Man, this is fun.
For those trying to get a timestamp on this, we’re putting it out between the two sets of NCAA Tournament games today. After the first eight, before the second eight during this little gap while they empty and refill all the arenas. Thoughts:
Nothing Big…Yet
So far, games haven’t been too far outside the window of our expectations. Michigan beat Colorado State, Richmond beat Iowa, Providence survived South Dakota State, UNC walloped Marquette, Baylor and Tennessee took care of business against Norfolk State and Longwood, Memphis beat Boise State, and Gonzaga pulled away from Georgia State down the stretch. Of these, only the Iowa and Gonzaga games are receiving much attention in the discourse, and that’s reasonable. There’s discourse to be had there.
With Gonzaga, something that is a little true and a little not true is that it’s the whole sample of a game that matters, so winning by 21 after taking a 21-point lead in the first half is comparable to winning by 21 after being tied with fewer than fifteen minutes to play. On the one hand, in terms of overall efficiency, yes, it’s the same result, and the strength of the last 13 minutes is so impressive it shapes our take on the struggle of the first 27. On the other, though, Gonzaga did struggle a bit, and Drew Timme had a rough time with free throws, which hopefully doesn’t continue—because the yips are awful and no one should have to go through that—but is probably something to watch. Basically, you can probably feel like Gonzaga is just a little less good than we previously thought.
With Iowa, there are some legitimate complaints about officiating, but it wasn’t so close and clear-cut that flipped calls obviously would have made the difference. Iowa was a bigger problem for Iowa than the officiating was for Iowa, and so was Richmond.
I wonder, with the Hawkeyes, how this will color the memory of this season. It was a disappointing season for a long time, they came on so strong in the last few weeks, they won the Big Ten Tournament, and now…back to disappointing. What will be remembered by Iowa fans? What will be remembered by the rest of us?
I also wonder, with the Hawkeyes, whether their cockiness became a problem. Did they not take Richmond seriously? There’s nothing wrong with gassing yourself up, but you have to channel that properly. I’d be curious to hear thoughts on this from someone (reasonable) who watches the Hawkeyes more than I do.
The Rest of the Evening
We could certainly get plenty of chaos in the hours to come, though we don’t know exactly where. If you follow our bets, you’re hoping for a lot of it, so long as Saint Mary’s can survive Indiana. Beyond the Gaels, we are a longshot-based portfolio right now.
NIT Bits
There was nothing too surprising from the NIT, though it was notable how well Florida played under an interim coach. Meanwhile, we lost another NIT coach, with Mississippi State and Ben Howland parting ways. Howland is 64. Bruce Weber, who we talked about earlier this week, is 65. Curious whether either of those guys might retire. It sure seemed like Weber was heading that direction.
The SEC, for those keeping track at home, now has four open coaching positions, with Georgia’s already filled to make it five new coaches on the sidelines next year. At least. Possible there’ll be more. Lot of transition over there in a league that seems to be establishing a little upper tier. Maybe they should do a two-division thing for a year where it’s an A division (Kentucky, Tennessee, Auburn, Alabama, Arkansas, Texas A&M, LSU?) and a B division (Georgia, Mississippi, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Missouri, Vanderbilt, Florida?). Could at least pod it up that way—20 total games, twelve against your pod and seven against the other plus one cross-pod rivalry game—Arkansas/Mizzou, Tennessee/Vanderbilt, alright this is a big tangent we don’t have time to craft an imaginary schedule for imaginary divisions in next year’s SEC.
The Cubs Keep Moving
There were spring training baseball games today, and apologies if I missed any big non-personnel news, but the transactions I’m seeing are that the Cubs are bringing in Jonathan Villar, David Robertson, and Mychal Givens. Villar’s the big one, shoring up the infield as a 1.2-fWAR-projected player with positional flexibility and upside at the plate. Givens and Robertson help fill out the bullpen, where neither should play a crucial role but each should provide value.
Ryan Tepera, for those curious, is headed to Anaheim, and I see Jason Adam’s going to the Rays. Matt Duffy’s also going to Anaheim. May be missing some others. Have certainly missed others on other days. Reset coming, most likely in those few days between college basketball and Opening Day. You and I will both get all caught up, if you wish to join me.
Other Baseball Moves
Matthew Boyd signed with the Giants on an intriguing one-year deal. It’s tempting to give the Giants a lot of preemptive credit as pitcher-whisperers, and they may turn out to be just that, but let’s see how all these work out.
Freddie Freeman (I really buried the lede on this one) is going to Los Angeles, and I don’t like the deal for the Dodgers. Six years is a lot, it’s not a terribly expensive contract but it could cause luxury tax cramping down the line, and it could lead to the holding back of younger talent. Freeman is a great player just a year and a half removed from a monstrous sixty games in 2020, but he’s aging, and just because the Dodgers got stuck having to rely on Albert Pujols last year doesn’t mean this is the world’s biggest hole.
Finally, Joc Pederson’s going to the Giants, where I don’t know what to expect but it’ll most likely be a lot of fun.
***
Best games tonight, if you want to commit to two, are Saint Mary’s/Indiana (7:20 PM EDT, TBS) and Arkansas/Vermont (9:20 PM EDT, TNT), on the basis of impact and novelty and quality of basketball (sorry, Murray State/San Francisco, but you’re still just playing for the right to be interesting). That said, you know the drill. Flip channels, use multiple screens, etc. Everything you want and need to do. Enjoy it. It goes so fast.
