Mornin Mates...
Today's Topic = Bring on the Big 12
Dilly may not be able to out-recruit teams like Texas, Oklahoma, Oregon, USC and Washington but, who cares, now that those teams are no longer a conference opponent of our Sun Devils anymore...
We are now in a true 3 star league made up of teams that don't get a whole lot of four and five star recruits, with which to lead their teams, in either the old PAC or old Big 12...
And, Dilly and his staff have done a great job of recruiting within the HS ranks and through the transfer portal so far this year...
If he can keep it up and there is no reason to doubt that he will be able to do so, in my estimation, I think we have a chance to return to a championship type level in the Big 12, in the not too distant future...
And, if so, those all important NIL dollars should flow into the football program at an accelerated rate, if you ask me...
Of course, he needs to show some momentum from this season moving forward but with the bar so low, at an O/U of only 4.5, one has to think that he will be able to do that this season...
We still have some holes to fill in the roster, especially at the all important QB position, but we should have a much better overall roster than what we've had the past two 3 win seasons...
And, in basketball, Bobby Hurley has found an innovative way with which to rebuild his roster through his own Name, Image and Likeness endeavor that will put a basketball season cliffhanger on TV for all to see with a terrific five-star rated player leading the way in Jayden Quaintance or JQ for short...
Will BH be able to silence some of his critics like me by showing that he can elevate the program if given enough resources (or not)..??
It certainly hasn't hurt his personal NIL name given that his brother, Dan Hurley, has now taken his UConn Huskies to back to back national championships...
And, could that innovative approach at fundraising be used by others within the Sun Devil athletic dept to further our pay-for-play prospects moving forward..??
For that is the name of the game these days in the Big 3 sports, right..??
Even Willie is going to need to some additional NIL dollars to get some better players on his baseball roster and, if he does, there do not appear to be many Big 12 programs that are ahead of our Devils, these days, in baseball, as only Oklahoma St and W Virginia have ranked programs right now...
Both the SEC and ACC have a bunch of nationally ranked teams while the new Big 12 might be ripe for the pickings, if Willie can build up his NIL treasure chest...
Of course, moving forward that needs to be the number one duty of our new AD, whenever that happens, IMHO...
I don't know how big our NIL athletic war chest needs to be but if its big enough, I think we can compete for championships in the Big 12...
Right now, that's a pretty big "IF" but if money can buy happiness in that regard we're going to have to be able to do it, IMHO...
I'm liking what I'm seeing from Dilly and his staff and think they will make some progress on the field this Fall in football...
I'm looking forward to the Hurley cliffhanger this next basketball season in our new conference, and I'm hopeful that Willie can find some better pitching moving forward in baseball...
I'm not looking forward to another hot summer in the desert but I am looking forward to competing in the Big 12 starting in the next couple of months...
G'day Mates and Go Devils!!!