EternalOptimist

University of Winnipeg (2x) and University of Manitoba

I wonder what the returns are for St Thomas in this deal. It can't hurt the metro recruiting to having their games live on the local Fox channel in the metro area, but I wonder to what extent it helps them (if any) with recruiting or just income from the station? Link: https://tommiesports.com/news/2025/8/21/general-tommie-athletics-extends-broadcast-partnership-with-fox9

Looks like the men are in Canada to get some game experience, which is a very good idea since most haven’t played much at the D1 level. The overwhelming thought on the forum seems to be that we won’t be very good - for several reasons. Even as an optimist, I must agree wins will be challenging to come by, but I’m still really looking forward to the season and trying to keep perspective. I have a few things I’m looking forward to seeing this year. 1) How well can this team gel together and function as a unit? 2) What did we get with all the transfers and how will they fit at the D1 level? 3) Have the red shirts made enough progress to contribute. A couple of them have gained some weight, which is a good sign. 4) What changes may we see from our defense or offense?

Man, this is incredibly sad. Hug your loved ones - tomorrow is not promised to anyone. So young.

Do you think he would have the gall to move the team?

Welp - this isn't good

I don't think that is accurate for NIL $$. players do get stipends for cost of living and food, as well as the alstead money, which does add up, but players have been getting that for years (before NIL), and it's similar for all D1s. I'm talking about straight up NIL funds.

It's extremely close

This is interesting - and similar to what I am hearing for St Thomas. Total NIL $ for the UND squad is less than $10K

Yup... crazy I know.

I like the sounds of that. Hopefully, they are working at it with the bigger donors, that's really where it will make the biggest difference.

You might be right - but they did get one of our guys (Deng Mayor) that had several starts for us last year, and was in the main rotation. I believe the rumor was he was given $30K. He may sit the bench, who knows. UND will replace that player in the rotation with either a red-shirt with no playing experience, a true freshman, or a D2 transfer - either way no D1 experience.

I believe that's what is happening at UND. All the ND players that most are complaining about really want to try and prove themselves. However, when looking for that type of player, you're going to get a few that may not work out. NIL affects every school one way or another. You are correct - it can't be used as a sole excuse for poor performance, but on the other hand, it needs to be addressed as a potential barrier to "success". It seems hard to accomplish a top 4 seed in the conference every year with bottom of the league NIL. Can it happen - absolutely. Should we be rooting for it to happen - absolutely. Should we expect it though? I do wonder why we don't see a lot of MBB NIL fundraising attempts, or even conversations about it from the program. To me that comes across as a sign that maybe there is some writing on the wall... but who knows. I'm hoping this team surprises us a little. Sounds like 4.5 D1 wins is the current over/under?

It has to be recognized. It isn't the end all, but it certainly is a factor. In general, those that can pay more will attract the better talent.

We are in the bottom tier of the Summit for NIL.