Kentucky won last night, and they won on the road, and they won on the road against a fellow bubble team. This is the kind of shit you can’t do if you want to drop into the NIT from above. On the bottom bubble? Hell yeah, win on the road. At the top, though, this is like driving blindfolded. Only Evel Knievel gets to do that.
Still, there’s hope for the Cats. Because if you’re going to win a championship, it helps to know how championships are won.
This is an often-overlooked piece of the Calipari mystique. People talk about Derrick Rose and Anthony Davis and what Calipari meant for the one-and-done rule, and they overlook the best part: The guy won an NIT! This is like telling David Ortiz’s story and only focusing on the three World Series titles and the October heroics and the emotional leadership after the marathon bombing rather than starting with the fact the guy shared a clubhouse for a few years with Joe Kelly. Don’t leave out the good stuff, people!
Calipari’s NIT track record is ridiculously good, giving even less credence to Lexingtonians complaining that the man “can’t win in March.” Yeah, he lost to Saint Peter’s. In…an exhibition game. When it mattered, he made the Final Four in 1991, 2001, 2002, and 2005, and in ’02 he won it all.
So, yeah, Kentucky might miss the NIT. Last NITe wasn’t good for them. But if you ask me who to put my money on as the college basketball season approaches turn four, I’m riding with the guy who’s been there before.
Colin Castleton Broke His Hand
It is rare that we can look at an injury on an NIT candidate and say, “Oh, that team is screwed,” which says a lot about precisely how good Colin Castleton has been these last few seasons for Florida. Colin Castleton was exactly good enough to be the difference between Florida making the NIT and Florida not making the NIT. He wasn’t good enough to propel them higher, but he was good enough to propel them this high. That’s special.
We shouldn’t close the door on UF. Maybe they still get in. It’s late enough in the year where they only need two wins in their next six, and their KenPom and NET are both solid. But it doesn’t look good for the Gators. Kyle Lofton, your encore is needed.
Chris Beard: Charges Dropped
Charges have been dropped against Chris Beard, in accordance with the alleged victim’s wishes. As we’ve said plenty a time: We only know what was on the police report. This doesn’t exonerate Beard (plenty of domestic violence victims ask to drop charges/refuse to cooperate with investigations, that’s part of how abuse works), but we also don’t know exactly what happened. Best wishes to all involved for peace and health and safety. Only on those fronts, though. We still hope Texas loses in the first round of the exhibition tournament. I’ll be harsh here: The fans deserve that. (By the way: Shaka Smart got another great win last night, you stupid assholes, and his team has 61,093 energy generating behaviors on the year.)
Joe Kelly’s Facial Hair
We got our first clips of Joe Kelly talking at spring training today, and he’s looking great. Also, there’s a hockey juniors team in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin named the Chippewa Steel and they have a defenseman named Joe Kelly. Joe Kelly remains everywhere. Wanted you guys to know about the Steel, though. Dope name.
Remember Travis Pastrana?
Travis Pastrana is one of those dudes who was just kind of *around* in the 2000s. When the X Games were at their peak, he was at the peak of those kinds of sports, so even those of us who weren’t into the X Games specifically were familiar with the concept of Travis Pastrana from watching so much ESPN. We then forgot about him for the last ten years or so.
He’s back!
In a way.
Evidently last night’s Daytona 500 qualifying was not just to determine the front row for Sunday and the order for tonight’s Duels, as I explicitly told you all it was in yesterday’s notes. It was also to lock two of the non-chartered cars attempting qualification into the field. Pastrana and Jimmie Johnson (he’s back too) are in. That leaves two spots left, which—and I’ve quadruple-checked this after yesterday’s foible—will be decided by tonight’s Duels. Austin Hill, Chandler Smith, Zane Smith, and Conor Daly are attempting to qualify. Smith and Smith are racing in Duel 1, along with Johnson (and 18 of the 36 chartered cars, which are guaranteed qualification into every race). Hill and Daly are racing in Duel 2, along with Pastrana (and the other 18). If Pastrana or Johnson finishes first in their Duel among the respective non-chartered drivers, Zane Smith gets in by virtue of being the third-fastest of the six last night. If Pastrana and Johnson each finishes first among the non-charters in their Duel, Hill will also get in. Hill, Smith, and Smith are each younger up-and-comers racing Trucks and Xfinity cars. Daly is an IndyCar driver (and the dream Indy 500 champion, being the rare remaining driver from Indiana).
So, that’s what’s on the line tonight. Pastrana, though! He’ll be in the Daytona 500. I feel like it’s going to be weird to see his name on the scroll. Were I a casual viewer, I would probably assume it was a different Pastrana, but I would think of this one. It’s not! It’s him! It’s Travis Pastrana, driving his dirt bike in the greatest stock car race in the world (no, he’s driving a stock car like everyone else, but it would be way more eXtreme of him to do the dirt bike, just saying).
**
The menu this evening:
8:00 PM EST: UCF @ Memphis (ESPN+)
Memphis checks in with our Game of the NITe in a situation where a loss would likely push them down into most NIT projections. The season has all been building to this. This is what we’ve been going towards. This is the culmination of years and years of work, entire lifetimes of basketball and the things that surround it. Broadcast on ESPN+.
8:00 PM EST: Colorado @ Arizona State (P12N)
Elsewhere in the mid-evening hour, Colorado and ASU are playing an NIT beatdown in Tempe. Heavyweight fight. Excited for all involved.
9:00 PM EST: Ohio State @ Iowa (ESPN2)
A thing about Ohio State is that they are very close to being eliminated from NIT contention altogether but they’re also just two upsets away from being the NIT favorite. Iowa, meanwhile, isn’t out of our woods yet. They’re still in them. Trees are definitely getting further and further apart, though. More natural light. Fewer creepy noises. They can hear a car in the parking lot.
9:00 PM EST: Santa Clara @ BYU (CBSSN)
11:00 PM EST: Gonzaga @ Loyola Marymount (CBSSN)
Yippee! It’s the WCC! (They have never returned my calls about this slogan idea.)
All four teams on this list fancy themselves NIT contenders. All four teams on this list have work to do.
10:00 PM EST: Utah @ Arizona (P12N)
10:00 PM EST: Cal @ USC (FS1)
Arizona and Cal, having basically the same college basketball season (won’t make the NIT).
7:00 PM EST: FAU @ MTSU (CBSSN)
7:00 PM EST: North Texas @ Louisiana Tech (ESPN+)
9:00 PM EST: UAB @ UTEP (ESPN+)
Big night in the USA, with all three of the league’s NIT bid candidates playing on the road. Dangerous game, playing on the road. Frogger illustrated this well.
7:00 PM EST: Georgia Southern @ Marshall (ESPN+)
7:00 PM EST: Old Dominion @ James Madison (ESPN+)
8:00 PM EST: Southern Miss @ South Alabama (ESPN+)
8:00 PM EST: Louisiana-Monroe @ Louisiana (ESPN+)
The ULM/ULL matchup always feels so awkward, because of the name. Anyway you heard it here first we still think James Madison has an outside chance at the NIT.
7:00 PM EST: Liberty @ Kennesaw State (ESPN+)
8:00 PM EST: North Dakota @ Oral Roberts (ORN?)
In our zealotry department, Liberty is trying to wrap up the ASUN while Kennesaw State also tries to wrap up the ASUN and Oral Roberts tries to stay undefeated in Summit League play. If there’s one thing you can say about Liberty and ORU, it’s that they like their fundamentals (apologies to regular readers, we’re going to use that joke a lot these next few weeks).
7:00 PM EST: UNC-Asheville @ Radford (ESPNU)
The Big South name has never been more true. First place on the line in Radford (that always falls flat when the town and the school share a name).
7:00 PM EST: College of Charleston @ Elon (FloHoops?)
7:00 PM EST: Hampton @ Hofstra (FloHoops?)
Last up, Charleston and Hofstra attempt to keep up. With each other. In the CAA race.
7:00 PM EST: Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona (FS1)
Explained these a little above, but they’re shorter races featuring half a full field and they’ll determine most of the order for Sunday’s Daytona 500, in addition to which two of Hill, Smith, Smith, and Daly make the field. Alex Bowman won the pole, by the way. And Kyle Larson got the other front-row spot.
7:30 PM EST: Bucks @ Bulls (TNT)
The Bulls are a mess, there is no future, and it is because of this that the loss last night was pretty funny. I don’t know. Maybe I’m being an ass. But I’m getting a kick out of this. Reinsdorf needs to sell, man. Sell everything. Poor White Sox fans.
