Before we begin: I just googled “Marquette basketball recruiting 247” and the top hit was the list of 2021 commits. As a bit of a search engine expert myself (you don’t know how hard it is to grapple for NIT Bracketology listing supremacy), this isn’t exactly concerning, but it’s startling, because it implies Marquette fans, a notoriously “online” bunch, haven’t been tracking their own team’s recruiting aggressively enough for Google to put the relevant information where relevant information belongs. Perhaps this is a sign of the times, and we’re living in a transfer world now, but I, for one, am questioning Marquette’s self-proclaimed fanaticism.
Now. To begin (since that didn’t count as beginning since I clearly stated, “before we begin” right there at the beginning which—again—wasn’t actually the beginning because I made clear we were not yet beginning):
Is Shaka Smart going hipster?
It’s been a while since we’ve had cultural discussions about hipsters, but something about Marquette still gives off the hipster vibe (probably all the affluent white people attending college in a cool, gritty city), and it’s possible it’s wearing off on Shaka Smart, whose recruiting has gotten creative. There’s the Australian guy: Ben Gold, who doesn’t get a national ranking on 247 because he isn’t national, baby (just kidding, I just went through the Saint Mary’s recruiting history and it looks like international guys sometimes get those rankings, so hopefully this doesn’t mean Gold is bad). Then, there’s the real deep cut: Zach Wrightsil. NAIA Player of the Year out of Loyola-New Orleans.
I have no idea how the level of competition compares between NAIA and the Big East, but if a guy’s the Player of the Year in some sort of national body playing the sport, you take him, right? It’s like the guy scoring 50 points per game in a rural high school league. At some point, good is good.
Anyway, I thought Marquette was doing more of this when I started writing it up, and now I see it’s really just that they got a guy from Australia and another guy from an NAIA school in New Orleans (arguably more foreign, compared to Milwaukee, but that’s not the point), but still—the hipster question remains. Meanwhile, Austin goes more and more mainstream. Heard Chris Beard’s recruiting guys from Division-I. Lame.
BURNLEY!
Gosh, what a week.
When we last did these notes (sorry for the absence—all is fine), Burnley was approaching a must-win match against—crap, who did they play Thursday…Southampton! Burnley needed to beat Southampton, and dammit, Burnley beat Southampton. Connor Roberts had a nifty goal to open things happily, Nathan Collins gave a little space before halftime, the defense held, there was life north of Manchester (that’s where Burnley is—it’s about twenty miles north of Manchester). Then, on Sunday morning, Burnley did it again, beating Wolverhampton 1-0 to pass Everton and ultimately finish the weekend just three points back of Leeds.
Everton does have a game in hand, trailing Burnley by two points, but Burnley has the easiest remaining schedule of the three teams in relegation danger, and the lads are suddenly looking reasonably safe from relegation after looking pretty likely to be sent down the last time we did these notes. The downside, of course, is how quickly these things can change, but it’s that same downside that was just an upside, and that upside came to pass. Next matches on Saturday and Sunday for all three teams of interest.
Ross Chastain Did It Again
I’ll confess: I’m sad about this, but I have no idea what happened this weekend at Talladega aside from that Ross Chastain won. Saw that the last few laps were fun and saw basically nothing else. I’m guessing none of you who really care about NASCAR are getting your exclusive NASCAR news here, so I’m not going to try to catch up, but apologies for not sufficiently hyping the Talladega race and apologies for not knowing more here. Talladega’s the best. I let the team down.
Also, Max Verstappen got the F1 win in Italy. Don’t know anything about that either.
Good Weekend for the Sens
The Senators beat the Blue Jackets in a shootout on Friday, then took down the Canadiens on Saturday in regulation. Thomas Chabot returned, Mark Kastelic scored his first career goal and immediately fought a guy, Brendan Gallagher went hard after Tim Stützle in their reunion (Stützle was the bigger man, obviously), fun stuff all around.
Home game tonight against the Devils, helmet videos from the Friday and Saturday wins here and here.
The White Sox Need Joe Kelly
Disastrous run for the South Siders, who’ve lost seven straight now. Joe Kelly, per James Fegan, is making one last outing in Arizona before going to Charlotte for a rehab outing which will hopefully be this weekend. Thrilling times.
Herb Jones: NIT/NBA Hero
Herb Jones has become a cult favorite, which is exactly what the NIT needs. Official talking points on him are that he played really well in Alabama’s 2019 loss to Norfolk State and it’s inexplicable that he didn’t get more run that game. Got that? Good.
Mark Emmert: Retiring!
Much more to come on this, as the news just broke. ‘Twill be a focus of ours tomorrow, bumping our broad analysis of the Chicago/Wisconsin/Illinois/Milwaukee/Green Bay/Madison rivalry dynamics to Thursday as things are currently scheduled. Look forward to that.
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Viewing schedule tonight, second screen in italics:
- 7:20 PM EDT: Cubs @ Atlanta (Regional TV)
- 7:30 PM EDT: Desmond Bane, most NIT experience of any player in these NBA Playoffs (TNT)
- 10:00 PM EDT: Herb Jones, NIT Legend, yes, legend, we’re hyping this up (TNT)
