Madison Square Garden…what a NITe. One more ride now, old friend. Then, I assume they’re imploding you.
Xavier Over St. Bonaventure
The Bonnies fans didn’t disappoint, mostly because anyone who was disappointed by the arena not being completely sold out (it was close, I swear!) could be immediately satiated by news that the buses the school hired to bring fans down to the game 1) had flat tires, 2) got pulled over, and 3) caught fire. The NCAA never sleeps, guys. Never sleeps. Nevertheless, Bonnie fans made it to MSG, where they were in attendance in droves and the place got rowdy. Xavier took a big lead early in the game, carried a 15-point advantage into halftime, and yet…the Bonnies weren’t ever fully out of it. Dominick Welch played hero, sinking seven threes Washington State would later have killed to have. Eventually, though, the Musketeers—who got production all over the place, with four separate players scoring exactly 16 or 18 points—were too much, and the 2021-22 St. Bonaventure team died as it lived: Not quite as good as its lovers hoped it’d be.
With Xavier, the successful run makes more and more sense as the tournament goes on. The team had talent and showed it early in the year, but the vibes were atrocious. Switching coaches is, predominantly, a vibe shift (this is why they do it so often in soccer, where no one knows what’s going on, and baseball, where vibes are important because if you don’t have good vibes players will murder one another), and Jonas Hayes brought the vibes Xavier needed. Texas A&M will not be playing the same Xavier team that lost to Butler in its Big East Tournament opener. It will be playing one much more like the one that lost to Villanova by 13 on the road in December.
Texas A&M Over Washington State
We knew Kyle Smith had numbers, but we didn’t know if he had the right energy, and Buzz Williams brought that in abundance, as we thought he would. The Aggies came out firing on all cylinders, or at least the defensive ones, keeping the Cougars from finding any sort of offensive rhythm and then thoroughly taking over the lane on the scoring end. The AP Poll is going to have Texas A&M in the top 15 come October, right? That’s where this is going? And then they’ll end up a 6-seed in that other tournament? We know the Buzz Williams arc. We know our history.
Quenton Jackson, of course, had a massive game, and it’s worth mentioning that the guy only started starting when A&M played Auburn, the last game in that awful losing streak they had in the middle of SEC play. In games Jackson started, the Aggies are 12-2. He was always playing a lot of minutes, but I’m curious what the story is on his role. If you know, please tell me, especially if you are someone who actually followed this team all year instead of saying after consecutive loss number five, “Ah, damn. Well, maybe next year we’ll get Buzz,” and moving on to other NIT dreams.
The Senators’ Owner Died
Rough transition. Sorry. Didn’t know how else to say it.
On Monday night, the Ottawa Senators announced that longtime owner Eugene Melnyk passed away after a battle with an unspecified disease. It was a shocking announcement, and it created some awkwardness in the discourse. Melnyk was an eccentric figure (I never learned how or if the yacht captain lawsuit ended), and it was not uncommon for Sens fans to publicly beseech him to sell the team. Still, he did plenty of good—charitably and with regard to the Senators, whom he brought out of bankruptcy in 2003—and now that the team’s ownership future is in question, fears of relocation are prominent. It is tragic news—Melnyk was only 62—and we wish his family the best, but we, semi-ironic Ottawa Senators fans, are not the ones qualified to talk much about this other than to express our condolences. It seems few are, by the looks of it. Seeing discomfort with the topic all around, as well as all that anxiety about relocation.
In other Sens news, they somehow aren’t getting in trouble for the Dadonov mess, and they lost last night in Nashville, 4-1.
Fargo Ate a Lot of Shit Yesterday
Transitioning back, sorry, no warning lights on this thing.
Fargo might not have actually eaten that much shit yesterday at daycare. She sure came home covered in it, though, so I spent a large part of the Xavier/Bonaventure game out on the balcony brushing canine fecal matter out of my dog’s coat (we don’t brush her enough, she looks great today). In between me noticing, in the car, that she had a big lump of the stuff stuck on her nose fur and me noticing, while giving her a scritch behind the ears as I started combing, that she had many little hints of the stuff scattered throughout her mane, she took a disgusting dump herself out in Sniff City, which is what we call the vacant lot across the street out back. Poor gal either has not connected the dots or is just so enamored with other dogs’ waste (she puts her head under pooping butts at the dog park and we have to chase her away, which is always very confusing for the dog who is pooping) that it’s worth a 12 to 24-hour bout with intestinal tumult.
Texas’s Baseball Week Did Not Get Better
After the Kurt Wilson weekend, the Longhorns’ fortunes did not improve. Texas A&M came to town for a midweek tilt (awesome idea, lot of fun, wish it hadn’t been the night of the NIT Final Four so I could’ve gone) and knocked off the Longhorns, 12-9. Midweek game, nonconference, unusual pitching, so not a lot of actual baseball meaning here, but bad for the vibe. Stay away from campus right now if you’re in Austin. Can’t be sure what calamities may befall you there.
