All the things. Or at least some of them.
Jon Lester, Retired Man
We’ve been delinquent in our Cubs offseason coverage (still hoping to catch up soon, as we’ve been saying for months now), but with Jon Lester retiring, we wanted to give it mention. The guy was never as dominant as, say, 2015 Jake Arrieta, but his longevity and his consistent excellence and his adaptability, all on the heels of the cancer bout early in his career…what a story, and what a run. Best wishes to him, and thanks for the great memories.
MLB Lockout: At Least They Talked
No progress was made as the MLB and MLBPA resumed negotiations, but at the very least, they talked. I wonder which side is operating with more urgency right now. Presumably the owners should be? Do they have more to lose? What a dumb situation.
Villanova: Good.
Villanova took down Xavier on the road last night, leaving them clearly the team to beat in the Big East, where that designation isn’t particularly close. I was a bit worried by how high our bracketology had the Wildcats yesterday, especially with Bracket Matrix pegging Nova as a 3-seed, but then they went and did that, and well…they’re really, really good. Whatever happened against Baylor has not happened again, their only losses right now are firmly in Quadrant I, and they could very well feast their way through a Big East slate which lacks oomph beyond Xavier, whom they’ve now beaten twice, and Seton Hall, whom they already beat on the road (they also got Creighton back for that loss in Omaha, which is the only real blemish at the moment on their sheet).
Big Ten Race? Race for Second Place?
Indiana, Iowa, Ohio State, and Wisconsin are all among the teams vying to vie for the Big Ten title. Indiana’s two games back of Illinois and Michigan State, but gets Illinois at home down the line. Iowa’s off to a bad league start, but their offense is excellent, and aside from a home game against Purdue (winnable) they should be favored in every contest for the rest of the month. Ohio State’s just one game back of the leaders (not the Leaders, we must note, Michigan State played in the Legends Division), but they’ve reached one of the highest two highs of any Big Ten team so far, taking down Duke back in November (the other is Purdue’s win over Villanova, also in November). Wisconsin lost terribly in Columbus in December, but they’ve since beaten Purdue on the road and survived both Iowa and Maryland, leaving them also just a game back.
The Hoosiers visit the Hawkeyes tonight after the Buckeyes visit the Badgers, and while this league does belong to Illinois until further notice, these four and Michigan State are all right there, or in Iowa’s case could be right there, and that means they’re fighting for NCAA Tournament seeding and conference tournament double-byes.
The WCC Revs Up
In tonight’s other big one, BYU goes to Gonzaga, and Gonzaga really needs to win this. They’ve got wins over Texas, UCLA, and Texas Tech (that last one’s aging really well at the moment), but their résumé overall has a lot of weakness on it, and the losses to Duke and Alabama leave them in a space where they could really use a dominant run through the WCC if they want a one-seed. For BYU, the bubble’s a possibility, but they’re far enough away to not really worry about that, which makes tonight effectively a free play for the visitors.
It’s Not Too Early for Top 25’s
Switching over to college football…some like to complain about the “Way Too Early Top 25” stuff, and to an extent, that’s justified. We really don’t know too much about next year’s teams right now. At the same time, though, we don’t really know that much more in August, and those polls aren’t too early? I guess those have the benefits of being actual polls, instead of glorified blog posts, and therefore having some edges rubbed down, and yes, of course we learn more about transfers and rosters and coaching staffs. But the point is, we have a pretty good idea already what next season will look like. Alabama and Georgia and Ohio State are the national favorites. There’s intrigue over whether Clemson and Oklahoma will bounce back. There are some sleepers around the Midwest and the SEC, with Texas A&M still seemingly on the verge of figuring things out and both Michigan and Notre Dame returning some heft after strong seasons. The Pac-12 and ACC-beyond-Clemson and Big-12-beyond-Oklahoma could produce some threats, but none are immediately obvious.
Maybe the most legitimate complaint about Way Too Early Top 25’s is that we know what they say before we read them.
***
It’s a college basketball night. As is tomorrow, thanks to the Big Ten. It’s college basketball season, in full force. See you tomorrow.
