WHO STAYS AND WHO GOES?

[Bobcat4Ever]

I know I am new here, but some of you might remember the name Famous Lefthand our of Hardin, MT. Originally signed at Rocky then decided to go the JUCO route. If I remember right it worked out pretty well for a Skyview kid who did the same thing. Lefthand was voted MVP of the Mon Dak Conference Region XIII and has been an All American. I don't know if it means much in today's D1 basketball world to take a shot on local kids, but he might be worth a look.

https://www.tiktok.com/@freshcoasthoops ... 2965220650

Interesting. Watched the clip. 6’3”, has the turnaround, the midrange and the three like Battle. MSU needs some offensive juice to insert into the game at times. A lot of good players have come out of Hardin over the years. RaeQuan proved by his words and actions that MSU is a good landing area. I think I am proudest of MSU for offering him a good experience and maybe opening a bigger door, following his discomfort at UW.

[Cat Grad]

I know I am new here, but some of you might remember the name Famous Lefthand our of Hardin, MT. Originally signed at Rocky then decided to go the JUCO route. If I remember right it worked out pretty well for a Skyview kid who did the same thing. Lefthand was voted MVP of the Mon Dak Conference Region XIII and has been an All American. I don't know if it means much in today's D1 basketball world to take a shot on local kids, but he might be worth a look.

https://www.tiktok.com/@freshcoasthoops ... 2965220650

Man, I'd love to see him and Damon Gros Von and Battle on the floor at the same time! Battle has relatives on the Crow Rez.

[Bobcat4Ever]

I know I am new here, but some of you might remember the name Famous Lefthand our of Hardin, MT. Originally signed at Rocky then decided to go the JUCO route. If I remember right it worked out pretty well for a Skyview kid who did the same thing. Lefthand was voted MVP of the Mon Dak Conference Region XIII and has been an All American. I don't know if it means much in today's D1 basketball world to take a shot on local kids, but he might be worth a look.

https://www.tiktok.com/@freshcoasthoops ... 2965220650

Man, I'd love to see him and Damon Gros Von and Battle on the floor at the same time! Battle has relatives on the Crow Rez.

It would have been awesome to have Great and Famous sharing the court.

[Cat Grad]

I know I am new here, but some of you might remember the name Famous Lefthand our of Hardin, MT. Originally signed at Rocky then decided to go the JUCO route. If I remember right it worked out pretty well for a Skyview kid who did the same thing. Lefthand was voted MVP of the Mon Dak Conference Region XIII and has been an All American. I don't know if it means much in today's D1 basketball world to take a shot on local kids, but he might be worth a look.

https://www.tiktok.com/@freshcoasthoops ... 2965220650

Man, I'd love to see him and Damon Gros Von and Battle on the floor at the same time! Battle has relatives on the Crow Rez.

It would have been awesome to have Great and Famous sharing the court.

Good one!

[CelticCat]

Battle to West Virginia

[ilovethecats]

Battle to West Virginia

Good for him!

I heard ballpark of $250K NIL money. Tough to turn down.

[tetoncat]

Battle to West Virginia

Good for him!

I heard ballpark of $250K NIL money. Tough to turn down.

Yep good opportunity.
I do wish athletes would start putting " signed" or something similar. The committed saying really doesn't apply any more. We have seen many put that and not even end up at first school they listed, and now seeing many who are 100% committed to their 3rd or 4th team of their career.

[thefrank1]

Well deserved Raequan! Good money and the best basketball conference in the country is a platform that will give him the exposure he deserves.

Thanks for everything you did while you were here both on and off the court. You are a great example for all.

[Cat Grad]

Well deserved Raequan! Good money and the best basketball conference in the country is a platform that will give him the exposure he deserves.

Thanks for everything you did while you were here both on and off the court. You are a great example for all.

He'll get to play KSU at least twice more!

[Colter_Nuanez]

We broke down the RaeQuan transfer off the top of the show yesterday:

[Cat Grad]

For those of you who like to read other perspectives and quite possibly understand an individual's decision making process:

https://www.heraldnet.com/sports/former ... -virginia/

[WalkOn79]

I really can't find fault with Sprinkle quadrupling his salary. We had a really good run this year, and frankly, if we had brought our A game against KSU, who knows what might have happened? But I don't know....I can't really say that MSU has established itself as an upper tier team in the Big Sky. Time will tell, but heck the coach is gone and the team is dissolving.

Honestly, next year I'm going to take more interest in watching boys and girls high school basketball. If we are going to have a college sports landscape where the roster of a basketball team turns over every year, I am going to start losing interest in college basketball. The kids in high school? Guess what? Chances are the kids who were there as freshmen will also be there when they are sophs, juniors and seniors.

I know some folks are fine with this kind of roster turnover with college basketball and I'm glad they feel that way. I wish I felt that way too. But I absolutely abhor it and I'm afraid that's going to translate in a loss of interest in the sport.

Even if MSU had beaten K State, Sprinkle would be at a different school. As a person you can’t fault him for finding more financial security. As a professional you can’t fault him for wanting to go do bigger and better. No matter where you grew up, a person doesn’t dream of being the coach *insert low-major school* you dream of coaching in the NBA or at the Power 5 level. It takes some serious stones to come back to your alma mater to coach and even more resolve to do what he did in this short amount of time. Hate it or not, he’s done just about all you can with a school in a low-major conference.
As for “fans” losing interest because of the current collegiate landscape, I 100% get it. The NCAA has opened a can of worms they probably can’t close and the product is getting worse by the day. As someone who is a sibling of a student-athlete at MSU, this is extremely disheartening. MSU hoops have just had the best back-to-back seasons in their modern history (I figure most of us weren’t alive in 1929). We are currently in the greatest era for Montana State athletics and fans are just willing to slide back to the same state of mind they had for 20+ years of mediocrity that have preceded these last 4 years!? Yes the Golden Boy is gone, no Jubrile Belo isn’t coming back, yes we’ve lost recruits and have transfers that want to join the coach that recruited them. But what Sprinkle has done for the basketball program and university is put it on the national stage as a program that can:
#1 serve as a springboard for young hot-shot coaches
#2 Is a spot for juco or power 5 players to reset themselves mentally and be the star of a program
#3 Can win lots of games and compete in NCAA Tournament games
If that’s not grounds to be extremely optimistic I don’t know what is
If fans aren’t willing to come to games and support those newcomers, the odds of them staying longer drops to almost zero.
I will be at games supporting the team with the same level of fandom if they’re 30-3 or 3-30. I’m not expecting fans to support the same as I will. I’m asking please don’t give up on the new faces we’ll see on the court and on the sideline next year before they’re even given a chance.

[WalkOn79]

The goal of college athletics was to provide an opportunity for athletes to continue in a sport they love while earning their college degree. All while possibly getting some or all of their education paid for. This also instilled pride in the university and support from their fellow students, alumni, and fans. Somewhere along the line, it turned into a business with coaches becoming by far the highest paid university employees and many athletes goal being professional sports rather than their degree. Majority of sports in college do not generate more than they cost, even football at MSU does not, do we really expect fans and donors to continue to fund facilities, NIL, higher booster fees and season tickets while some of these athletes make more in NIL, tuition, and living allowance than some of their hard working fans. I don't think it is a sustainable situation for most colleges.

The portal is great for the student but if team doesn't win fan support may dwindle. NIL is great for student but can it continue to be funded, all athletes put in the time, but only the already high funded sports will get high dollars and higher profile athletes will make more. We have truly moved on from amateur athletics.

Bullsh*t. Starting in middle school, parents are transferring to different schools, communities and states. Taking their kids to athletic trainers (Bierman's mom traveling from Hardin to Billings even in Montana!)

There's one hell of a lot more money in athletics than going to school just to get a higher paying job. Many of our new billionaires are college dropouts. A lot more money to be had as a parent raising a professional athlete than an accountant, engineer, school teacher, pharmacist...

Which part is ******. I said college athletics has changed to a business. Your comment about what parents do reinforces that. I just feel that at some point the majority of colleges will not be able to afford to keep up.

Do you really believe that more professional athletes are created each year than the professionals you listed. MSU had a record year in 2022 getting what 4 athletes into NFL. I am guessing if you totaled up graduates in football, MBB, WBB, T&F, VB, Golf, etc there are more than 4.

One of the parts that was B---- was that Bobcat football does not pay for itself. It pays for itself and many other MSU varsity sports.

[AFCAT]

[tetoncat]

The goal of college athletics was to provide an opportunity for athletes to continue in a sport they love while earning their college degree. All while possibly getting some or all of their education paid for. This also instilled pride in the university and support from their fellow students, alumni, and fans. Somewhere along the line, it turned into a business with coaches becoming by far the highest paid university employees and many athletes goal being professional sports rather than their degree. Majority of sports in college do not generate more than they cost, even football at MSU does not, do we really expect fans and donors to continue to fund facilities, NIL, higher booster fees and season tickets while some of these athletes make more in NIL, tuition, and living allowance than some of their hard working fans. I don't think it is a sustainable situation for most colleges.

The portal is great for the student but if team doesn't win fan support may dwindle. NIL is great for student but can it continue to be funded, all athletes put in the time, but only the already high funded sports will get high dollars and higher profile athletes will make more. We have truly moved on from amateur athletics.

Bullsh*t. Starting in middle school, parents are transferring to different schools, communities and states. Taking their kids to athletic trainers (Bierman's mom traveling from Hardin to Billings even in Montana!)

There's one hell of a lot more money in athletics than going to school just to get a higher paying job. Many of our new billionaires are college dropouts. A lot more money to be had as a parent raising a professional athlete than an accountant, engineer, school teacher, pharmacist...

Which part is ******. I said college athletics has changed to a business. Your comment about what parents do reinforces that. I just feel that at some point the majority of colleges will not be able to afford to keep up.

Do you really believe that more professional athletes are created each year than the professionals you listed. MSU had a record year in 2022 getting what 4 athletes into NFL. I am guessing if you totaled up graduates in football, MBB, WBB, T&F, VB, Golf, etc there are more than 4.

One of the parts that was B---- was that Bobcat football does not pay for itself. It pays for itself and many other MSU varsity sports.


It does generate a lot of money. I guess I mean from direct money like tv or radio revenue, ticket sales, merchandise. Maybe that covers all expenses and I might be off base but it seems like booster fees, QB club, annual fundraising as well as facilities fundraising are all needed to survive and it is only going to get higher. My discussion is if constant turnover of players and coaches will hurt that. I think ot will if we dont win at a higher percentage than it would if had more stability. Football has transfers but not close to same percentage we are seeing in BB.

[lv2hoop]

It'll be fun to follow the Aggies next season and beyond. 3 of our coaches and now Darius. I expect one more major announcement to drop as far as the MSU to USU pipeline in the next week.

[Cat Grad]

It'll be fun to follow the Aggies next season and beyond. 3 of our coaches and now Darius. I expect one more major announcement to drop as far as the MSU to USU pipeline in the next week.

I thought Sunday was the last day for a kid to transfer?

Edit: I just checked the site. They can sign anytime but Sunday is the last day to enter.

[MSU01]

It'll be fun to follow the Aggies next season and beyond. 3 of our coaches and now Darius. I expect one more major announcement to drop as far as the MSU to USU pipeline in the next week.

I thought Sunday was the last day for a kid to transfer?

For football, Sunday is the last day for a player to enter the portal. For basketball it's May 11. Players can still sign with new schools later as long as they entered before the deadline.

[MSU01]

It'll be fun to follow the Aggies next season and beyond. 3 of our coaches and now Darius. I expect one more major announcement to drop as far as the MSU to USU pipeline in the next week.

I assume this will be a Great announcement for USU fans.

[Cat Grad]

It'll be fun to follow the Aggies next season and beyond. 3 of our coaches and now Darius. I expect one more major announcement to drop as far as the MSU to USU pipeline in the next week.

I thought Sunday was the last day for a kid to transfer?

For football, Sunday is the last day for a player to enter the portal. For basketball it's May 11. Players can still sign with new schools later as long as they entered before the deadline.

Thanks. It bothers me to now have to look up rules, regs and data...