UNLV returning to NIT discussion.

[Rosegreen1]

Only Kind of Out​

Our NIT Bracketology can only contain 32 teams—the number of teams in the NIT bracket. However, these next teams each have a median team sheet which ranks above our simulations’ median cut line. What this mostly reflects is uncertainty regarding NIT opt-outs. Historically, there have hardly ever been any NIT opt-outs. Maybe one a decade, if that. In recent years, though, they’ve become more common, seemingly mostly due to the transfer portal. So, our model accounts for them, estimating that a few of the teams in this NIT Bracketology will opt out, leaving these next in line to take their place.

• Minnesota
• Oregon State
• Butler
• UNLV

NIT Bracketology - The Barking Crow

NIT Bracketology, NIT probabilities, and NIT opt-out coverage, featuring Joe Stunardi's statistical model and NIT Stu's college basketball zeal.

thebarkingcrow.com

I think theres a lot of moving parts with CBC tournament starting later, and transfer portal etc. Just need to get a couple more wins.

 

[RRebel]

If UNLV is planning on letting Kruger go I don’t see them accepting an NIT invite if it does happen to come. Plus the NIT this year will be even weaker than it’s already become. There’s a new post season tournament that will eat into the NIT field.

 

[Rosegreen1]

If UNLV is planning on letting Kruger go I don’t see them accepting an NIT invite if it does happen to come. Plus the NIT this year will be even weaker than it’s already become. There’s a new post season tournament that will eat into the NIT field.

correct

Like I said there’s a lot of moving parts. That being said, UNLV isn’t in position to turn down postseason tournaments, such as the NIT. We’ve only made less than a handful since 2010, which is a disaster for a program like UNLV.

It would be nice to make postseason a regular thing again. I think Lon went to two NITs before the ball really got going.

 

[WarthogRebel]

1. Opt Out. 2. Fire our coach. 3 Hire new coach. 4. Move forward to Basketball relevance.

 

[Masked_rebel]

NIT- National Irrelevant Tournament...
Pass, move the program on, start looking for your next coach, we saw this movie before.

 

[rebelzzz]

I dont think UNLV would opt out of a NIT invite, but i also doubt UNLV will get an invite to opt out of

 

[Rosegreen1]

1. Opt Out. 2. Fire our coach. 3 Hire new coach. 4. Move forward to Basketball relevance.

I don’t see UNLV opting out. It’s a program with one postseason appearance in 10 years I think. We need to do whatever to add to it. This will help with future conference realignment talk.

The players are playing hard and give a shit, it’s why I’m more optimistic right now. They deserve and earned the right to play on if they want to.

I think it’s obvious that Harper put all the chips on football and basketball isn’t a priority. As of right now, I think Kruger gets a two year extension of his current deal. Buys every one more time to sort things out, CKK has to win at least 2 games. He wins 2-3 games in the MWC tournament, I think there’s a 99 percent chance he will return as HC.

The wheels come off against New Mexico and in the tournament and this discussion is moot.

 

[Masked_rebel]

I don’t see UNLV opting out. It’s a program with one postseason appearance in 10 years I think. We need to do whatever to add to it. This will help with future conference realignment talk.

The players are playing hard and give a shit, it’s why I’m more optimistic right now. They deserve and earned the right to play on if they want to.

I think it’s obvious that Harper put all the chips on football and basketball isn’t a priority. As of right now, I think Kruger gets a two year extension of his current deal. Buys every one more time to sort things out, CKK has to win at least 2 games. He wins 2-3 games in the MWC tournament, I think there’s a 99 percent chance he will return as HC.

The wheels come off against New Mexico and in the tournament and this discussion is moot.

I disagree. I think he hasnt had the opportunity to provide a reset for basketball at this point. CKK made the NIT then won a few games and that basically guaranteed him a returning opportunity. However, Kevin would be in the last year of his deal, you dont extend him so you either have a lame duck coach or you let him walk this year and hit reset.
This is the chance to reset, you wait another year and you lose that opportunity for at least another 3.. outside winning the entire conference tournament his time here is done and Harper makes big swings to reset the second jewel in the UNLV athletics crown...

 

[Rebel1986]

I disagree. I think he hasnt had the opportunity to provide a reset for basketball at this point. CKK made the NIT then won a few games and that basically guaranteed him a returning opportunity. However, Kevin would be in the last year of his deal, you dont extend him so you either have a lame duck coach or you let him walk this year and hit reset.
This is the chance to reset, you wait another year and you lose that opportunity for at least another 3.. outside winning the entire conference tournament his time here is done and Harper makes big swings to reset the second jewel in the UNLV athletics crown...

I agree with you.

 

[Rosegreen1]

I disagree. I think he hasnt had the opportunity to provide a reset for basketball at this point. CKK made the NIT then won a few games and that basically guaranteed him a returning opportunity. However, Kevin would be in the last year of his deal, you dont extend him so you either have a lame duck coach or you let him walk this year and hit reset.
This is the chance to reset, you wait another year and you lose that opportunity for at least another 3.. outside winning the entire conference tournament his time here is done and Harper makes big swings to reset the second jewel in the UNLV athletics crown...

You need money to reset though. People are talking about making a splash in the program and some of the names everyone is hoping for cost millions. Harper already poured an incredible amount of cash on Mullen and his staff. Not to mention NIL.

Remember, when TJO left for Iowa State, they paid UNLV a sizable buyout. What did UNLV do with that? Promoted the third assistant on the team with a paltry salary while the following year paid Arroyo’s buyout and signed Odom in football.

Football is the only thing UNLV has went all out on lately. Basketball has been mostly cheap. Only spending more on TJO and his staff.


Again, unless CKK loses the next couple games, I think it’s 50/50 he returns and CKKs teams are always streaky and they are currently in the middle of a run. So we’ll see what happens.

 

[Masked_rebel]

You need money to reset though. People are talking about making a splash in the program and some of the names everyone is hoping for cost millions. Harper already poured an incredible amount of cash on Mullen and his staff. Not to mention NIL.

Remember, when TJO left for Iowa State, they paid UNLV a sizable buyout. What did UNLV do with that? Promoted the third assistant on the team with a paltry salary while the following year paid Arroyo’s buyout and signed Odom in football.

Football is the only thing UNLV has went all out on lately. Basketball has been mostly cheap. Only spending more on TJO and his staff.


Again, unless CKK loses the next couple games, I think it’s 50/50 he returns and CKKs teams are always streaky and they are currently in the middle of a run. So we’ll see what happens.

Again, different times, different leadership. DRF only hired Kevin because she wanted a quick resolution to the embarrassment that happened when TJO left. She went cheap because that's what she was. and yes, the money helped ease the athletics department into making the Arroyo. Harper didnt have the opportunity to rest the program the same way he had with arroyo.. this is his chance to do so..

Speaking on the money.. We always cry poor and yet every time there is money found for buyouts. NIL funds come from different donor bases. So the money pools are independent of each other, the donors are necessarily the same for both sports and putting money into 1 doesnt exclude the other from also being invested in.

As for streaky teams, yeah they beat bad teams theyre supposed to and then one or 2 against a UNM or a SDSU and all of a sudden people think we are what we are not. UNLV hasnt won a tournament game vs a team not names AFA in 12 years. We haven't made it past the Thursday games in 12 years. We might enter the tournament beating UNM and SDSU and having everyone talk about "darkhorse..." sound familiar, because thats every Kevin Kruger team since he joined the staff under TJO. Then we go out and lose to SDSU on a Thursday afternoon because we finished 7th in the conference and get beat because we played the day before and have 7 guy rotations... its not a coincidence

 

[Rebel1986]

You need money to reset though. People are talking about making a splash in the program and some of the names everyone is hoping for cost millions. Harper already poured an incredible amount of cash on Mullen and his staff. Not to mention NIL.

Remember, when TJO left for Iowa State, they paid UNLV a sizable buyout. What did UNLV do with that? Promoted the third assistant on the team with a paltry salary while the following year paid Arroyo’s buyout and signed Odom in football.

Football is the only thing UNLV has went all out on lately. Basketball has been mostly cheap. Only spending more on TJO and his staff.


Again, unless CKK loses the next couple games, I think it’s 50/50 he returns and CKKs teams are always streaky and they are currently in the middle of a run. So we’ll see what happens.

The increase in ticket sales has more than covered the additional coaching cost. Example is the LOGE EL seats are $2,250 each for the season. This is the area above the home seating that includes 24 sets of 8 seats. They showed them open for sale a couple of weeks ago. In only a couple of weeks it appears they have sold 178 of the 192 tickets. If they have sold, that is over $400,000 just in that small area of seating. It also appears that season ticket sales are way up which is another $1-2 million in ticket sales from last season. It would be foolish not to fix the problem with basketball considering the most likely league UNLV would have a chance to join is the Big12, and the Big 12 does put some importance in also having good basketball. A great coaching hire could more than pay for itself in ticket sales.

 

[Rosegreen1]

The increase in ticket sales has more than covered the additional coaching cost. Example is the LOGE EL seats are $2,250 each for the season. This is the area above the home seating that includes 24 sets of 8 seats. They showed them open for sale a couple of weeks ago. In only a couple of weeks it appears they have sold 178 of the 192 tickets. If they have sold, that is over $400,000 just in that small area of seating. It also appears that season ticket sales are way up which is another $1-2 million in ticket sales from last season. It would be foolish not to fix the problem with basketball considering the most likely league UNLV would have a chance to join is the Big12, and the Big 12 does put some importance in also having good basketball. A great coaching hire could more than pay for itself in ticket sales.

Again, who is going to front the cash? Department is in the red and the increase in attendance in football helped pay down the debt.

We keep saying this every time from Howland, Pitino, Cronin and so on. We think money grows on trees and it just needs to be spent on Will Wade etc.

Mullen was a once in a lifetime hire for unlv, I wouldn’t expect that again for basketball. I would expect CKK to be given the Odom extension special or 2 years. If he is fired, I would expect an experienced HC on the cheap.

 

[Masked_rebel]

Again, who is going to front the cash? Department is in the red and the increase in attendance in football helped pay down the debt.

We keep saying this every time from Howland, Pitino, Cronin and so on. We think money grows on trees and it just needs to be spent on Will Wade etc.

Mullen was a once in a lifetime hire for unlv, I wouldn’t expect that again for basketball. I would expect CKK to be given the Odom extension special or 2 years. If he is fired, I would expect an experienced HC on the cheap.

Donors. Theres always donors and they're always there to provide the money for coaching changes. Also Football and basketball have different donor bases.

 

[Rod_the_Rebel]

Fire Kevin Krugtard

Don’t you dare entertain a post season with him

Stay strong and the turd will flush

 

[Meister_Rebel]

I was wondering, since some are asking where is the money, how much are we getting from the new NIKE deal? Has anyone heard. The last mention of any money that I could find was when we signed a 3 year deal for $3 million a year back in 2019. Now that we've signed a 5 year deal and our football star is shining a bit more shouldn't we be seeing some more cash from that? Anyone? Anyone?

 

[RebelScrub]

I was wondering, since some are asking where is the money, how much are we getting from the new NIKE deal? Has anyone heard. The last mention of any money that I could find was when we signed a 3 year deal for $3 million a year back in 2019. Now that we've signed a 5 year deal and our football star is shining a bit more shouldn't we be seeing some more cash from that? Anyone? Anyone?

Under Armoir is crap. I will tell you that based on the Curry 2 that I own.

A shoe is a shoe but UNLV should go to the highest bidder.

If UNLV gets a Puma deal. That would be Bonkers. Puma has a TMNT collab basketball. The shoes are beautiful..

I also like Adidas too. Suge Knight was rocking Adidas football cleats.

But alas UNlV is stuck with boring PC Nike..

I

 

[unlove]

UNLV Athletics has legit budget issues, like most schools not in a P4. Lots of promises have been made with Mullen. Lots to be delivered. The department is not flush with cash, rather the opposite is true. Whitfield’s departure is not a coincidence. Not saying it was the cause, but not a coincidence. I’ll leave it at that. Don’t set unreasonable expectations for a new coach. If we get a new coach expect another young “up and comer” or an older retread. Or expect another year of CKK. Essentially a “break even” deal from a budget perspective is the best hope for short of a major donor stepping up (which I don’t see happening).

 

[j. spilotro]

UNLV Athletics has legit budget issues, like most schools not in a P4. Lots of promises have been made with Mullen. Lots to be delivered. The department is not flush with cash, rather the opposite is true. Whitfield’s departure is not a coincidence. Not saying it was the cause, but not a coincidence. I’ll leave it at that. Don’t set unreasonable expectations for a new coach. If we get a new coach expect another young “up and comer” or an older retread. Or expect another year of CKK. Essentially a “break even” deal from a budget perspective is the best hope for short of a major donor stepping up (which I don’t see happening).

The Whit thing caught everyone off guard. His reasoning doesn’t make a ton of sense, so I suspect it’s something else. You don’t just walk away from a 500k job. Yes, I absolutely believe family comes first. But my guess is that’s just a smokescreen.

 

[j. spilotro]

The Whit thing caught everyone off guard. His reasoning doesn’t make a ton of sense, so I suspect it’s something else. You don’t just walk away from a 500k job. Yes, I absolutely believe family comes first. But my guess is that’s just a smokescreen.

Where it “helps” UNLV is there was some really bad UNLV/SDSU blood behind the scenes, Whit’s departure helps in that regard.

Where it hurts is that Whit absolutely trusts in his ADs, gives them what they need to do their job. We’ve had know nothing presidents who control everything before and it hurts us. If we get a prez that has their hands in every single decision, one not fully in tune with the workings of athletics, we sure as shit can end up with dud decisions in the future. Harp needs his hands untied, that’s what Whit did.

 

[Rebel1986]

UNLV Athletics has legit budget issues, like most schools not in a P4. Lots of promises have been made with Mullen. Lots to be delivered. The department is not flush with cash, rather the opposite is true. Whitfield’s departure is not a coincidence. Not saying it was the cause, but not a coincidence. I’ll leave it at that. Don’t set unreasonable expectations for a new coach. If we get a new coach expect another young “up and comer” or an older retread. Or expect another year of CKK. Essentially a “break even” deal from a budget perspective is the best hope for short of a major donor stepping up (which I don’t see happening).

Whitefield is gone because the winds have changed and his politics is no longer tolerable at UNLV. I know a lot of pressure was being put on the regents after some of his recent political games regarding illegals, and my expectation is that enough push back came that he figured it was time to leave.

 

[RebelScrub]

can I apply to be UNLV president?

 

[Meister_Rebel]

can I apply to be UNLV president?

I don't see why not.