Sorry these are ten minutes later than I intended, I accidentally looked at a tweet from a local politician and couldn’t get out of the loop of wanting to say something but not wanting to amplify it. It was about middle school furries. It was a startling indictment of our society and not in the way the author intended. It would be fine to have these sorts of people on the internet if only they’d stay there. Instead, some get elected.
Let’s get down to business.
Basketball Continues to Happen
Honestly, nothing too big that we’ve missed. That or we really missed it. I mean, Chris Mack got run out of town, but that’s our next segment.
Chris Mack Got Run Out of Town
End of an era at Louisville, and one has to wonder if they’re considering bringing back “David Padgett.”
In all seriousness, Louisville still has an NIT path, which raises the possibility they did this as a long play to return to NIT glory. Say what you will about Chris Mack, but that man’s never made an NIT. Also, he doesn’t look like he should be named Chris Mack. Looks like he should be named Steven Lambert or something like that. Does anyone know where Chris Mack came from? Did he just spawn at Xavier? Anyway, what a run. Second full-time head coach at Louisville in a row to be the victim of an extortion attempt. What a piece of trivia.
We Lost Michigan
Michigan wasn’t in the NIT Bracketology on Monday, because they beat Indiana really bad on Sunday, and while they made a good effort last night against Northwestern, they didn’t get back on track. Need to lose one they should win, and need to do that pronto. Not a lot of good opportunities in the immediate future, though. I mean, Nebraska has a basketball team, but only in the way that Ted Cruz has a soul.
Kansas State Is on .500 Watch
Credit to John Templon, NIT bracketologist, for noting this, because we missed K-State’s projected record falling under the threshold. The dance begins for the Wildcats. Thankfully, they have a little space to work with in terms of winning but not climbing out of NIT-land.
San Francisco’s Last Stand
Eventually, we’ll probably have to stop calling San Francisco the NIT favorite, but if they could lose tonight at home to Saint Mary’s, we don’t have to give up yet. A thing about the Dons is that their best win was against Davidson in a San Francisco-located “neutral-site” game. They haven’t beaten any other teams projected to miss the NIT without automatic NCAA conscription. That could bite them, and in the best way.
Game of the NITe
But while that’s a huge game (at 9:00 PM Texas Time on Stadium), it isn’t our…ok yeah actually it’s our Game of the NITe. Quiet one this evening.
Marquette Keeps Winning, Texas Keeps Just Being Fine
Just putting on the record that Marquette’s probably going to be seeded higher than Texas in a certain other tournament in a month and a half. So if you’re going to measure success that way, Texas fans…just saying. JUST SAYING.
Burnley’s Re-Stocking
Condolences to any Ivorians who read this on the AFCON loss yesterday, but the bright side is that Maxwel Cornet should, I’d imagine, be back for Burnley in time for next weekend’s match against Watford. Meanwhile, Burnley’s evidently signing Mislav Oršić to bolster the crew up front, and potentially Wout Weghorst as well? Oršić is a Croat who plays for Dinamo Zagreb, who might be trying to hold on to the guy at least through Sunday. Weghorst is a Dutchman who plays for Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga. I get the slight impression these would be an upgrade from Chris Wood, especially in tandem, but I don’t know for sure. Oršić is more of a midfielder, Weghorst is a pure striker, there still may be a chance of Newcastle buying away James Tarkowski but that seems unlikely and, for as great as Tarkowski is, might be a good move for Burnley if it happens—hurts the defense, of course, but that’s where the depth is, to the extent it exists, and could add a lot of cash for a big summer should the Clarets survive and avoid relegation. Just talking rebuild here, folks. Forgive me for being an American.
The Sens Keep Sens-ing
The Senators have won two of three, the Senators extended Nick Holden (raising the odds of Ottawa being liberated from Nikita Zaitsev), the Senators lost Drake Batherson became Aaron Dell did something a world class piece of shit would do (Batherson’s out two months with a high ankle sprain).
In other words, the world continues to turn, and the Sens play the Hurricanes tonight at home.
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The Fargo update for today is that the good girl is having her third good day in a row. Chest x-ray tomorrow morning to try to clear her from the pneumonia, or at least get her off the bigger of the two antibiotics (the only current pill she won’t always eat if it’s snuck into wet food, provided she keeps eating). She’s still real tired, which is kind of sad but convenient as she isn’t cleared for full-scale play yet. Hopefully that clearance comes soon, hopefully her energy rises again soon, hopefully she can get some good romps in the backyard with Auggie before we move out of the duplex in a few weeks and back into an apartment where we can rely on the heat and air conditioning to work.
The Stuart/Stu update for today is that we’re feeling a bit more among the living, and we’re hoping for a full slate of posts again tomorrow. Fingers crossed. Go Sens, go Gaels (would be great to feel prophetic re: the Dons), go Nadal and Tsitsipas because I bet on them. Joe should make a tennis model after he makes those other fifteen models we asked him to make and improves the bracketology one so we can brag about him.
