KenPom’s ratings are out, and the AP Poll is out, and let’s see who’s going to win the NIT.
Over the last fifteen college basketball seasons, all since the NIT switched to a 32-team field, the eventual NIT champion has…
Crap.
I can’t find preseason KenPom ratings for the last fifteen years.
I really thought those were publicly, easily available.
I think Memphis is the favorite, guys. 34th in KenPom is good but not great, they play in the AAC so they should get plenty of bad losses, they play in the AAC so they have no risk of being below .500 overall, Penny Hardaway’s already a proven champion. Memphis is the team to beat. That’s our official stance.
What are the Sens Up To?
Good question.
The Sens lost again on Saturday night, falling to 0-2, and my impression of the proceedings so far is as follows:
- Craig Anderson stood on his head on opening night in a revenge game.
- The Sens lost by one on the road to the Leafs.
It’s a pretty standard list of things to have happened, and the Sens are probably fine, but the vibes are questionable and the Sens don’t get to play a really bad team until Saturday and by that point they might be putting so much pressure on themselves (to win, but also to successfully switch Jakob Chychrun into Nikita Zaitsev’s body) that it goes awry. In short? The Sens should just beat the Bruins tonight in the home opener and keep everyone happy.
What are the Burnleys Up to?
Great question.
The Burnleys won again on Saturday, thoroughly shitpumping Swansea for a 4-0 margin that, with Sheffield United drawing with Blackpool (in the game of the season, where Blackpool allowed two goals and then scored three goals and then got two red cards and then allowed a third goal before a fight led to one more red card for each squad, which was enough to get this game its own CNN article) and Norwich losing to Watford later in the day, left the lads in first place. First place!!!
This has all happened quickly, and the season’s not a third of the way done, but it’s better to be in first place than to not be in first place, and even if Burnley’s a little off the two-points-per-game ideal pace, they’re beating the big names and eliciting red cards (Swansea got one, but it kind of looks wimpy compared to what Blackpool did) and they’re in first place! Next match tomorrow against Birmingham, who’s presumably still stinging from Alabama’s loss. Big road trip. If I’m reading the schedule right. The whole thing where the British flip home and away to confuse American fans into showing up at the wrong spot is highly effective. I’ve turned on my Burnley-home-game TV far too many times only to see a road game pop up.
Trying
We’re changing up this housekeeping section to just a list of everything we’re trying to do. Here’s the general order of operations on my side (Joe has more in his notes today):
- Get on top of merchandise, including 2022 NIT pool prizes
- Get the blog active again on Instagram and TikTok (and set up the Facebook page)
- Do License Plate Bracket III
- Launch 2023 NIT Season-Long Challenge?
- Train Fargo so she stops jumping on every stranger she meets on a walk and making knots in my shoulder that make my jaw numb
- Fold the laundry
- Build the latest database of NIT alumni in the NBA
- Resurrect MilkTime
**
Viewing schedule:
4:07 PM EDT: Guardians @ Yankees – Game 5 (TBS)
You can’t hide forever, New York.
One of my favorite things about this series is that even if the Yankees win tonight, the Guardians will go down as heroes. It’s what happens when everyone outside of one team’s fans dislikes said one team. No one can touch you if your opponent is widely despised.
One of my least favorite things about this series is that if the Yankees win tonight, we’re going to have to watch them play the Astros, and that’s a meteor series if I’ve ever seen one.
7:00 PM EDT: Sens vs. Bruins (ESPN+)
Credit to the NHL for putting the pregame activities here, right after Josh Naylor hits his third home run of the game and there’s a delay in New York so Rob Manfred can be arrested for numerous war crimes. Very kind of them to fit this around my schedule.
8:03 PM EDT: Philadelphia @ San Diego – Game 1 (FS1)
This is very much a good vs. good series, but there’s time for that to change. In the direction of the Padres becoming evil. The Phillies can get away with murder because Philadelphia has crafted an identity for itself based on doing asshole shit and saying, “What? We’re just Philly.” I love Philadelphia. I am part of the problem here.
It does seem that Philadelphia has gotten on board with the Phils. I still suspect that they care a lot more about the Birds Week 7 tilt with the bye week than they do about the Phils winning the pennant, but they’re watching, and they’re getting noisy, and they’re letting the vibes be good. It’s weird to remember that they only got into these playoffs because the Brewers out-choked them.
