We’re thinking again, which is a vague way to say that we used to do a daily-ish post called “3 Thoughts” and we decided this week is a good time to bring it back. What’s on the mind this afternoon:
1. If Kelvin Sampson didn’t go to the Rockets, none of this happens.
There’s no more sympathetic character in this NCAA Tournament’s Final Four than Kelvin Sampson, exiled for recruiting violations but resurrected in a program he then resurrected himself. Given Sampson might be the best college basketball coach in the country, and given Houston has no birthright to being a top-4 team (let alone top-2 or top-1)…how lucky for the Coogs that Kevin McHale brought Sampson to Houston in the first place.
Maybe there’s a bigger connection and I don’t know it, but my understanding is that after the Rockets chose McHale over Sampson in 2011, McHale wanted Sampson to be his top lieutenant, and that it was because of that proximity that the University of Houston landed Sampson in 2015 after 21 straight seasons of double-digit losses.
That streak did continue for three years into Sampson’s tenure.
It’s been over for a long time now.
2. The SEC has another leap left.
Again, it’s possible I’m mistaken here. Maybe if Florida or Auburn wins next Monday, Greg Sankey will cut down the nets, hoisted aloft by Nate Oats, Mark Byington, and a freshly baptized Sean Miller. Maybe they’ll chant S-E-C until Byington convulses in exultation and Dennis Gates steps in, providing the willing shoulders to replace his teammate in the SEC’s quest for global dominance.
If I’m not mistaken, though, Florida and Auburn are playing against each other on Saturday, not as part of one combined conference-wide effort.
The SEC’s come-up is complete. In less than a decade, Sankey and what was then a group of fourteen schools have transformed themselves from Kentucky’s practice squad to the toughest league in the country, top-to-bottom.
There’s more to being a great league, though, than being the best league.
What made the ACC special for so many years wasn’t its Sagarin geometric mean. What made the Big 12 great before and after Covid wasn’t how many of its teams landed on the right side of the bubble. The supporting casts helped, but mostly by routinely testing UNC and Duke or Kansas and Baylor, making those teams prove themselves worthy of their program’s championship-caliber status. Then, when the juggernauts did play, everyone knew just how much it mattered.
We’re not saying Alabama vs. Auburn didn’t matter this year. It was the biggest pair of regular season matchups in the country. But we didn’t know for sure that both teams were championship-caliber. We still don’t. Conferences exist in silos, and while they break containment at the beginning and end of the year, we won’t know if Auburn or Florida—the Gators now the second chair, taking Alabama’s place—can win a national championship until it happens. Programs aren’t national championship programs until they win a national championship. And it takes national championship programs to make the league matter to that degree.
This doesn’t mean SEC fans should be cheering for Florida or Auburn next week. The contrary. Kentucky, Alabama, Tennessee, and others should all want to become that national champion themselves. Why let your rival become the one carrying your league? The SEC will be a bigger deal if Florida or Auburn wins. But the question will get worse for the loser, and for Kentucky, Alabama, and the rest. Right now, the question accompanying big games is whether the teams involved can win it all. If Florida or Auburn does it, the question is going to be whether [insert challenger] can knock off [insert champion].
3. What if the bats are a big deal?
Others are covering the torpedo bats in plenty of detail, but if you need a short version: Some Yankees are using a differently-shaped bat. It looks very weird, but the idea is basically to move the thick part of the bat to the place on the bat where these Yankees most often make contact. This weekend, the Yankees absolutely shelled the Brewers, and now there are fears that these bats are superior and all bats will look weird forever. There are calls to ban the bats. Every player interviewed anywhere in the country is getting asked whether they want to try the new, fat-middled bat.
I don’t know if there’s a benefit to the bats or not. I don’t know how substantial that benefit is. I have an inclination to say, “If this was that big a deal, someone would’ve thought of it sooner.” But then, of course, a little Billy Beane on my shoulder pipes up: “Sure took a while to figure out hitters who can draw walks are good!”
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