By Colin Rajala
Trove: As the roster looks poised to play some hard-nosed defense and get the fans juiced up over forcing turnovers and shot clock violations, the team has another solid non-conference schedule highlighted with a game visiting the defending National Champions Kansas. Other solid opponents include Iowa, Memphis as part of a holiday tournament and of course the annual Garden State Hardwood Classic versus Rutgers. While that matchup is always intriguing, I think it’s even a bit more intriguing this coming season because of the status of the rosters and need for newer players to fill substantial roles.
Gomes: To me, that is always one of the highlights of the year as New Jersey sees the two premiere programs get after it. I think it is great for New Jersey basketball as a whole and especially for the fans. I think it will be another great game with both teams being pretty different compared to last year and new guys having to assume new roles. That is what college basketball is all about, you don’t get guys for long periods of time, except for the occasional guy that sticks around for five years. Because you don’t get them for a long time, new teams must figure out ways to gel and come together. It’ll probably go right down to the wire like so many of their past games have.
Trove: It is always tough to win on the road, particularly at the RAC, so the Pirates will have their work cut out for me them. I feel like you tee’d that up for me to segue to the changing landscape of college basketball and name image and likeness, conference expansion and the no sit-out transfer rule. NIL has been in the works for a while and New Jersey hasn’t made it any easier for its schools to compete on the national level in that regard, especially when you hear that is every player’s first question on the recruiting trail. How do you view NIL in the context of recruiting and how do you see it moving forward?
Gomes: College basketball and the recruiting world is in such a state of flux and change and it's very hard to see exactly where it's headed and where it’s going. The kids, and obviously their families, are looking for the best situation they can get. Instead of going to college for free, they’re trying to make lots of money out of it and they have every right to try and do that, but it’s much easier said than done.
I think the NCAA at this point has not got a handle on what is permissible and what is not. No one has enforced anything yet as to what schools are doing, so it’s a crazy show right now. Where it goes, it’s going to lead a bit into the next topic of conference expansion. The big boys, your SEC’s, your Big 10’s, they have more resources and bigger fan bases with more millions of dollars to funnel to help their teams be successful than smaller schools and smaller fanbases do. It’s the facts of life.
Where this all heads, I don’t know, but I hope that at some point, when you look at what they’re trying to do with football, I hope the big guys don’t try and take the small guys and the non-football guys out of the NCAA tournament. I love it the way it is and so many other people love it the way it is. I love the Big East Conference; I love that its basketball-only and only cares about basketball. They’ve proved, Villanova has proved, that national championships come from that league, but I don’t know if the big guys aren't going to say why do I want to be splitting money with those guys? Let’s keep it for ourselves. Who know what is going to happen over the next 10 years because it’s changing pretty fast and it’s not going to look the same when and if it does.
Trove: I definitely have similar sentiments to you on the whole scenario. It should be concerning to the college basketball purists and supporters of the smaller schools throughout the country. When push comes to shove when the football schools are trying to do away with the basketball-only and smaller schools, I hope viewers push back and make their voices and preferences heard because without the basketball-only and smaller school aspects of the tournament, it loses its luster. It certainly won’t have the same cultural impact because not too many people are going to want to see two below .500 football school’s basketball teams competing for a chance to win a national championship.
Gomes: I’m with you 100%. I think one of the reasons the NCAA Tournament has been so successful is because of the little guys, the Cinderella’s and I would hate to see that go away. I’m hoping it won’t go away, but I’m not so sure about that. Money rules. I really think at some point, I don’t know how many years down the road, the big five football conferences are going to want their own tournament and national champion with another tournament for the other guys. It’s more TV programming and content for the networks, so who knows that they will want.
