You've got to be kidding with that article.
First, is the article about you or Norchad? It's hard to tell, when you are constantly touting every comment you ever made in such a self-congratulatory tone.
Second, I'm not sure why you are so bothered by Norchad's lack of "commitment" to Arkansas State when you point out that you haven't made the NCAA Tournament OR had a kid drafted in two decades. Why would a kid who has NBA talent want to stay in a place that is not helping him to reach his full potential? Because you managed to learn his name over two years?
Finally, what were you expecting from this post? A cookie? So you went from just referring to Norchad as a Nicaraguan stunt and selling point to...what...someone that you think Arkansas State invented in 16 months? ****, look at what you posted "A look at Norchad Omier's career from where it began: in Jonesboro Arkansas." Really?
Maybe you need to look in the mirror and do some soul-searching before you lash out at people and judge them on such superficial characteristics. Seriously. Norchad Omier's "career" did not begin in Jonesboro, Arkansas. He actually had the possibility to turn pro in Mexico before he went to Miami Prep and AVERAGED 20-20 in points and rebounds. Maybe if you did a tiny amount of research before writing a kid off as an unnamed "flashy selling point" and "stunt", you'd actually realize the talented player that Arkansas State back-asswarded into.
And if you think that Mike Balado and mighty Arkansas State DEVELOPED Norchad Omier into a 12-12 points/rebounds machine AS A TRUE FRESHMAN, then I have some Florida swampland to sell you. And don't get it wrong, nobody is badmouthing the fact that Balado and Arkansas State gave Norchad an OPPORTUNITY to play, but please don't confuse that with "development". Norchad was good right out of the box, so try not to pretend that Balado's intensive teaching for one month turned Norchad into a double-double machine.
Then you talk about how amazing Arkansas State was in 2021-2022. Between Norchad (the Conference POY AND the DPOY), an SEC transfer (Sills), an "astonishing weapon off the bench" (Davis), and "a merciless machine that churns out assists" (Fields), it would seem like Arkansas State was an amazing team, yet your best year was 18-11 and no NCAA bid.
BUT THEN...DRAMA...Norchad Omier goes to Miami for Spring Break (you know, the same place he went to prep school), and it alllll falls apart for Arkansas State. I'm going to quote one of your worst statements:
"Rumors held that Miami boosters had spent millions of dollars securing NIL deals for transfer basketball players."
And, ****, that sentence MUST be accurate, after all, you LINKED IT to a news article, right?
1. "Rumors held" is past tense, as if there were rumors A YEAR AGO, right? Yet the article you linked is exactly 1 day old.
2. WHAT rumors of "millions of dollars...for transfer basketball players"? There is exactly 1 big NIL deal for a UM transfer basketball player, involving Nijel Pack, who got $800K plus a car. FAR SHORT of "millions of dollars".
3. Isaiah Wong is NOT a "transfer basketball player", he is a guy who signed with Miami OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL.
Circling back to your shoddy article, let's take a look at one of your other worst statements:
"If Mike Balado felt blindsided and hurt that a player he had recruited and carefully developed for two years had left for Portal possibilities, his feelings are justified. Balado and his staff had put in the work. Now somebody else would reap the rewards."
What in the **** are you talking about? "Carefully developed for two years"? How? The kid was enrolled for 18 months and coached for 16 months, he was a double-double machine FROM DAY ONE, and yet you claim he was "carefully developed"? And that "somebody else would reap the rewards"? WHAT? Didn't Arkansas State reap the rewards for two years? Norchad didn't sit on the bench, he was racking up stats for Arkansas State for two years and giving you the two best Sun Belt records of the Balado Era, not to mention winning some rare individual trophies for the school.
Norchad chose to go from the Sun Belt to the ACC. Norchad chose to go from a school that hadn't been in the NCAA Tournament for over two decades to a school that was coming off an Elite Eight run. And Norchad chose to go from Jonesboro, Arkansas to a city where he attended prep school and which has a massive Hispanic population and culture. Where is the mystery? Why are the "feelings" of being "blindsided and hurt", in any way shape or form, "justified"?
Give it a rest. Thank you for providing such a deep-thinking and challenging article about some guy from Arkansas who couldn't be bothered to learn or type the NAME of a Nicaraguan player (you seemed to know his country of origin but not his name), a player who was a "flashy selling point" and "stunt"...and then this guy from Arkansas went on a long personal journey of learning where he transformed himself from being a "sucker" (your word-choice) who didn't take Norchad's transfer well, to a kind-hearted warm soul who now cheers for Norchad because he's on a Final Four team "surrounded by every resource".
Bless your heart, and thank you...
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