Before we get going today, I should come clean about something. In 2018, when I wrote a blog post accusing Rick Pitino of killing David Padgett and crawling inside Padgett’s skin in order to continue coaching Louisville basketball, all on the basis of Padgett’s voice sounding weird in a postgame interview, I forgot I was listening to a postgame interview. After hearing him on the call for JMU/App State on Saturday, I was reminded: That was the only time Padgett sounded weird to me. All the other times, he’s sounded like a normal enough 6’11” man. I do suppose he maybe sounded like that because he was actually Rick Pitino that night, wearing a David Padgett costume, but I now think it’s likelier that he was just a little hoarse. Whether that was the case or not (maybe Rick Pitino was using stilts and wearing elaborate makeup), I think we can put to bed the theory that around New Year’s of the 2017–18 season, Rick Pitino killed David Padgett and crawled into his corpse in an attempt to continue coaching Louisville.
Now.
Let’s talk about Greg Olsen.
I think it’s good for his reputation that he’s about to lose his job.
Greg Olsen, for those like me who keep forgetting, is not FOX’s color commentator of the future. At least, not from what we know. That distinction belongs to Tom Brady, who signed a giant contract with Fox Sports two years ago that’s finally scheduled to get him in the booth this fall. Olsen is expected to remain with FOX and slide into the second-tier booth, but Olsen is not expected to be calling next year’s conference championship game. Tom Brady is.
This has people a little uncomfortable. Olsen is doing a great job. Olsen is well-liked. Olsen seems like a great find for FOX. Brady is an unknown entity in this role.
The thing about Olsen, though, is that for all the things he does really well—noticing little things and explaining the game effectively and possessing a voice that’s not at all grating—he’s far from perfect. He roots aggressively for the more dramatic thing to happen, something that will eventually rub teams the wrong way (this happened with some Packers fans after Olsen began drooling and yelling, COMEBACK! PLEASE! COMEBACK! during the second half of the Wild Card round). He fixates on certain storylines to the point of nausea (I don’t know if you guys noticed, but the football was wet in the Divisional round when the 49ers were on offense). He sometimes ignores an obvious thing in favor of saying a less critical thing (dropped passes by the offense are unfortunately not usually great plays by the defense). None of this is deal-breaking by any stretch. Greg Olsen’s great. He does a great job. Some of it’s Kevin Burkhardt, too (who also does a great job). But just because we don’t mind them now doesn’t mean fans won’t turn on them if they stick around too long. That’s what fans do. Remember when Patrick Mahomes was fresh and new? That was hardly any time ago at all. Broadcasters have it even worse.
Olsen will make less money sliding into this second-string role. But backup quarterbacks are popular with the public for a reason: The public doesn’t always see them play.
Addressing Our UNC Problem
We have an issue at this blog, and it’s this: The North Carolina Tar Heels are good.
We didn’t expect this. We didn’t want this to be the case. We are as puzzled by it as we are upset. But it’s true. UNC is good. They’re as trustworthy right now in dangerous road games as UConn is. We hate it.
So, we’ve pulled together a few bright spots, and a few areas for hope:
- The ACC stinks. UConn’s dangerous road games are against teams like Creighton, among the national leaders in both shooting efficiency and defensive discipline (thanks, kenpom). UNC’s dangerous road games are against teams like Florida State, who spent the nonconference season losing to South Florida and Lipscomb. Part of why UNC’s surviving is that they’re playing in a rec league.
- Hubert Davis is still a bit of a doofus. Just because it’s working doesn’t mean it should, and it seems to have taken an oddly long amount of time to realize that RJ Davis should lead the team. Doofuses do doofus things, and plenty of time remains this season for doofusry.
- This team is old. Armando Bacot was born two and a half months after Brock Purdy. Eventually, Billy Madison has to move on from third grade. We don’t have to deal with this iteration of UNC for much longer.
- The whole reason we have so much disdain for UNC is that they didn’t want to play basketball last spring. This doesn’t change that they did that, and it doesn’t justify them doing it. They ran from the grind. What they did afterwards is irrelevant.
(Yes, I’m very scared they’ll make a deep March run. Terrified, in fact. It’s getting close to affecting my sleep.)
Villanova: NIT Program?
College basketball is younger than it feels. Villanova’s been playing it for a little more than 100 years, and something like 20% of that time was Jay Wright’s tenure at the school. Jay Wright retired young, and you could still fit only five of his careers into the history of Villanova basketball.
This makes it useful, at times, to ask what kind of program a certain program is. Basically: Is the program good, or did they have one good coach?
Looking back…I think Villanova might just be an NIT program.
Yes, they did that thing in 1985. But they were only an 8-seed when they did it. If Gordon Hayward makes the shot against Duke, I don’t think we’re calling Butler a blueblood. Villanova is Jay Wright, one Cinderella run, and 80 years of shrugging shoulders. That and an NIT Championship in 1994, the year Siena took home third place. That’s where we’re going with this:
Maybe Kyle Neptune doesn’t stink at this job. Maybe Villanova is just coming home.
24 Hours of Daytona: Should We Care?
Here’s the thing about the 24 Hours of Daytona race or whatever it’s called (the one that was held this weekend): I learned on Saturday that I used to know a guy who won it right before I met him. I didn’t realize he’d won it. I didn’t realize he was racing at a high level in the sportscar world. I’m still not sure he is, or was?
This is the issue with auto racing in general. It’s hard to know who’s good at it. The sport has so many variants that lines are blurred between what levels are the top levels, and then it’s complicated by the factor that even at the top levels of the most popular series, some drivers are only there because their dads are rich. I need someone to sketch out a good graphic for me showing which series matters and where the drivers are good and where the overlaps and connections exist. Pyramids and such. Get everything on there.
Etc.
The NIT, Texas, etc.:
- There was more Horns Down nonsense at BYU, as a collection of students were asked to change out of their shirts which spelled out the incendiary phrase. Our impression—happy to be corrected on this if there’s a clear story—is that BYU asked its own students to change their shirts, not that Texas asked. BYU loves hospitality. At football games, they give out ice cream to visiting fans. This was probably BYU trying to help Texas fans have a good time while BYU poured in buckets over the Longhorns. But if you’re so sensitive that your hosts are removing “Horns Down” out of fear of offending you…yeah, this is still a Texas problem. The Horns host Houston tonight. This is not Houston’s Super Bowl. (But Texas can’t afford a win if they want to make the NIT!)
- It looked like North Texas might upset FAU on the road yesterday, even with Rubin Jones injured again. Close. No cigar. The Mean Green are in a pretty good NIT spot, but we wanted FAU too.
- The two champions before UNT—Xavier and Memphis—each made a big NIT move yesterday, Memphis getting smacked by UAB while Xavier left UConn in pieces. We’re getting the band back together.
- Virginia Tech and Texas are the only NIT contenders in action tonight. Yes, we’re saying you can write off Duke and Houston. Duke and Houston don’t have what this takes.
Chicago, the Packers:
- The Cubs reportedly signed Hector Neris over the weekend, which is good and bad. The good part is that the Cubs need relief pitchers and can’t just bank on a fringe starting pitching prospect turning into a lockdown closer (although honestly, that’s not a bad idea to try over and over again, given how inconsistent relief pitching is as an industry). The bad part is that Hector Neris might be an asshole. He wasn’t a pivotal player in the Astros’ feud with the Mariners last year, but he did reignite it with his primal yells at Julio Rodríguez, and that was weird. Basically, we might have to cover for Hector Neris doing something dumb this season. Hopefully he’s worth it.
- Ben Gordon was back at UConn this weekend as the program recognized the 2004 team, and if you’re not up to speed on Gordon’s issues (short version: mental health things beyond anxiety/depression), this was a big deal. It was a nice moment. It was good to see him celebrated. I wish I could find the clip of him doing the crotch chop celebration during that 2009 series with the Celtics. Wondering if that’s a false memory of mine. Bulls got the win in Portland. Stacey King was scared of Douglas Fur. (Happy birthday, Stacey. Hope it’s a great one.)
- I know nothing about Christian Parker (rumored new Packers DC) besides that he worked under Sean Payton this year. Think of what Quay Walker might have done in that 2022 ejection run if he was getting money for doing it.
The Sens and other things:
- The Sens got pummeled on Saturday by the Rangers. The vibes had been so good, too. They play the Predators tonight in Ottawa. Only game of the evening. Sometimes that is a good thing for a brand. Sometimes that brand is the Ottawa Senators.
- Shaka Smart’s Marquette Golden Eagles took care of Seton Hall in the second half on Saturday. Straight and narrow. Four straight wins since the haters hit their panic buttons. (Tough one tomorrow night at Villanova. When we say a team is an NIT program, that is elite praise.)
