MBB vs Elon, 11/24 - 6:30pm

[APPdiesel]

Someone on UNCC's message board spit out those numbers. I can't confirm those at all.

[appdaze]

Kerns was the right guy at the right time to turn us around. I do wonder if he has hit his ceiling as other have mentioned. He has the best win percentage outside of Buzz thay weve had since WWII. Its hard to jump on him too badly but its really going to come down to how much we are going to push basketball. Kerns isn't going anywhere while he keeps us above .500 each year and in the top 5 of SBC. NIL is a bigger issue in basketball than it is in football. A lot of football.players know they won't make a ton of money vs a lot of basketball players think they need a lot of money.

[APPdiesel]

It'd take a candid converstion with Dustin to find out if he's at his ceiling or if he feels like more NIL support on-par with the top 2 or 3 in the Sun Belt could push him to the next level. We all have heard how cash-strapped most athletic departments are, so it'd be a big ask for us to commit another $250k or $500k to the men's basketball roster, but it could very well be an investment that pays off. To make money you have to spend money.

[Bigdaddyg1]

So the expectation is for our coach to basically rebuild a roster every year with portal pieces (probably down grades at best) and make them gel into a 20 win team? Uh good luck with that.

[asu2000]

If Kerns would switch to an offensive centered program instead of defense centered - his ceiling would elevate and so would the program. My 2 pennies.

[Stonewall]

We lost our top 2026 recruit and our top four or five 2025 transfer targets , in large part , because we were out bid. As to the payroll money we do have , Kerns raises the vast majority in his spare time.

[AppGrad78]

Money matters, unfortunately.

We recruited Dionte Neal of Reidsville pretty hard. He seemed to want to come to App. We don’t typically offer NIL money to high school players but in this case we were willing to offer a few thousand dollars. Not a lot of money but it was as much as we were comfortable spending. Along comes UNCG with a $90,000 NIL offer. Bingo! He commits to UNCG.

As long as the money equation is so unbalanced, it’s unfair to ask if any coach at App “has reached their ceiling?”

The good news is we have begun to allocate significantly more money toward NIL. But don’t expect us to out-spend deep-pocketed schools like Elon and Charlotte and High Point and even UNCG. That likely won’t ever happen.

[JTApps1]

Not to make it about nil, it was mentioned that we have about $400K.
Someone mentioned uncc at like $2.0 million. That seemed high. But, if other schools even at a million, that is tough to compete if we at $400k
Do we have any idea what the EasyU, uncw, Elon, uncc, Davidson, high point.. of the world are paying.
NC is basketball rich typically, however, it is tough for coaching staff is we cannot buy the talent.

I've heard ECU is well over $1M this year. The results don't seem to back that up though.

[appvette]

My, how so many of you forget that Kerns took us to our third NCAA tournament ever (first in 21 years) in his second year. And he had the most wins in program history just 2 years ago, beating the SEC champion in the process and going undefeated at home. It was also the first outright regular season championship since 1979. We were considered one of the top 3 mid major teams in the nation.

On top of all that, all but one player had the ability to return the next season. But we all know the new transfer rules and our lack of funding decimated that team, with only 1 starter returning.

This year, we returned 1 starter that averaged less than 6 ppg. It's hard to believe that some of you can look at what Kerns inherited and the resources he's given and think he needs to be fired.

[Saint3333]

Kerns is the best basketball coach App State has ever had. Happy to have that debate anytime. Buzz was a good one, but untrustworthy even in the old system, imagine him in this era.

Last night sucked, but my goodness that man has gotten more out of the talent we have year after year.

[BallantyneApp]

Money matters, unfortunately.

We recruited Dionte Neal of Reidsville pretty hard. He seemed to want to come to App. We don’t typically offer NIL money to high school players but in this case we were willing to offer a few thousand dollars. Not a lot of money but it was as much as we were comfortable spending. Along comes UNCG with a $90,000 NIL offer. Bingo! He commits to UNCG.

As long as the money equation is so unbalanced, it’s unfair to ask if any coach at App “has reached their ceiling?”

The good news is we have begun to allocate significantly more money toward NIL. But don’t expect us to out-spend deep-pocketed schools like Elon and Charlotte and High Point and even UNCG. That likely won’t ever happen.

Do we have evidence that Elon is “deep pocketed” when it comes to bball NIL?

I agree that as long as we’re funding football bball will always be 2nd but if we could string together a few good seasons in a row we already have a captive fan base for football that would transition.

If the A.D. doesn’t make significant strides and trying to capture Charlotte business NIL dollars then it’s a moot point anyway. Unless the candy guy is bored enough to fund NIL we’ll never be able to keep up with just fan donations.

[311neers]

Money matters, unfortunately.

We recruited Dionte Neal of Reidsville pretty hard. He seemed to want to come to App. We don’t typically offer NIL money to high school players but in this case we were willing to offer a few thousand dollars. Not a lot of money but it was as much as we were comfortable spending. Along comes UNCG with a $90,000 NIL offer. Bingo! He commits to UNCG.

As long as the money equation is so unbalanced, it’s unfair to ask if any coach at App “has reached their ceiling?”

The good news is we have begun to allocate significantly more money toward NIL. But don’t expect us to out-spend deep-pocketed schools like Elon and Charlotte and High Point and even UNCG. That likely won’t ever happen.

Do we have evidence that Elon is “deep pocketed” when it comes to bball NIL?

I agree that as long as we’re funding football bball will always be 2nd but if we could string together a few good seasons in a row we already have a captive fan base for football that would transition.

If the A.D. doesn’t make significant strides and trying to capture Charlotte business NIL dollars then it’s a moot point anyway. Unless the candy guy is bored enough to fund NIL we’ll never be able to keep up with just fan donations.

Right!? If we can’t or won’t outspend those middle of the road basketball programs, then what are we doing?
Spending money just to spend it?

[BambooRdApp]

Not to make it about nil, it was mentioned that we have about $400K.
Someone mentioned uncc at like $2.0 million. That seemed high. But, if other schools even at a million, that is tough to compete if we at $400k
Do we have any idea what the EasyU, uncw, Elon, uncc, Davidson, high point.. of the world are paying.
NC is basketball rich typically, however, it is tough for coaching staff is we cannot buy the talent.

I've heard ECU is well over $1M this year. The results don't seem to back that up though.

Agreed ..UNCW beat them pretty good