�山ǿ��

St. �山ǿ�� Sports Management majors junior Hayden Watt and senior Logan Armstrong presented their research titled “The Island of Misfit Basketball Teams: Examining the Haves and Have-Nots of the NIL Era” at the College Sport Research Institute Conference on March 21 in Columbia, South Carolina.

Motivated by their firsthand experiences as Bonaventure students and basketball fans, Watt and Armstrong dove into the impact of the Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) era on college basketball recruiting dynamics. Their study focused on the transfer portal landscape, particularly analyzing how mid-major teams lose key players to Power 5 schools and the subsequent effects on their performance.

“We chose this topic as it directly affects the way our school has been impacted in terms of recruiting for basketball,” said Watt, who is from Brockport, New York, and president of �山ǿ��’s Sport Management Club.

Armstrong and Watt found that mid-major programs like St. Bonaventure typically suffer a decline of 4-5 wins in the seasons following the departure of star players to Power 5 institutions. Surprisingly, despite the influx of talented transfers, the Power 5 schools often fail to significantly improve their win records.

“We learned that top mid-major players are being poached, thus causing their former mid-major team to lose, on average, four games,” said Armstrong, who is from Barnegat, New Jersey. “On the other hand, these Power 4 teams who are paying the former mid-major stars, are not expected to gain wins, it stays about the same.”

In addition to sharing their research, the students had the opportunity to network with other sport management students, faculty from other institutions, and industry professionals at the conference.

Dr. Tiffany Demiris, assistant professor of Sports Management at St. Bonaventure, advised Armstrong and Watt in their research and attended the conference with them.

“I received many comments from faculty members at institutions such as Clemson, the University of Alabama, and Baylor University who were impressed with their research and professionalism at an undergraduate level. I am very proud of them,” she said.

Participating in undergraduate research not only enriched the students’ academic journey at St. Bonaventure but also honed their data analysis and presentation skills.

“This research enables us to enhance our college experience at �山ǿ��, become more effective students, and it could potentially become a factor in future job offerings,” Watt said. 

“I think participating in undergraduate research will help me prepare for my career because I have learned to present my work in a concise, organized way, but still make it effective in selling the audience on my points and findings,” Armstrong added.

The students’ travel costs were supported by the Sport Management Club’s fall fundraising through the Buffalo Bills.

The College Sport Research Institute encourages and supports interdisciplinary and inter-university collaborative college sport research, serves as a research consortium for college sport researchers from across the country, and shares college sport research results with academics, practitioners and the public.

______________

About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, St. Bonaventure is a community committed to transforming the lives of its students inside and outside the classroom, inspiring in them a commitment to academic excellence and lifelong civic engagement. Out of 167 regional universities in the North, St. Bonaventure was ranked #6 for value and #14 for innovation by U.S. News and World Report (2024).