Can a Billionaire Buy St. John’s a Basketball Championship?

[Redenbacher]

From today's NYTimes. Some excerpts:

St. John’s, thanks largely to Repole, now compensates its players like powerhouse programs. For his part, Repole jokes that St. John’s will be changing its name to St. Mike’s.

Between $3.5 million and $4 million has gone to pay players this year, according to Pitino. That would put it in the top 20 highest N.I.L. payrolls in the country, said Jason Belzer, a lawyer who often represents colleges in such deals.

Money now largely determines the success of a basketball program, and without further regulations, Thelin said, “the rich are truly going to get richer” by monopolizing top players. The S in St. John’s, he quipped, might as well be a dollar sign.

Can Billionaire Backer Mike Repole Buy St. John’s a Basketball Championship?

Mike Repole, who loved the homegrown team of his youth, has helped assemble a juggernaut enabled by compensation rules that one critic says created “the wild West.”

www.nytimes.com

 

[dk423]

Ridiculous article in a lot of ways.

 

[BrookJersey Redmen]

Fairly one-sided take for The Gray Lady.

I heard the New York Times is a for profit operation.

A little of the Pot Calling the Kettle....

 

[classof2010]

what a rag, besides them being UConn fans how about them and Dailynews just not cover sports. First off they don’t have the reporters/respected journalists and when they do you get dogsh$t like this.

 

[room112]

If you take away the click bait headline, I felt the article was fair. Kind of just shared the facts and realities of the situation and kind of shared Repole's personal story.

 

[lycidas]

what a rag, besides them being UConn fans how about them and Dailynews just not cover sports. First off they don’t have the reporters/respected journalists and when they do you get dogsh$t like this.

If buying a team that wins is so easy, ask Kansas how they’re doing. Simply having NIL money to spend doesn’t guarantee anything. Matt Abdelmassih and Pitino have done a masterful job in assembling this team, and Pitino and the entire coaching staff have excelled in turning them into a cohesive unit that is focused on achieving their individual goals through succeeding as a team.

Lots of programs have way more NIL money than we do, but which teams have completed a complete rebuild in two years?

Times article is a hatchet job that ignores the enormity of what’s been accomplished, diminishes Rick Pitino, and reduces Mike Repole to a cartoon character.

 

[Redenbacher]

If buying a team that wins is so easy, ask Kansas how they’re doing. Simply having NIL money to spend doesn’t guarantee anything.

Kansas is a lock to make the NCAA Tourney, they'll probably be around a 6 seed. Is that as good as they expected? No. But it's not like they're on skid row.

 

[guinness77]

Fairly one-sided take for The Gray Lady.

I heard the New York Times is a for profit operation.

A little of the Pot Calling the Kettle....

A one-sided article from the NY Times??

Excuse me while I feign my surprise.

 

[dk423]

Kansas is a lock to make the NCAA Tourney, they'll probably be around a 6 seed. Is that as good as they expected? No. But it's not like they're on skid row.

Arkansas, Indiana, Baylor squarely on the bubble, Kansas State isn't even on it, all have a more expensive roster than us.

 

[Redenbacher]

Arkansas, Indiana, Baylor squarely on the bubble, Kansas State isn't even on it, all have a more expensive roster than us.

There's 3 ways to look at this:
(1) Do almost all of the top teams have high NIL budgets?
(2) Can teams with lots of NIL money still perform badly relative to expectations?
(3) Are teams with low NILs largely screwed?

All of those things can be true.

 

[dk423]

There's 3 ways to look at this:
(1) Do almost all of the top teams have high NIL budgets?
(2) Can teams with lots of NIL money still perform badly relative to expectations?
(3) Are teams with low NILs largely screwed?

All of those things can be true.

You need NIL to compete, but NIL doesn't guarantee that you will. The whole tenor of the article doesn't really talk about that, nor does it bring any context to guys getting paid long before NIL.

It's still up to the players performing, coaches getting them to mesh + putting them in the best opportunities to succeed, etc.

 

[MainMan]

You may object to the headline, but it's a good article.

We have a holy trinity of Shanley, Pitino, and Repole.

Take one away and we aren't where we are.

 

[Redenbacher]

You need NIL to compete, but NIL doesn't guarantee that you will. The whole tenor of the article doesn't really talk about that, nor does it bring any context to guys getting paid long before NIL.

The article did mention guys getting paid long before NIL:

Louisville ousted Pitino in 2017 after a widespread federal investigation into college basketball corruption that disclosed illicit payments to a Louisville recruit.

Article went on to state that Pitino was later exonerated, but the point was clear.

 

[MJDinkins]

Arkansas, Indiana, Baylor squarely on the bubble, Kansas State isn't even on it, all have a more expensive roster than us.

You probably could toss Rutgers in there as well, although I'm not sure of their actual NIL numbers.

 

[OLV72]

Money has been the key factor in winning sports competitions since the Europeans took over this continent. About time St John's figured that out.

 

[dk423]

The article did mention guys getting paid long before NIL:

Louisville ousted Pitino in 2017 after a widespread federal investigation into college basketball corruption that disclosed illicit payments to a Louisville recruit.

Article went on to state that Pitino was later exonerated, but the point was clear.

That's not really the context necessary though. The context necessary would be John Wooden and Sam Gilbert. The courts have basically legalized every program to have a Sam Gilbert.

There's a strange hush hush among all players and coaches about payments before. Could they have not found a neutral observer to say this is a reality even post-Wooden/Gilbert?

The article does mention our NIL is probably top 20 in the country. Well, what about the 19 other teams? Aren't they not also buying a championship? Why is Thelin's quote about monopolizing top players not only unchallenged as a new phenomena (which is certainly not the case, look at Kentucky last decade), but is then only supported by him making a quip about the S being a dollar sign?!

This whole article is missing 2-3 paragraphs of zooming out of the college landscape, and how the STJ story isn't all that unique to the landscape. Most competitive schools now have multiple Repoles, let alone one.

I'm not trying to get into politics, but I am a subscriber of the Times. I'm their target audience! I am being unbiased. This article was terrible.

 

[classof2010]

I don’t like phony reporters the Times had great people like Dave Anderson, now you got clowns. They love to parachute into things.

 

[Redenbacher]

That's not really the context necessary though. The context necessary would be John Wooden and Sam Gilbert. The courts have basically legalized every program to have a Sam Gilbert.

There's a strange hush hush among all players and coaches about payments before. Could they have not found a neutral observer to say this is a reality even post-Wooden/Gilbert?

The article does mention our NIL is probably top 20 in the country. Well, what about the 19 other teams? Aren't they not also buying a championship? Why is Thelin's quote about monopolizing top players not only unchallenged as a new phenomena (which is certainly not the case, look at Kentucky last decade), but is then only supported by him making a quip about the S being a dollar sign?!

This whole article is missing 2-3 paragraphs of zooming out of the college landscape, and how the STJ story isn't all that unique to the landscape. Most competitive schools now have multiple Repoles, let alone one.

I'm not trying to get into politics, but I am a subscriber of the Times. I'm their target audience! I am being unbiased. This article was terrible.

I agree with most of your points. Although I don't understand how the UCLA teams illegally paying players during the Wooden era is any different than Louisville illegally paying the players in the Pitino era.

 

[dk423]

I agree with most of your points. Although I don't understand how the UCLA teams illegally paying players during the Wooden era is any different than Louisville illegally paying the players in the Pitino era.

Difference is NCAA never penalized UCLA/Wooden but did penalize Louisville/Pitino (SMU would be another interesting example of getting penalized). I think it would add more nuance and interesting context that what's happening in college sports is both new and not new. Instead, this whole article seems to just be picking on St. John's as what's wrong with college sports today.

 

[L J S A]

You probably could toss Rutgers in there as well, although I'm not sure of their actual NIL numbers.

Harper and Bailey supposedly get $1.7 million each but hard to tell which sources are accurate these days without seeing a leaked contract. And even then I imagine that there could be more than one contract per kid.