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Post by raiderrunt on Jun 24, 2024 13:31:11 GMT -5
The Greatest Show on Dirt the CWS has gone to a third game tonight featuring Tennesse versus Texas A & M at 7 pm on ESPN. The final two teams play a best two out of three. I drove by Charles Swab Field yesterday and there was a line of people at least 100 deep in line trying to get tickets for game two at 8:30 in the morning. It has been eight years since a Mid-Major made it to the Championship series and that was Coastal Caroline. They beat Arizona in two games. Wichita State won it in 1989. Cal State-Fullerton and Pepperdine both won it all in the 90s. Pepperdine is a program that I would say is similar to our RaiderGang. I still have a dream that Wright State someday gets to play the last game of the season.
However, the future for Mid-Majors like Wright State does not look good going forward in both baseball and basketball. We will have to see how everything shakes out with the lawsuits that are in court right now. In the meantime, I am looking forward to a great game tonight. I will be rooting for Tennesse since Wright State has a history of playing them over the past five years.
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Post by raiderrunt on Jun 25, 2024 9:25:52 GMT -5
Great game last night as Tennessee beats Texas A & M 6-5. If you watched it, when was the last time you saw an MLB game played with that kind of energy and passion? What an atmosphere.
Now for the bad news; as the end comes to the college baseball season one fact stands out; this will be the last of the old norm of college baseball as we knew it. College programs are being gutted, pillaged, and with recent legislation, the college athletic landscape will be a new world order--the haves and the have nots, and we all know where Wright States falls in that. The days of beating up on UC are over. The days of good players leaving UC and transferring to WSU are over. They have a lot of money to throw around, money that WSU will never have. 1. Some college programs will have a decision to make, stay D1 or drop to lower divisions. 2. What role will Title IX play in non-P5 athletic budgets. 3. P5 PROgrams will begin paying coaches and staff big money. 4. All levels of college baseball become “minor leagues” for P5 5. Agents/Advisors will play major role where athletes play. Some WSU players have advisors. 6. We may see changes to portal -probably must stay 2-year minimum for a 4-year school 7. Will academic requirements/clearinghouse still be required? Will it look totally different? 8. College Athletics will have general managers and Scouting staffs. 9. Coaching Carousel will be very aggressive.
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Post by bearcatraider on Jun 25, 2024 11:05:06 GMT -5
The days of beating up on UC are over. The days of good players leaving UC and transferring to WSU are over. You say that like it's a bad thing. Lol I still don't know why Boston left UC if he wanted to be a Catcher; all the catchers left after he left. Just face it: College sports suck. They might be extremely popular now, but wait until many colleges are forced to drop out of D1 sports. Not really good for the sport if the the last 5 baseball champions are all different teams from the same conference. Dayton's coach leaves after maybe his best season to be an assistant at waning Vandy.
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Post by raiderrunt on Jun 25, 2024 12:48:25 GMT -5
Here is an interesting stat. The slugging Raiders who hit nine home runs against Miami in a single game and ended up with an impressive 112 HR.
Tennessee hit 180 HR. They played about 12 more games than the Raiders and it was against mostly SEC opponents.
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Post by raiderrunt on Jun 26, 2024 12:02:35 GMT -5
As scary and rocky as the road ahead looks for Mid-Majors in baseball and basketball, there could be a backlash at some point.
The P5 baseball model is being fueled by donations. What happens when people figure out, donating to pay college players like pros, is for fools? Who pays when the donations stop coming? The system falls apart. What happens then? Do we go back to where we are now? I do not know. All I know for sure is that I love our RaiderGang and our coaching staff.
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Post by raiderrunt on Jun 29, 2024 23:36:45 GMT -5
By almost any metric you chose the CWS is growing in popularity. Attendance is up, more people are watching it and for the first time the CWS had some games carried by a network--ABC. At the same time the changes to college sports threaten to put the CWS beyond the reach of all but the big boys in the P4 conferences. Will the CWS continue to grow? My guess is in the short term--yes. In the longtime will the lack of underdog teams like Kent State, Oral Roberts, Wichita State and others, hurt the CWS. I kind of think it will. I have always said that Wright State would make it to Omaha in the not-too-distant future. Now, I just do not know. In the meantime, it is still the greatest show on dirt, and it is a real fun party in Omaha every June, so enjoy it now, the future is very murky. omaha.com/sports/college/baseball/bland-as-college-baseball-interest-spikes-the-2024-cws-kept-all-time-heater-going-in/article_c2730e7c-33f7-11ef-9670-6f545f5d94ad.html
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Post by raiderrunt on Jul 1, 2024 23:21:16 GMT -5
The only way to slow tampering in college baseball is for Mid-Majors to stop playing the P4 teams unless game guarantees are astronomical. Want to play us and steal our players? Fine, we'll only schedule you if you pay us an astronomical amount of money. The Mid-Majors can then use that money for NIL. Let the P4 teams only be able to schedule each other. I am not sure how much P4 teams have been trying to steal Wright State players, but it is so rampant, I know it has happened. Anyone have a better idea?
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Post by Big D on Jul 2, 2024 4:45:47 GMT -5
1. That’s not going to happen with scheduling. If we won’t play them. Someone else will. They don’t care who they play because they don’t have to worry about building their resume. We do.
2. Even if it did work out and we got paid more to play those schools the University couldn’t put that money towards NIL. NIL is currently separate from the university.
3. This isn’t new with NIL. Top players in all sports leave mid-majors to go to schools where they have better opportunities.
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