Yeah, exactly like Wake Forest, amigo. Wake is having a great first half of a season. Ok. They also won half their ACC games last year and got bounced out of the NCAA's right quick, went 10-22 in the conference in 2021, 1-2 in 2020 (Covid year), 14-16 in 2019, and 13-17 in 2018. One the last five years they've been a bottom half ACC program.
Vanderbilt, ha. The Opportunity Vanderbilt Program has been a game changer for them. Google it. It's literally an example of how a school/program is having to go to extraordinary lengths and expense to compete with their state school rivals. That actually cements my point!
Rice is unranked and playing .500 ball. Duke and Notre Dame aren't ranked and are .500 or worse in the ACC.
Why would you use those three struggling, middling programs as examples? Again, they prove my point.
It's not that complicated, our players have to come up with around 2-3x as much $ as most of our rivals in the aggregate, either through academic scholarships, cash, or loans, etc. It's not a level playing field.