Your photographers always do a great job. Props to Darby and Tim.
I haven't followed the money as much in basketball as we have for football. The only numbers I have seen were when we were talking about Indiana and I think the largest NIL payment went to a basketball player. Lots of football players get $700K and some at OSU get $1.5M and truly underperform! Your point on Gonzaga is well-taken. Should be a big infusion of cash into B-Ball and no football weight around their necks.
These are all great photos, thanks to Darby and Tim. Glad to see High Point make a statement in the first round. And my alma mater Siena ('74) almost did in Duke. Which means we may lose our coach to Syracuse...plight of the mid- majors!
Thank you for the terrific coverage, including the great photographs.
I was sorry to see the Pac-12's No. 1 leader in CBB, 3 seed Gonzaga, go down to 11 seed Texas.
Utha State is hanging in there. Somewhat ironic that UCLA's tournament money will go to the Pac-12 and Utah State's money will go to the Mountain West.
Not a fan of NCAA hoops anymore, due to how soft and p****ish the NBA has become, but it was cool to see good hoops return to Portland. Good hoops haven’t been played in Portland since 2019. And that was a fluke, back then. Thanks for pics.
I just don't understand what any of this does for Portland or even has to do with Portland. No one will remember in a couple of years these tournament games were played at Moda Center. No one will care.
Nice pics....but your narrative about Pope is misleading at best. Yes, he was a solid contributor, particularly vs Zags where he was one of two UT players to score 17pts. But your caption on the pic vs BYU is laughable. Pope scored 11 pts vs BYU. Three other UT players scored more points. Pope was largely a non factor.
When you exaggerate to try to prove your narrative you actually do the opposite.
Zags just wasn't very good during this tournament and under performed most of the year. I was at the game vs UT on Thursday and frankly they stunk. They looked half asleep the entire game. They lost to U of P this year....for crying out loud.
They need to take a hard look and make some changes and improve. They will be back.
Pope was easily the best player on the floor in the Gonzaga-Texas game. Texas does not win without him. The run he fueled late in the first half was a killer.
WCC was down. I noted that before the tournament started. Texas comes in through First Four after losing 5 of 6 to finish the year (underseeded relative to talent), and Gonzaga comes from a conference that was down in general (overseeded).
High Point was a joy.
Texas and Arkansas were the two best teams in PDX.
Agree on Gonzaga... they will be back. Felt like they were missing 1-2 key pieces. They are going to be a fascinating study in the next 24 months.
What separates Div 1 basketball from football is you can buy a Championship team for less than $10M in basketball (consider that "the best player" for Texas was only 10% of that total). That won't get you a Top 20 in football.
Your photographers always do a great job. Props to Darby and Tim.
I haven't followed the money as much in basketball as we have for football. The only numbers I have seen were when we were talking about Indiana and I think the largest NIL payment went to a basketball player. Lots of football players get $700K and some at OSU get $1.5M and truly underperform! Your point on Gonzaga is well-taken. Should be a big infusion of cash into B-Ball and no football weight around their necks.
Thanks Skip
These are all great photos, thanks to Darby and Tim. Glad to see High Point make a statement in the first round. And my alma mater Siena ('74) almost did in Duke. Which means we may lose our coach to Syracuse...plight of the mid- majors!
Amen.
Thank you for the terrific coverage, including the great photographs.
I was sorry to see the Pac-12's No. 1 leader in CBB, 3 seed Gonzaga, go down to 11 seed Texas.
Utha State is hanging in there. Somewhat ironic that UCLA's tournament money will go to the Pac-12 and Utah State's money will go to the Mountain West.
Not a fan of NCAA hoops anymore, due to how soft and p****ish the NBA has become, but it was cool to see good hoops return to Portland. Good hoops haven’t been played in Portland since 2019. And that was a fluke, back then. Thanks for pics.
Thought the games were really entertaining. Some of the other pods were not competitive.
I’m never disappointed by the work of your photographers - fantastic job Darby and Tim!
I just don't understand what any of this does for Portland or even has to do with Portland. No one will remember in a couple of years these tournament games were played at Moda Center. No one will care.
Nice pics....but your narrative about Pope is misleading at best. Yes, he was a solid contributor, particularly vs Zags where he was one of two UT players to score 17pts. But your caption on the pic vs BYU is laughable. Pope scored 11 pts vs BYU. Three other UT players scored more points. Pope was largely a non factor.
When you exaggerate to try to prove your narrative you actually do the opposite.
Zags just wasn't very good during this tournament and under performed most of the year. I was at the game vs UT on Thursday and frankly they stunk. They looked half asleep the entire game. They lost to U of P this year....for crying out loud.
They need to take a hard look and make some changes and improve. They will be back.
Pope was easily the best player on the floor in the Gonzaga-Texas game. Texas does not win without him. The run he fueled late in the first half was a killer.
WCC was down. I noted that before the tournament started. Texas comes in through First Four after losing 5 of 6 to finish the year (underseeded relative to talent), and Gonzaga comes from a conference that was down in general (overseeded).
High Point was a joy.
Texas and Arkansas were the two best teams in PDX.
Agree on Gonzaga... they will be back. Felt like they were missing 1-2 key pieces. They are going to be a fascinating study in the next 24 months.
Does Gonzaga have the financial backers to continue the pace in the arms race?
What separates Div 1 basketball from football is you can buy a Championship team for less than $10M in basketball (consider that "the best player" for Texas was only 10% of that total). That won't get you a Top 20 in football.