Will Wade got a contract extension at McNeese today, per Jeff Borzello at ESPN, and I’m sorry, but:
He will make $700,000 per year in his new deal, source told ESPN. His buyout to leave for other schools has increased, but is still not considered prohibitive for most power conference schools. It will be $1.25 million after this season and $1 million after next season.
So McNeese gave Will Wade a raise but not so much of a raise that they’ll necessarily keep him. Which means one of two things:
- Either McNeese outbid DePaul, OR…
- Will Wade has done it again.
Tylor Perry and the Repeat MVP
Reigning MVP Tylor Perry turned in some remarkable plays last night in Kansas State’s overtime upset of KU, including a group of them which made it appear he’d taken aim at a side quest to make Hunter Dickinson’s head explode. (I like Hunter Dickinson, for the record, but he is so funny to watch play basketball. He runs like a kid at the pool who was told not to run.)
It was a big win for K-State, but…they’re still aimed at the NIT?
We’ve talked about this before, but given Jerome Tang’s single-elimination coaching experience, the new automatic bid/home game situation, and Tylor Perry’s greatness, there is a real possibility we see the first repeat MVP in NIT history. We cannot talk about this enough.
(Also: Respect to K-State for not storming the court, but I meant it when I said I wished they’d have picked up Jay Bilas and started crowd-surfing him against his will, all while he yelled things like, “Unhand me!” and, “I went to law school!”)
Joel Embiid: Midlife Crisis Watch
Joel Embiid’s surgery reportedly went well, which is great. We love Joel Embiid. We want that man healthy. In worse news…
Joel Embiid turns 30 next month, and I’d imagine this surgery has him laid up on the couch.
If anyone in sports is set to have a rom-com-worthy midlife crisis, it’s Joel Embiid turning 30 while laid up on his couch after knee surgery. I think he goes with painting first, but that it’s ultimately the harp which leads him to encounter his love interest. Does he come back to basketball in the end? It depends whether his harpist gets the job with the Sioux Falls Symphony Orchestra or the one in Wilmington.
No One Wants the A’s
From Front Office Sports:
Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman applauds the city’s rise as a sports destination with one exception: the Oakland A’s. Mayor Goodman told Front Office Sports that she believes the team’s plans at the Tropicana site don’t make sense and that the team ought to stay in Oakland.
It was a podcast appearance, and she did make clear that Las Vegas is excited to have a professional baseball team, but man. I will confess to sometimes sympathizing a little with the A’s, under the logic of, “If you were picking a city in which to put a new MLB franchise, you would not pick Oakland,” and through some instinctive reaction against the people who don’t watch baseball but like to yell on The Internet™ about how money ruins sports. But if Las Vegas’s own mayor is saying she doesn’t want John Fisher in her city, that probably means something. There’s a rom-com in here as well. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I watched a rom-com on Friday night. And no, I’m not calling A-10 basketball games rom-coms now.
Etc.
Last NITe, toNITe, Texas:
- Good golly heck, Miami! Might miss the NIT, to be honest. I hope they don’t. I hope their fans saved those cards I gave them back in April.
- I’m bullish on the Mountain West’s NIT chances, as a league, but it’s definitely one of those situations where zero bids and six bids are both on the table. Big action tonight, and I think it’s all on Mountain West Network, which is just the Mountain West’s website. The Mountain West has somehow not gotten the A-10’s reputation and I’m a little confused by that.
- Minnesota has a good shot against Michigan State. Peacock. I like Peacock. Has a lot of programming I enjoy. Like Michigan State playing Minnesota! Also, rom-coms? (I only watched one I swear.)
- I’m worried about Butler, so with all due respect to the Butler Blue hype video, I kind of want them to get blown out tonight at UConn. With all due respect! I love Butler. That’s why I want them to play in the NIT Final Four on their home court.
- Mississippi should be ours. They aren’t good enough to not be ours. Tough little stretch coming up. Would be a real shame, Mississippi…
- Ohio State gets a good chance to circle the wagons, hosting Indiana. (Again, on Peacock!) Indiana, meanwhile, could spark something. Circle the wagons vs. spark something. High stakes.
- Man there are so many good NIT games this evening. I keep looking at the list and it’s like it’s glowing. Rutgers at Maryland! Dayton at Saint Joe’s! Charlotte at South Florida???? And we haven’t even talked about the ACC!
- NITexas is probably dead, but the Horns do host Iowa State tonight. Theory: Texas’s arena feels too nice and too like an NBA arena, so even though it’s loud, it’s never raucous. Remind me to expound on this the next time I lack a topic for Bevo’s Fake Nuts.
Chicago:
- I like Andre Drummond. Also, yes, the Bulls should trade him. This is a thing about the NBA: Most players are likable. You will like whoever’s on your team. I think Bulls fans sometimes give the team a pass on not trading good players because said fans are emotionally attached. We can get emotionally attached to new players. The Bulls need to shift the value ratio from present to future at some point. We cannot let our emotions stop them from unplugging and plugging back in. (They play the Timberwolves tonight. Will they win? There is no way to know.)
