Quick story on Carrington

On the latest Eye of the Hurricane Podcast, coach Eric Konkol discusses the signings of Jaye Nash and Braeden Carrington along with the development of Ian Smikle:

https://tulsahurricane.com/sports/2019/8/26/eye-of-the-hurricane-podcast

The Tulsa men’s basketball coaches are combing the transfer portal to help fill out their roster for next season, and three players have made recent visits to the TU campus.

Bartlesville Bruin Ian Belong signs with Tulsa after committing last week.

In its history, the Tulsa men’s basketball program has only landed a handful of 4-star prospects, and the most recent is Powder Springs (GA) McEachern point guard Jaye Nash. The 6-foot-2 and 175-pound floor general signed with Tulsa on Monday after an official visit to the TU campus this past weekend.

Interesting opinion.
I pretty much agreed with all of it. Especially the minimum 3% of all income, for what Soc Sec identifies as high income earners.


There’s an easy fix to fund Social Security. Does Congress have the courage to do it? | Opinion
BIGSTOCK

Just 6% of Americans enjoy a big break on their FICA payments. Reducing that would make things easier for the other 94%.
There’s an easy fix to fund Social Security. Does Congress have the courage to do it? | Opinion
BY DON BENDETTI
SPECIAL TO THE KANSAS CITY STAR
14 hours ago
There is an easy solution to Social Security funding — should Congress have the courage to pursue it. The Federal Insurance Contributions Act is a U.S. federal payroll tax. All workers pay FICA, which is deducted from each paycheck. However, there are a few things most people do not know about these taxes.

First, there are two components to the tax: Social Security (6.2%) and Medicare (1.45%). These amounts, which come up to 7.65%, are also matched by your employer and credited to your account. Social Security is the money you receive each month after you retire, which could be as early as age 62. Medicare is your government-provided health care benefits, which you typically begin to collect at age 65. Either benefit can start earlier based on certain circumstances.

But what many people do not know is that the 6.2% Social Security tax is only paid on annual income below $168,600 for 2024. This ceiling number increases each year with inflation. And self-employed people pay both the employer and employee portion for themselves, totaling 12.4% up to the earnings cap.

So, when high earners reach this ceiling, they stop paying for the year. It’s like getting a temporary raise for some. Yet, the 1.45% Medicare tax continues to be paid on all earnings, with no cap.

According to the Social Security Administration, roughly 6% of covered workers exceed the earnings cap every year. That leaves most of us — 94% — to pay the tax on all of our earnings.

My question is why do those 6% of high earners get to stop paying while others who earn less have to pay on all of their income each year? And at the same time, because such high earners can afford to, they normally take more income tax deductions and deferrals than the rest of us — including things such as contributing more to their 401(K) accounts, health savings accounts and individual retirement accounts, deducting mortgage interest, deferring compensation, taking advantage of breaks for stock ownership and so on.

So now, in my opinion, we can realize the most rational solution to the Social Security funding issue. Besides cutting all the unnecessary political pork barrel and quid pro quo spending, the Social Security tax should be paid on all income by all workers, as it is currently done with the Medicare tax. If not that, another option would be to reduce the Social Security rate after a certain income level is met to something like 3% instead of capping it altogether. This still would not only ensure Social Security benefits for future generations, but it would also provide additional funding to support other critical federal and state programs.

And easy solution, yes. Congress having the courage to do it, not so much.

Now I know this suggestion will cause some angst among some high earners. And since I was once one of them, I understand the feeling. So, if someone has a more equitable solution for saving this critical benefit for current and future generations, please speak up.

Don Bendetti retired after 30 years of experience as a human resource executive with large domestic and international organizations and eight years teaching at the graduate and undergraduate university level. He lives in Kansas City, Missouri.

The Tulsa men’s basketball coaches are combing the transfer portal to help fill out their roster for next season, and three players have made recent visits to the TU campus.

Nobody in charge cares about the non-P2/3/4 teams, but this is a problem for them that might get some action. If the middle of the Big 10 can't be competitive, it's going to suck attention away from "college" sports. This is one reason the traditional pro leagues have some form of salary caps and revenue sharing, few people want to watch a league where only 25% of the teams have any realistic chance of winning and most fans' teams are eliminate before the season starts.


Report: 'Get-in price' for Pharrel Payne was $500k

Golf team makes NCAA tournament, softball team beats USF and promising news in basketball on recruiting. Fingers crossed. Chris needs to stay gone

The Varsity 8 boat took the cup at the AAC Championship.

I'll post links in this thread to all of our stories on 2025 prospects, plus visit lists, Junior Day info and more. It will be a good place to get familiar with who TU is recruiting. Also, keep an eye on the 2025 TU Football Offers thread and our Front page...

It now looks like we will be throwing tens (maybe hundreds) of billions into Ukraine. What is the plan here? Simply out spend and out last Russia? Give Putin those eastern areas and rebuild the rest of the country? Haven’t seen any sort of strategy outlined.

This is a thread where we’ll list new offers from Coach Konkol and his staff. We’ll also keep a running list of offers for the 2023, 2024, 2025 and beyond classes.

Offer List - Updated 4/27/24


2023 -
PG 6-1 Tyshawn Archie, Spire Academy, OH, signed with Tulsa
PG 6-1 Sebastian Perry, OKC, committed to Omaha
PG 6-1 Edgerrin James JR, Orlando, FL, committed to Cincinnati
SG 6-4 Parker Friedrichsen, Tulsa, OK, committed to Wake Forest
SG 6-3 Jamari McDowell, Manvel, TX, committed to Kansas
SG 6-5 Alex Cotton, Carrollton, TX, committed to North Texas
SG 6-5 Aaron Franklin, Hutchinson CC
SF 6-8 Trent Pierce, Tulsa, OK, committed to Missouri
SF 6-6 Malik Presley, San Marcos, TX, committed to Vanderbilt
SF 6-8 Apolosa Buru Naivalurua, Garden City CC, KS, committed to Oakland
SF 6-8 Justin Johnson, Miami, FL
SF 6-7 Jadrian Tracey, Fla SW CC, committed to Oregon
SF 6-9 Keyondre Young, Triton CC, IL, committed to DePaul
SF 6-6 Carlous Williams, Pearl River CC, MS, committed to Tulsa
SF 6-6 Jordan Burks, Kissimmee, FL, committed to Ole Miss
PF 6-8 Joseph (Jojo) Tugler, Houston TX, committed to Houston
PF 6-9 Jaydn Toppin, Dallas, TX, committed to New Mexico
PF 6-8 Jarred Hall, Lebanon, TN, committed to Tulsa
PF 6-10 Drayton (Diesel) Jones, Oak Hill Academy, VA, committed to South Carolina State
PF 6-9 Yaxel Lindeborg, Arizona Western CC
PF 6-9 Okechukwu Okeke, Tallahassee, CC, committed to FIU
PF 6-9 Matthew Reed, Lewisville, TX, committed to Tulsa
PF 6-8 Jaquan Scott, Salt Lake CC, UT, committed to Mississippi State
C 6-9 Samson Aleton, Dallas, committed to Yale
C 7-0 Babacar Mbengue, Williamstown, NJ, committed to DePaul
C 6-10 Brock Vice, Germantown, TN, committed to Creighton
C 6-10 Joshua Jones, Austin, TX, committed to ORU
C 6-10 Larry Olayinka, Garden City CC, committed to Utah Tech

2024 -

PG 6-2 Isaac Williams, Oak Cliff, TX, committed to Texas A&M CC
PG 6-3 Lorenzo Cason, Lakeland, FL, committed to Florida Atlantic
PG 6-1 Jeremiah Wilkinson, Smyrna, GA, committed to California
PG 6-6 Mozae Downing-Rivers, Barton CC, committed to Missouri State
PG 6-4 Bo Aldridge, Topeka, KS, committed to Arizona State
CG 6-3 KJ Windham, Indianapolis, committed to Northwestern
CG 6-3 David Castillo, Bartlesville, OK, committed to Kansas State
CG 6-3 T.O. Barrett, Edmond, OK, committed to Missouri
CG 6-4 Isaiah Brown, Orlando, FL, committed to Florida
CG 6-4 Brooks Bahr, Keller, TX, committed to BYU
CG 6-3 Jonah Hinton, Panola CC, TX
SF 6-7 Braden Hausen, Amarillo,TX, committed to High Point
SG 6-5 Kameren Wright, Gainesville, FL
SF 6-6 Chance Puryear, Dallas, TX, committed to SMU
SF 6-6 Jeff Nwankwo, Cowley CC, KS
SF 6-7 Dink Pate, Dallas, TX, Going G-League
PF 6-7 Josiah Moseley, Round Rock, TX, committed to Villanova
PF 6-9 Nicolas Codie, Carrollton, TX, committed to Texas
PF 6-9 Jamie Vinson, Austin, TX, committed to Vanderbilt
PF 6-8 Malcolm Thomas, Baltimore, eliminated Tulsa
C 6-9 Doryan Onwuchekwa, DeSoto, TX, committed to Colorado
C 6-9 Ian Smikle, Suncoast, FL, committed to Tulsa
C 6-11 Mitchell Holmes, Branson, Mo, committed to SMU
C 7-1 Daniel Jacobson, Legacy Early College, SC, committed to Purdue
C 7-3 Trent Burns, Cypress, TX, committed to Missouri

2025

C 6-9 Alejandro Aviles, Glendale, AZ
SF 6-9 Aleks Alston, Chicago
SG 6-4 King Grace, Waxahachie, TX
PF 6-8 Dakotah Terrell, Pocola, OK
PF 6-8 Kaiden Rayfield, Putnam City
SF 6-6 CJ Nickson, Weatherford, OK
CG 6-4 Jaylon Dean-Vines, Dallas
2026

F 6-9 Jalen Montonati, Owasso, OK
C 6-10 John Fleeman, Kingsville, MO

Yesterday marked the passing of the great Mike Pinder, Mellotron king and last living co-founder of the Moody Blues. He was also a fine songwriter and vocalist, winning the Igor Novella songwriting award for the Moody Blues song "A Simple Game." He retired from music (mostly) in 1978 to California, and later worked in the video gaming industry.

He also recited the spoken word poems written by drummer Graeme Edge, such as Late Lament:

"Cold-hearted orb that rules the night
Removes the colours from our sight
Red is grey is yellow white
But we decide which is right
And which is an illusion"

Godspeed Mike. Too many of my musical heros are passing. Tis the season it appears.

After the 1994 & 1995 TU MBB NCAA Sweet 16 teams went into the Hall of Fame Saturday, coach Tubby Smith spoke. Some interesting stuff about the current landscape of college athletics, and Lou Dawkins and Gary Collier added their thoughts at the end:

https://tulsahurricane.com/sports/2019/8/26/eye-of-the-hurricane-podcast