A lot’s been happening. Let’s get into it.
NIT SEASON BEGINS
This gets the all caps treatment because NIT is already in all caps and we, behind it, cannot let our friend down. Tonight, our first college basketball games of any consequence since Sunday, March 28th go down.
Early in the season, a lot of teams have NIT dreams. Late in the season, a lot have them too, but this early, it’s nearly everybody (sorry, Oklahoma State and UC-San Diego). We’ve singled out St. Bonaventure as the NIT favorite, but they’re a nominal favorite, really. The most likely team in our estimation, but not more likely than the field by any stretch. Some others to watch include Notre Dame, Xavier, Auburn, Oregon, North Carolina, San Francisco, and man, this was a really arbitrary list. Let’s throw Wisconsin and Virginia in there as well. BYU, too. And fine, fine, Saint Mary’s.
The point is, it’s an open field, and every game counts. We just don’t know how, exactly.
Tonight, I—like many of you—will be tutoring during the “Champions Classic” (none of these teams have won an NIT since Kentucky did it in ’76, so please use scare quotes and help us keep this a God-fearing nation where language means something). That said, I’ll be keeping an eye on it. Three of the four teams had NIT dreams last year. Kansas…not so much, but Michigan State earned a bid (got robbed by the committee), Duke probably earned a bid (got robbed by Coach K’s terror of his own memories), and Kentucky was nowhere close but for a while there we thought they might be, including on the final day as opt-outs started coming down. Anyway, unfinished business here for sure.
Of the other big ones tonight…Louisiana Tech, who finished third in last year’s NIT and brings back American hero Kenneth Lofton, Jr. (seriously, look it up, he’s a hero and no he’s not Kenny Lofton’s kid, and you’re gonna laugh really hard when you look at his picture and imagine him as the child of Kenny Lofton), visits Alabama, where Nate Oats will try to finally live up to that NITe Oats name he scribbles on his notepad wistfully when he’s bored. Other action other action let’s see…Belmont plays Ohio, but it doesn’t look like that’s on TV (communists)…Don’t get excited when you see Akron on ESPN2 they graduated Loren Cristian Jackson, he’s playing in France (unless they’re winning in which case by all means, get excited)…UC-Riverside visits San Diego State but that’s also untelevised and really only important to those of us hoping for a Joe Kelly/NIT crossover…I mean, overall it’s one of those nights where someone will probably have an ugly loss and thereby make an NIT case, but we have no idea who that might be. That said, Marquette hosts SIU-Edwardsville and Texas hosts Houston Baptist, for the Shaka Smart fans in the room.
NASCAR Season Ends
NASCAR is also in all caps, but it doesn’t get the all caps treatment here. Sorry, guys. Kyle Larson took the lead from Martin Truex Jr. on a late pit stop on Sunday to take the championship, capping off a dominant season. I believe I saw he was the first driver in 14 years to win ten or more races in one season. Congratulations, Kyle, congratulations, Hendrick Motorsports. In the Xfinity Series, Daniel Hemric edged Austin Cindric at the finish line for the title. In the Truck Series, Ben Rhodes won and did a press conference absolutely hammered. So, yeah, everyone had a good time. As is often the case in Arizona, I understand. Fun state. Florida, but cool.
Red Bull Gives You Wins
Max Verstappen topped Lewis Hamilton in Mexico, expanding his championship lead to nineteen points, a gap Hamilton might have to win three races to overcome. Sergio Pérez finished on the podium in his home country. Valtteri Bottas stole a point late, grabbing the fastest lap from Verstappen. That point is currently the difference between Mercedes and Red Bull in the team standings, with four grands prix left (I think—still not trusting the schedule on the website after all the incidents). Next race next weekend in Brazil. São Paulo.
Oh, big first lap crash, too. Always fun. Everyone was safe but some cars when VRRRRROOP and POP and BUHLANGALANG.
Burnley Got a Big One
Matěj Vydra poked in a late Jay Rodriguez cross to give the lads a draw at Chelsea. I don’t know the English word for this, but Nick Pope balled out. Kept the Burnleys in it. Vastly outplayed, came away with a point against the league leaders. Heck of a Saturday. And the women’s team won on Sunday against Stoke.
It doesn’t get Burnley clear of the relegation zone, but it was huge for morale and it puts them cleanly in 18th, five points ahead of the final two clubs and just two points behind Aston Villa. FiveThirtyEight has the relegation probability down to 30%.
No match this weekend. International break. First Claret or Clarets in action plays or play Thursday.
The Sens Are Sick
I think it started on Friday, when Austin Watson went into the Covid protocol. Since then, Nick Holden, Connor Brown, Dylan Gambrell, and Victor Mete have all also been sidelined by Covid procedures. The NHL’s being cautious, which is cool, but man, lot of guys out. No one breathe on Jimmy Stu. Anton Forsberg’s sick with something other than Covid, as was Tyler Ennis during the loss on Saturday (they lost Saturday, not a lot else to say). Ennis was skating today at practice.
In response, the Sens called up Erik Brännström, a former top prospect who’s yet to pan out on the blue line, plus Scott Sabourin and Egor Sokolov, who we can only hope will become Zub’s sidekick for all sorts of side adventures, including possibly espionage (if we get espionaged by Zub and Sokolov…I might be ok with it). Brännström will join Zub on a defensive pairing tonight, with Nikita Zaitsev bumped up to be Thomas Chabot’s problem to deal with.
That was a lot of names. You might know none of them. Recently, I knew none of them. Well, I knew a few. But even those were just from last year.
They’re our Sens, though. And as they go to…*checks schedule*…Boston tonight, we’ll be hoping for an end to the losing streak. Also hoping for Brännström to dominate. Change the course of the franchise from lit to lit af.
Boise State’s Got Milk
Dairy happened this weekend, and so did college football. Boise State won the Milk Can.
Elsewhere in college football…I don’t know. Not the biggest week. Scott Frost is sticking around at Nebraska, which would be nowhere near an NIT if football had one so let’s get ahead of that line of what evidently passes for humor these days.
Joe Kelly’s Free Agency Has Begun
It’s official. Joe Kelly’s a free agent. I hope you’re as unhingedly excited as I am. If our budget were big enough, I’d have ordered 3,000 Joe Kelly t-shirts to be ready—one for each number on each team. Unfortunately, our budget isn’t big enough. And neither is our home.
Knight the Penguins, Eat Some Soup
Other odds and ends: We had a World Peace Idea and I am on a Soup Streak™.
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Enjoy the hoops.
