Conf Play Starts tonight!!!! 10 Predictions...

[Hall2012]

Bluenotes...Kickin' a can.

https://bluenotes2.com/2018/01/08/alls- ... ern-front/

Nothing to be bothered by gtmo, they just haven't done anything newsworthy yet. They beat the teams they're supposed to beat and lost to the team they were supposed to lose to

As you said in your article, they've got some more chances to turn heads coming up.

[thebigeXpress]

Bluenotes...Kickin' a can.

https://bluenotes2.com/2018/01/08/alls- ... ern-front/

Creighton's Blackburn Review?

[gtmoBlue]

No. That would be the White & Blue Review. Git's closer to ZagsBlog than fansite/BBS.

[jaxalum]

As a Xavier fan, even though Louisville is facing an ongoing FBI investigation and will still have the NCAA investigation plus sanctions on the horizon, that is Macks dream job. His wife has family there, and he passed on OSU and IU. Every forum, article, and story written about the Louisville job ALL point to Mack as the #1 choice by leaps and bounds. Its a sh#t situation now, but Mack could essentially ask for anything. I heard somewhere that he would start talking with a starting point of 8 yrs/38 million. I'm sure there would be non-termination clauses, fully guaranteed money....and after the less than slap on the hand that North Carolina received for their infractions, who knows how severe Louisville will be punished? And this last recruiting cycle was difficult to say the least, especially after an Elite 8 run, which must have frustrated the sh#t out of him, as we lost our top targets to OSU/IU, and some other teams P5 teams, that as much as it pains me to say, if he were at Louisville, he would have won 70% of those recruits. We lose a ton after this year as well.

This is a total glass half empty, cynical, worst case scenario, negative outlook at what could happen. I would really love to hear that I'm batshit crazy, and that there is not a snowballs chance in hell that Mack would leave for that train wreck.

I don’t think you’re crazy but I do think you’re overly pessimistic. Louisville will be an attractive position to many, many coaches due to the likely compensation, winning history, and conference affiliation it has. For Chris Mack, who strongly values location and family, Louisville presents an even more unique opportunity. So I think he’ll give the job strong consideration. But let me ask you this: What does Chris Mack have to do to convince Xavier Nation of his loyalty? Look at what he’s done and said already and tell me what more we could ask for.

My guess is Louisville is in for a rude awakening. NCAA sanctions are only the beginning. Louisville is in a legal battle with slick Rick for some amount approaching $40 million, the academic side of the university is looking at the massive subsidies the athletics department is receiving and noting the huge corruption, they are no longer trying to win conference realignment as they have reached the ACC, and when their arena lease runs out they will not get the same sweetheart deal and they will have massive budget deficits. I doubt they will get much better than what they have for a coach in the near future.


Read starting at the paragraph that begins "MUCH OF THE athletic department's finances..."
http://www.espn.com/espn/otl/story/_/id ... ges-excess

Wow. I appreciate the well thought out responses...especially the link to that story. If they are currently already in danger of defaulting on the arena, and basketball provides such a huge part of their revenue stream with that unbelievable sweetheart deal (taxpayers paying for the arena while the athletic department claims almost all of the revenue generated from said taxpayer funded entity)............The basketball team is currently playing in front of a half empty arena (that huge piece of revenue, from concessions to box seats, is more than leaking revenue needed to keep the arena afloat I would guess). 300 million in bond debt.

For those that are closer to the situation with a better understanding of the situation as a whole......

1) What happens if they (Louisville/the main tenant) defaults on their arena payments, as taxpayer dollars are not covering payments due to "flawed data"?

2) It seems Jurich bet everything on the revenue that would be generated from this arena. WOULD IT NOT BE ASTONISHINGLY IMPLAUSIBLE, WITH SUCH A FINANCIAL CONUNDRUM THAT'S NOT GOING AWAY, TO BE THROWING AROUND 3 PLUS MORE MILLION PER YEAR, GUARANTEED, FOR 8 YEARS, TO A BASKETBALL COACH? Wouldn't there be an outcry from the public sector(perhaps I'm being naive here, as I believe Cards fans would trade their first born for a 5 star, athletic 5, who possesses both a refined skill set in the paint, along with the ability to handle the ball on the perimeter and stroke it from beyond the arc) along with virtually every level of state government? There are so many other questions......

3)

Despite the bailout, some experts fear the FBI probe's effect on the arena's primary tenant could be catastrophic.

.............This may be a bit redundant, but what's a best guess as to what these "catastrophic effects" could turn out to be on the PRIMARY TENANT a.k.a. Louisville?

As Louisville was growing richer, the arena was failing -- partly due to the lopsided lease, partly due to tax estimates based on "flawed data," Harmon says. By early this year, the arena required a bailout to keep it from defaulting on more than $300 million in bond debt. Jurich's athletic department agreed to pay an additional $2.4 million a year. The public, meanwhile, was saddled with another 25 years of arena-related taxes totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. In the end, the arena will cost more than $1 billion, with taxpayers funding most of it. Despite the bailout, some experts fear the FBI probe's effect on the arena's primary tenant could be catastrophic.

"We took all the risk" on the arena, Jurich insists, pointing out that the athletic budget is heavily dependent on arena funds. When told that the city and taxpayers primarily support the arena, Jurich says he wanted to build it on campus, but city officials persuaded him to move it downtown. "Nobody twisted their arm," he says. "They brought this offer to us. I didn't go to them and say I got to have this, this and this and this."

On a much lighter note, I took a look at Novas post renovation pics for Finnerman, and they look fantastic.