Two weeks ago, I saw something mentioning that three of the four Conference Championship starting quarterbacks came from the Big 12. I was confused. Brock Purdy, Patrick Mahomes, and…?
It took me a long time to finish the list.
I know Jalen Hurts went to Oklahoma. I know Jalen Hurts says he went to Oklahoma. I know Jalen Hurts has a stronger tie to the school he transferred to than the school he transferred from.
But Jalen Hurts didn’t go to Oklahoma.
Internally, it boils down to this: When I picture Jalen Hurts playing college football for a team dressed more or less in red and white, I picture him in the Alabama crimson. I picture him sitting on the bench while Tua Tagovailoa wins the Tide a national championship, but that’s what I picture! I don’t think Alabama should or can claim him, but as a neutral party, he’s an Alabama guy in my mind.
Sorry, Big 12.
I love you a lot.
But Jalen Hurts is an SEC quarterback.
Kentucky vs. UNC
This is how it’s going to go, and I’m saying it now in an effort to stop it from going that way. Not through the Reverse Jinx or anything, but by putting it on the record so that if the NCAA tries this, they know I’m watching.
Kentucky and UNC will be on the bubble.
Kentucky and UNC will play one another in Dayton in the “First Four.”
I don’t think the NCAA rigs this. This is the whole problem. The NCAA doesn’t need to rig anything, because it’s brainwashed its whole selection committee and given them a highly subjective task. When you throw thirty people or however many into a room and tell them to make a bracket with few other instructions, they will do a lot of unspoken things together. There will be no explicit conspiracy. It will just happen. The way people help each other out after disaster, but evil. This is how we—the NIT community—lost Tom Izzo two years ago. This is going to cost us UNC and Kentucky. Bracket Matrix will inexplicably have UNC and Kentucky in the field (well, explicably: groupthink happens), and then the committee will follow. It will be a slap in the face to all who play basketball, and to all who love it.
Joe Kelly to Radio Row
Joe Kelly was on Radio Row today at the Super Bowl, promoting his book, and I’m excited for two reasons.
The first is that Joe Kelly was on Radio Row. That just sounds fun. Nothing needs to happen for that to excite me.
The second, though, is that baseball snuck past football’s molded polycarbonate gates. We got ‘em.
Kyle Busch to Mexican Prison??
Kyle Busch was caught with a handgun in Cancun last month and sentenced to 3.5 years in prison. We found out about this…yesterday? Because the sentencing happened Monday?
It doesn’t sound like Kyle Busch will actually spend three and a half years in a Mexican prison, and I don’t wish that on him, but I’m definitely curious what would happen if they tried to make him go. Honestly, they probably don’t want him there. NASCAR started with guys driving an illegal drug all over the South. Shove one of its best modern drivers into a complex full of cartel members for 42 months and you’re asking for the greatest smuggler the 21st century’s ever seen.
**
The menu tonight:
8:30 PM EST: Wisconsin @ Penn State (BTN)
It’s the Game of the NITe, and if it feels like Groundhog Day, you’re not wrong. These guys just played a few weeks ago, and Punxsutawney is only sixty miles from State College as…ahem…as the crow flies.
We’re still far enough out where bubble teams like these don’t have to worry too too much about the implications of individual games. That’s the beauty of being as much in the field as they are. Let’s just appreciate this look at the quality of an NIT Final Four game.
6:30 PM EST: Creighton @ Seton Hall (FS1)
9:00 PM EST: Oklahoma @ Baylor (ESPNU)
9:00 PM EST: Florida @ Alabama (ESPN2)
Games where those pursuing us shouldn’t do anything crazy.
6:30 PM EST: Nebraska @ Michigan (BTN)
7:00 PM EST: Syracuse @ Florida State (ESPNU)
8:00 PM EST: Temple @ SMU (ESPN+)
8:00 PM EST: UCF @ Wichita State (ESPN+)
8:30 PM EST: DePaul @ Villanova (FS1)
10:30 PM EST: UNLV @ Wyoming (FS1)
Games where those pursuing us can’t really do anything crazy.
7:00 PM EST: Memphis @ South Florida (ESPN+)
7:00 PM EST: Boston College @ Virginia Tech (ACCN)
8:00 PM EST: Texas Tech @ Oklahoma State (ESPN+)
8:00 PM EST: Georgetown @ Providence (CBSSN)
9:00 PM EST: LSU @ Mississippi State (SECN)
Games where those pursuing us might want to do something crazy.
6:00 PM EST: Hofstra @ Northeastern (CBSSN)
7:00 PM EST: UNC-Wilmington @ College of Charleston (FloHoops?)
7:00 PM EST: Furman @ VMI (ESPN+?)
7:00 PM EST: Samford @ Mercer (ESPN+?)
7:00 PM EST: Belmont @ Missouri State (ESPN+?)
8:00 PM EST: Bradley @ Illinois State (ESPN+?)
8:00 PM EST: UIC @ SIU (ESPN+?)
Conference races in the CAA, SoCon, and Missouri Valley are all hot right now. We’ll keep keeping tabs so we can bring you the intel on any among these who makes it to our gates.
8:00 PM EST: Cal Baptist @ Utah Valley (ESPN+?)
Conference race in the WAC’s a little cool right now, but we’ll keep an eye on Utah Valley in case that changes.
10:00 PM EST: San Diego State @ Utah State (CBSSN)
And finally, in the late-NITe round, a nice Mountain West game between two of The Five. We love The Five. Would love them more if San Diego State could lose a bad one or two, but we love The Five.
