Monday’s 6-pack:
According to Bracketology, last six teams in the NCAA Field of 68:
— Wake Forest
— VCU
— Arkansas
— Vanderbilt
— Nebraska
— San Diego State
Quote of the Day
“That’s what Jimmy (Butler) has really added to our team is this sense of calm. It really, frankly, complements the chaos of Steph and Dray. And I think that’s part of our strength as a team, is the chaos that Steph and Dray create.”
Warriors coach Steve Kerr; Golden State is 5-1 since acquiring Jimmy Butler
Monday’s quiz
Who was the St John’s basketball coach, last time they won an NCAA Tournament game?
Sunday’s quiz
When Pete Rose was NL Rookie of the Year in 1963, he played second base.
Saturday’s quiz
When Michael Jordan played minor league baseball for the White Sox’ AA team in 1994, Terry Francona was his manager that year.
*******************************************
— Was shopping online late Saturday night, didn’t buy anything but was looking through some stuff. Sunday afternoon, I get a text saying “we saw you were shopping on our site, Still want to buy it? The price lasts for another 15 minutes”- then they have a link that takes you right back to that page.
Maybe I’m just old, but that creeps me out a little bit; not sure if it makes me more likely or less likely to shop on that site anymore.
— Modern basketball has gotten soft, both college and pro; any foul where there is contact above the neck is a flagrant foul now, even if it is incidental contact.
To me, a flagrant foul needs to have some intent behind it. Guys have to learn how to play through some contact.
This ends the complaining part of today’s blog.
— Very good news; this summer at the baseball All-Star Game, players are going back to wearing their team’s uniform, the way it used to be. MLB tried to sell AL/NL uniforms, but having guys wearing their team’s uniforms is the right thing to do.
— The ball/strike challenge thing MLB is experimenting with this spring reminds me of the tennis instant replay system; it goes quickly, and seems to be pretty good. Challenges can’t come from the dugout, and have to be done quickly.
I’m guessing this will become a rule next season. One bad thing about it is that the ball/strike box that was always on TV appears to be a thing of the past now.
— Was great to watch spring training baseball games the last few days, alternate those games with college basketball games. For me personally, was fun listening to two Mets’ games, with Gary Cohen, Ron Darling, Keith Hernandez— it just reminds me of watching baseball with my dad, who was a huge Mets fan.
You don’t learn as much from early spring training games; the regulars sub out really early, lot of minor leaguers play.Once they open minor league camp, then the regulars play a lot more and you can figure some stuff out that might help your fantasy team.
— Cleveland Guardians have 35 pitchers in their major league camp; it is up to pitching coach Carl Willis to script all the innings those 35 pitchers are going to throw this spring. That must be a cumbersome job, especially since the guys who are going to be on the major league roster have to gradually amp up their innings as March moves along.
— Miami Marlins used 70 players last year, the most players any team has ever used in a season. Marlins were also 11-45 vs lefty starting pitchers, which is incredibly bad.
— Oakland A’s signed Gio Urshela to play 3B this year, because they used 10 different guys at the hot corner last year, and that ain’t good.
Urshela is a .273 career hitter; he’s played on five different teams that made the playoffs, so his leadership will be important for a young A’s team that will be trying to make the playoffs for the first time since 2020.
—
Famous birthdays, February 24th:
Edward James Olmos, 78
Helen Shaver, 74
Tom Burleson, 73- my all-time favorite basketball player
Eddie Murray, 69- Orioles’ 1B, not the Lions’ kicker
Phil McConkey, 68
Nick Esasky, 65
Billy Zane, 59
Mike Lowell, 51
Miguel Rojas, 36
MacKenzie Gore, 26
— Indiana 73, Purdue 58
Indiana pushed coach Mike Woodson out the door, effective after the season, but Indiana is 16-11, 7-9 in a good Big 18- if they finish strong, they could get in the NCAA’s. Bracketology had them as the 6th team out of the field, BEFORE they won this game.
Say Indiana gets in the NCAAs, then wins a game or two; how do you let Woodson walk then? The guy is an alum, was an NBA player/coach; you want to be that cruddy with him?
— St John’s 89, UConn 75
Johnnies led 50-33 at halftime, had a fairly stress-free win.
St John’s is 13-1 since New Year’s Day; they’re eFG% defense is #20.
UConn is 6-6 in its last 12 games; Bracketology had them as an 8-seed, before this game.
— Drake 64, Northern Iowa 58 OT
Drake hit 2 of 3 on foul line with 0:00.1 left to force overtime.
Bulldogs out-rebounded UNI, 46-29
Drake is 25-3, 13-1 in their last fourteen games.
Misleading stat on KenPom: They have Drake listed as the #338 continuity team, but four of their starters came to Drake with coach McCollum from
D-II Northwest Missouri State this season- they won a D-II national title together, so they’ve got great continuity, just not at the Division I level.
— UCLA 69, Ohio State 61
UCLA honored the late Bill Walton during this game; he passed away last spring, at age 71. Walton led UCLA to three Final Fours, two national titles, was a great college player.
He was also a total character; I grew to love listening to him broadcast college games- he did so much research, I always said that he taught me 2-3 things every game he worked, and none of them had anything to do with basketball. RIP, Bill.
This game was also Mick Cronin’s 500th win as a college coach.
— Robert Morris 72, Milwaukee 59
Colonials have won six in row, 12 of last 13 games- they lead the Horizon by half a game, with one game left in regular season.
Senior guards are a good thing to have: Robert Morris PG Kam Woods had 15 points, 11 assists in this game.
— Quinnipiac 74, Manhattan 71
Jaspers led 38-21 late in the first half.
Manhattan lost despite going 12-24 on the arc.
Quinnipiac is 28-8 in MAAC games in two years under coach Pecora.
— Oakland 91, Cleveland State 86 OT
Vikings led by 13 midway thru the first half.
Oakland was 27-38 on foul line, Cleveland State 9-13.
Cleveland State is 2-4 in its last six games, after an 11-0 run.
