the most games, rests upon a more equal distribution of talent.

For example, instead of the Big 12 having 8 really good basketball teams who beat up on each other, some of those players should go to schools in other conferences. Instead of 5 or 6 really good leagues you'd have 20 leagues with 3 or 4 really good teams each. Think of 2 or 3 Gonzagas in every conference across the country.

I'd never thought about this but it is kind of a self-perpetuating cycle that could be broken of athletes worked together as a group.

The other person said athletes would never do that because the facilities are better at better schools.

Thoughts?
It's an interesting thought, but there's little incentive for athletes to work toward this goal though. The ultimate goal of the elite athlete at the college level is to maximize their ability to get to and succeed at the professional level. Parity in college doesn't do much to help them further that goal, nor does playing in a conference with few good teams. There's more room for error playing in a loaded power conference night in and night out, and it gives additional opportunities to play against other prospective pro players.
 
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It's not terribly interesting and here is why: People want to win. They'll go places they can win. Losing sucks.
 
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In a perfect world, there'd be a separate farm/training/Under24 leaguge for elite athletes.

Or the NCAA would actually focus on the student-athlete montra getting the best education for the athlete (for the money making sports). For instance requiring athletes to submit their major/field of study prior to being able to receive any offers. Then once offers come in the athlete should only be able to consider the top two/three educationaly ranked offers from all the offers the athlete receives.
 
I'm not sure this would result in a significant increase in competitive play, but it would involve a lot more bad to mediocre teams. That would infuse a lot more fodder for the good teams to coast through and the regular season on a national scale would look like Gonzaga's. No thank you.
 
I think you've missed the entire point of what I posted.

Why would you go to a bottom tier Big 12 school and lose versus going to a top school in a smaller conference and win?

Because they get sold on a vision of turning things around and winning. Nobody goes to ISU thinking they are going to get their ass kicked for 4 years.

Plus you go to the big schools to have the chance to do something truly great, have the best facilities and coaching, etc. Some kids do go to a big school in a smaller conference to win as well, see schools like Memphis, Gonzaga, Houston, Witchita St. Iowa, etc.
 
Because they get sold on a vision of turning things around and winning. Nobody goes to ISU thinking they are going to get their ass kicked for 4 years.

Plus you go to the big schools to have the chance to do something truly great, have the best facilities and coaching, etc. Some kids do go to a big school in a smaller conference to win as well, see schools like Memphis, Gonzaga, Houston, Witchita St. Iowa, etc.
I see it...

:cool:
 
Why is 20 leagues with 2 high-level teams better than 10 leagues with 4 high-level teams, or better than 5 leagues with 8 high-level teams? From a fan perspective, would you rather watch good games or blowouts?

If you are an elite HS athlete who just wants to win a bunch of games while going to college, I guess it makes sense. If you are an elite HS athlete who wants to improve athletically to secure a higher-paying professional athlete job, playing primarily weaker competition doesn't advance that goal.
 
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I think you've missed the entire point of what I posted.

Why would you go to a bottom tier Big 12 school and lose versus going to a top school in a smaller conference and win?

It took Gonzaga 20 years to be in the conversation of elite and get elite facilities and require an elite coach for the entire time. NOW you can go to Gonzaga and be recognized.

Elite HS atheletes want one of two things for college, be on a big enough brand to build their own brand. Or be on a great team to win a championship. Ideally both.

There was that one guy in the 2020 top 20, Makur Maker, advocating other elite black athletes to go to HBCU schools which he then committed to Howard. The #3 2023 recruit is also advocating for it. I could see that being a thing easily moving forward
 
I think you've missed the entire point of what I posted.

Why would you go to a bottom tier Big 12 school and lose versus going to a top school in a smaller conference and win?

Is that why Jared went to Simpson?
 
Why would you go to a bottom tier Big 12 school and lose versus going to a top school in a smaller conference and win?
Because >90% of athletes in that particular sport never earn a dime as a pro but that highly respected school's degree in XYZ is going to be a pretty sweet money-meker over the next 45 years.

Also, why does anyone ever compete in wrestling? Even Olympians are not "pros".
 
I think you've missed the entire point of what I posted.

Why would you go to a bottom tier Big 12 school and lose versus going to a top school in a smaller conference and win?

Who determines the best/most elite athletes.

Where would Breece Hall, Mike Rose, Haliburton, Ejim have landed in the ranking?

What did ISU do to move from the bottom of the Big XII to competing for the title?

Talent is a significant part of the equation but not all of it, There are plenty of athletes that want to show they can perform better than, be part of a team better than the ranking of the elite experts.

We don't need more elites (not referring to you) telling us how things are and need to be.
 
Oh my. Why don't we just establish a 'draft' out of High School? That way the bad teams get the higher pick the following year. That'd be parity ... professional style. And of course with the new transfer rule, it'd be like free agency anyway.
 
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